I Hate Gallant Girl #1

November 15, 2008

I Hate Gallant Girl #1 (Image Comics/Shadowline)
By Kat Cahill, Jim Valentino & Seth Damoose

Every ten years, a pageant selects a new young woman to bear the mantle of Gallant Girl. Renee Tempte has wanted to win the pageant her whole life, but despite having the skills for the job, she loses to a prettier, less effective girl. To add insult to injury, when she’s given the chance to prove herself in action, the people who choose Gallant Girl make her an offer that she’ll want to refuse. This is a really strong first issue. Kat Cahill has conjured up a really unique character with a story that a lot of girls will find relateable. The action here is good, and the fact that Renee finds an ally helps propel the story nicely. Seth Damoose is a good choice for this series. His style has the sort of clean, animated look that is popular in indie superheroes these days, and he’s still very dynamic with his action. Great first issue.
Rating: 8/10

Ninja Scroll #1

September 25, 2006

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Jigoku Part 1

The anime hit comes to comics!

Writer: J. Torres
Art: Michael Chang Ting Yu
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Ben Abernathy & Scott Peterson
Cover Art: Michael Chang Ting Yu
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

I’ve got to be honest – this is one of those instances where I’m just not that into the parent property, that that quells any real enthusiasm I could muster for comic book. For what it is, this seems like a pretty decent story – Jubei Kibagami wanders the land, fighting monsters, and encounters some familiar characters (to him, at least) at the end.

Fans of the series will get more out of this. The real problem is that new readers aren’t really given much to latch on to. Jubei is pretty much your standard ninja warrior, and even the opening sequence showing off how good he is feels sort of clichéd. There’s not really anything unique for us to hang our hat on, nothing that makes us decide we want to stay a while.

The artwork, by Michael Chang Ting Yu, is a step up from the writing. He has a nice, clear style that keeps the elements we think of as “anime” (particularly in the facial features), but gives us a bit more in the way of realism with the body types and monsters. Wildstorm FX also gives us some nifty coloring that makes the artwork pop.

Like I said, I’m not really the target audience for this book. If you are, give it another point and check it out.

Rating: 6/10

Captain America (2005 Series) #6

May 27, 2005

Quick Rating: Debatable
Title: Out of Time Part Six

To unravel the mystery surrounding him, Captain America returns to the site of his greatest failure.

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Art: Steve Epting
Colors: Frank D’Armata
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Steve Epting
Publisher: Marvel Comics

For the first time since Ed Brubaker took over this title, I’m really not sure how to feel about it. To begin with, it’s not really a conclusion to the story, and as far as I can tell it’s only labeled as such so that the first six issues can be packaged neatly into a trade paperback with a nice fat “#1” stamped on the spine. The other big issue lapses into spoiler territory, but it’s safe to say that if things are as they appear, then both of the “Big Two” will have whipped up an almost identical plot point in the last few months that, on the surface, appear absolutely disastrous, and have yet to be sufficiently explained.

Driven by the visions and dreams of his past, Captain America returns to the castle where he fought his final battle of World War II, a fight that left him frozen in ice and his partner dead. He finds his own past there, but not in the way he expected, and winds up in a frantic race to save the captive Sharon Carter.

Brubaker’s big revelation may leave something to be desired, but his storytelling skills are on the top of their game. He and Steve Epting do some great work, particularly on the final fight sequences. There’s a sequence of him in midair (freefall, really, but let’s be poetic about it) that’s absolutely spectacular. Epting has been in the industry for years, but he’s never done work this good.

Brubaker is a great writer as well, but as Desi Arnaz always said, he’s got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. If you know what the big revelation in this issue is, you know what I’m talking about. Either it’s a trick (highly possible, even probably), or it’s what it seems. If it is what it seems, then Brubaker better be poised to tell the best Captain America story of all time, because anything less will make this one of the worst ideas to hit the pages of a Marvel comic since the Spider-Clone.

And until we figure out exactly which of those options it’ll turn out to be, it’s going to be really, really hard to put this issue into perspective.

Rating: 8/10