The Hedge Knight #5

April 3, 2004
Quick Rating: Very Good

A Trial of Seven is proclaimed for Ser Dunk’s life… but who will fight with him?

Writers: George R.R. Martin & Ben Avery
Pencils: Mike S. Miller
Inks: Mike Crowell
Colors: Team Kandora
Letters: Bill Tortolini
Editor: Robert Silverberg
Cover Art: Mike S. Miller (Cover A); Ted Nasmith (Cover B)
Publisher: Devil’s Due/DB Pro

For his skirmish with Prince Aerion, Dunk is sentenced to a Trial of Seven. He must find six knights willing to stand with him in battle against seven of the King’s men or his life will be forfeit. But how will a lowly hedge knight, one who was never even properly knighted by his fallen master, find six men who are strong of sword and will to stand with him against the crown?

This is another solid issue showing Dunk’s failings and strengths, particularly of character. It is his good heart but poor judgment that got him in this predicament in the first place. It is that same heart that he must count on to draw six other good men to his side to fight for his life for the crime of striking a mad prince who, for his part, was prepared to do terrible things to an innocent woman.

Most of this issue is concerned with Dunk’s efforts to find comrades, and the fact that they are willing to fight with him says as much about their character as it does about Dunk’s own. The issue sets up the massive Trial of Seven, which promises to be the showcase of the next, final issue in the miniseries.

Mike S. Miller deserves to be a comic book superstar. He and Mike Crowell do a beautiful job with this issue, with almost no action to speak of. This is, in many instances, a talking heads issue, but the visuals are never dull. The dour look on Dunk’s face as the weight of his situation sinks in… beautiful scenes in the rain… designs for armor that get more and more inventive. Along with Team Kandora doing the color work, each page of this comic really is a work of art.

This has been a heartily satisfying fantasy series from the outset. There’s plenty more stories to tell in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, from which this is adapted – I hope DB Pro gets to keep doing it.

Rating: 8/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Sensational She-Hulk #2

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

TITLE: Attack of the Terrible Toad Men (or “Froggy Came Cavortin’”)

 

CREDITS:
Story & Pencils: John Byrne
Inking: Bob Wiacek
Lettering: John Workman
Coloring: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Publisher: Marvel Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: A green girl called “She-Hulk?” And conveniently, the word balloon tells us she’s the Hulk’s cousin. She doesn’t seem to have his anger issues, though.

IMPRESSIONS: The She-Hulk is getting a loaner apartment from her friend Janet, who apparently is living out on the west coast now, which seems awfully nice of her. Meanwhile, a couple of truly bizarre-looking villains (including – no foolin’ – a girl called Ruby Thursday who has a red globe for her head) are plotting against her. Then she gets attacked by Frog Men and Mysterio, who is another bad guy with a funky thing on his head. There’s a theme here.

As this feature insists, this is a “first comic book” – but I can’t imagine standard comics are anything like this. Besides being wildly funny, the editor and writer have an argument via post-it notes about the action taking too long, and She-Hulk herself makes a few comments that make it very clear that she’s aware of the fact that she’s in a comic book. It’s a crazy, funky, fourth wall-breaking gag that carries throughout the issue and gives the comic a very unique, unusual flavor.

The villains are so strange, the writing is so funny, and the cliffhanger is so good that I really want to go out and get the next issue. This is a hellacool comic.

GRADE: A+

Wonder Girl (2007 Series) #1

September 18, 2007

Wonder Girl #1 (DC Comics)
By J. Torres & Sanford Greene

this looks to be one of those miniseries whose true worth won’t be evident until it ends. J. Torres picks up on the recent threads from Wonder Woman, Amazons Attack and Teen Titans to paint a portrait of where Wonder Girl currently stands in her life. It’s not a pleasant place. She’s in hiding because of backlash against her for siding with the Amazons during the war, she finds herself playing exterminator to a slew of mythological beasts that have been unleashed in the U.S., and to top it off, she can’t seem to wrap her mind around her feelings for Robin, her dead boyfriend’s best friend. This issue is really all set-up — it works pretty well to establish Wonder Girl’s current status quo, but doesn’t progress her very much. Now there are five issues to go, of course, so that’s excusable. What wouldn’t be excusable is if they go five more issues and, by the end, Wonder Girl hasn’t changed at all. Torrres is a strong storyteller, and if he’s allowed to make a real, lasting mark on Cassie, this could be a great story. If, by the end, nothing is different, what was the point? Either way, it’ll be a few issues before we can really tell if this miniseries was worth it.
Rating: 7/10