Warlord (2006 Series) #2

March 27, 2006

Quick Rating: Below Average

Travis Morgan fights for his life!

Writer: Bruce Jones
Art: Bart Sears
Colors: Mike Atiyeh
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover Art: Bart Sears
Publisher: DC Comics

Reading Warlord is like the old Statler and Waldorf routine where they talk themselves out of enjoying the Muppet show, starting off excited and slowly working their way down to heckling the bear. First you’re excited because DC is bringing back a great old property, and the time is ripe for sword and sorcery comics again. Then you’re okay with the creative team, because Bruce Jones did a good job on the Vigilante miniseries and Sears… well, didn’t he have a great run on the Giffen Justice League? Then you’re bummed because you find out it isn’t a continuation of the old story but a “reboot,” but you’re not ready to give up. Then you read the first two issues and, try as you might, you’re just not feeling it.

Having been hurled into the mythical realms of Skartaris, Travis Morgan finds himself fighting for his life against the brutal Prince Brovis this issue. Meanwhile, some of his friends from back home try to find a way to bring him back. The plotline of the story is fine, but it feels overwritten – Jones is trying too hard with the mythic dialogue and writing style and it makes it harder to get through.

Even that wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the art. Bart Sears, based on some of his past work, would seem to be the logical choice, but I just don’t like the artwork on this comics book. It’s way, way too sketchy. While his layouts are fine, the actual details are garbled, almost as if Mike Atiyeh had colored the thumbnail sketches instead of the finished artwork. I’ve come to the conclusion that Sears really needs to work with a separate inker, someone who can give his work the finished look that it lacks.

The writing, while not really popping, could be forgiven if the artwork was good enough to pull the story along, but it’s not. As much as I want to like this book, I can’t give it a real recommendation, and unless something changes soon, I can’t help but think this resurrection of one of the great characters of the 70s and 80s will be short-lived indeed.

Story: 4/10

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1

April 13, 2007

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1 (Marvel Comics)
By Jeff Parker and Mike Wieringo

When Spidey runs across one of the Fantastic Four’s old sparring partners in New York, a momentary annoyance turns out to be just a herald of things to come. I enjoyed this book for a lot of reasons. For one thing, it’s pre-Civil War, so it’s a chance to see these characters all behaving as friends, like they should. Second, Jeff Parker has been increasingly impressive lately — he’s doing some of the best old-school, classic Marvel stories, and this definitely fits into that category. Third, Mike Wieringo has done fantastic work with both Spidey and the FF, and putting him on a book with both properties together is a no-brainer. The only real problem I have with this issue is that it’s mostly set-up with Spidey, and the FF don’t show up until a few pages before the end. The story is fun, though, and I’m eagerly anticipating a lot of fun in the three issues to come.

Rating: 8/10

Archie #528

July 30, 2008

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Mud Flap and other stories

Archie’s latest plan to woo Veronica may make a mess of things.

Writers: Craig Boldman, Mike Pellowski & Greg Crosby
Pencils: Stan Goldberg
Inks: Bob Smith
Colors: Barry Grossman
Letters: Bill Yoshida
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Cover Art: Stan Goldberg
Publisher: Archie Comics

This is as typical an issue of Archie as you could hope to find – several funny stories that fit perfectly in the universe of the characters without any real lasting importance or significance.

“The Mud Flap,” for instance, shows us Archie getting turned down for the big Riverdale Gala by Veronica. He hatches a scheme to show her how highbrow he can be – he’ll get a cheap sport coat, lay it out over a mud patch all gallant, and he’s in! Right? Of course, even with Jughead’s help, Archie can find a way to screw things up.

“Mr. Nice Guy” features an Archie having an especially bad day – and being plagued by an ever-present “Have a Nice Day!” sign all along. In “Same Old Same Old,” Archie gets engrossed in a book and manages to miss out on some of the most incredible happenings in the history of Riverdale. This is the closest thing to an experimental story in the issue – the first few pages are largely dialogue-free, depending on the artwork to tell the story. The second half goes for tamer visuals but lots of verbal humor. Overall, this is probably the funniest story in the issue.

“Double Trouble” takes us out with one of the more highbrow concepts in the issue. As Archie and Mr. Lodge ponder the ramifications of human cloning (no, seriously), ol’ Hiram begins to imagine a world full of Archies. The results, as you can imagine, are horrifying.

This is a simple, fun issue. Nothing big, nothing flashy, nothing Earth-shattering. Just fun.

Rating: 7/10