Aspen Showcase: Ember #1

February 13, 2009

Aspen Showcase: Ember #1 (Aspen Comics)
By David Schwartz & Randy Green

Spinning out of the recently-completed Shrugged series, this one-shot delves into the backstory of Ember, a woman of the otherworldly land of Perspecta whose half-Elysian, half-Nefarian heritage nearly derails her political ambitions. When she decides to create an enemy to frighten the people of Perspecta back onto her side, she finds out exactly what she’s really capable of. The political allegories here are none-too-subtle, and are in fact so heavy handed that they take away from the enjoyment of the issue a bit. On the plus side, it is a pretty big story for Aspen to tackle, and they handle it in an intelligent fashion. The artwork, by Randy Green, is really good. The demons of the Nefarians look pretty good and balance well against the perfect little Elysians. It’s nice to know that Aspen hasn’t simply forgotten the Shrugged universe. I just hope there are more tales in that world planned for the future.
Rating: 7/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Flash (1959 Series) #281

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

TITLE: Deadly Games

CREDITS:
Writer: Cary Bates
Pencils: Don Heck
Inks: Frank Chiaramonte
Letters: Ben Oda
Colors: Gene D’Angelo
Editor: Ross Andru
Cover Artist: Dick Giordano
Publisher: DC Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: The Flash is that guy who runs really fast, right? Either that or the dude that Queen asserts will “save every one of us.”

IMPRESSIONS: This comic book starts off with the Flash being told over the phone that someone named Yorkin didn’t kill someone named Iris. This is evidently shocking, but not as shocking as when people start shooting at the guy on the other line. The Flash shoots his costume out of a magic ring, then saves his informant, but lets the bad guys think they killed him for his own protection. As it turns out, this “Iris” they’re talking about is the Flash’s wife, and if Yorkin isn’t the one who murdered her (while she was, for some reason, wearing a Batgirl costume), who did? Call me crazy, I’m thinking this Professor Zoom character, the one who is wearing a reverse version of the Flash’s costume and seems to hate him for some reason, may have something to do with it.

I’m kind of surprised here. I’ve heard that recent comics have tended to get all dark and gritty, but I would have thought that back in 1979 when this was published it still would have mostly been lighthearted kids’s stuff. The idea of the Flash trying to avenge his wife’s death (which evidently happened just two issues ago, not back during his origin story or something) is much darker than I would have expected. We don’t see this Professor Zoom (who, it turns out, is a time-traveler) until the last few pages before the book races (get it?) into a cliffhanger, but he seems nasty enough to have killed the Flash’s wife. And now that I think of it, couldn’t someone from the 25^th century have possibly found out historical facts about a hero from the 20^th century and used that as a weapon against him, “secret identity” be damned?

It’s not a bad story, but the book seems to want to walk the line between serious issues and silly stuff like Zoom splitting in half, which is kind of goofy when you get right down to it. It’s not bad, but it’s not great.

GRADE: B-

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #15

December 19, 2006

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Taking Wing (A “Spider-Man Unmasked” Crossover)
Rating: A

Hiding from the law, Peter Parker surfaces to face an estranged ex-girlfriend with a tell-all book about the webslinger.

Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Scot Eaton
Inks: John Dell
Colors: Matt Milla
Letters: Cory Petit
Editor: Axel Alonso
Cover Art: Scot Eaton
Publisher: Marvel Comics

It’s not surprising that a lot of the ancillary storylines coming out of the unmasking of Spider-Man are, in many ways, more interesting and in-character than the core Civil War storyline. Herein lies a perfect example. With Peter Parker’s identity public knowledge, it’s very easy to believe someone in his personal life would try to take advantage of that to cash in, and the long-absent ex-girlfriend Deb Whitman is the perfect choice for this. As she goes on a book signing for Two-Faced, her Peter Parker tell-all book, the government sets up the Vulture to crash the party and bring in the now-rogue Spider-Man. Peter, meanwhile, is planning to check out the signing – and he isn’t the only one.

This story works on pretty much every level. Deb Whitman was always a frail enough character that seeing her take this sort of action, feeling herself a “victim,” is a perfect angle for her return. Peter’s interest is logical, and seeing the reaction of Flash Thompson (who Peter David has finally made interesting again as a supporting character) is a particularly good facet of the story. There’s also a bizarre little interlude with flash’s new girlfriend that portends some future stories. David’s usual wit is in full force, although a Steven Colbert joke comes out of the blue and really yanks the reader out of the story.

Scot Eaton and John Dell do just fine of the artwork. Peter’s “disguise” in this issue looks just like Peter Parker in a disguise rather than as a wholly different character as so many other artists do. The fight scenes work well, and the whole thing wraps up in a dandy little cliffhanger.

A strong issue that keeps this series headed in the right direction.

Rating: 8/10