Fables #106

July 2, 2011

Title: Downfall (Chapter Five of Super Team)

Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencils: Mark Buckingham
Inks: Steve Leialoha
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Cover: Joao Ruaz
Editor: Shelly Bond           
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo

In the finale of Super Team, Bigby and his father have had a little heart-to-heart. And although the North Wind knows he should kill his grandson Ghost, the zephyr, he decides instead to face on the terrible Mr. Dark in Bigby’s stead.

The ending of this story isn’t quite what I expected, but it’s something wonderfully suiting this series. The battle that happens isn’t the one we were preparing for – in fact, the whole “Super Team” concept doesn’t at all go where it appeared it was going. In the end, though, the stuff that comes through is due to the very human emotions and decisions of Mr. North. In this really perfect scene, we see him not as the near-god he’s always portrayed, but as a father and grandfather who makes a very difficult choice that most good parents probably would do. For the first time, he really does transcend himself and take on a heroic status. Mark Buckingham, of course, has no peer when it comes to the artwork on this series, and the final confrontation is powerful and effective.

This issue ends yet another era for Fables, and as always, sets the stage for the next one. This is one book where it would be really disingenuous to get upset over a status quo change, because they seem to happen every year or two. The book isn’t what it was at the beginning, and it hasn’t been for a very long time. One thing it has always been, though, is one of Vertigo’s best.

Rating: 8/10

Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #2

October 2, 2007

Quick Rating: Good
Rating: A

Iron Man faces the Mandarin in their first battle!

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Eric Canete
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Cover Art: Eric Canete
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Joe Casey’s career path seems to have lead him to a comfortable niche in the past, telling stories of the early years of various Marvel characters, and Enter: The Mandarin is proving to be a quite worthy addition to that line-up. This issue, Iron Man meets his arch-foe, the Mandarin, for the first time, and the battle doesn’t necessarily go the Golden Avenger’s way.

The story isn’t bad (although, like I mentioned last month, I still question the real need for a Mandarin miniseries), but for me, the artwork is the real selling point. I really like Canete’s work – beautiful, fluid and full of energy. He has a distinct retro feel, but whenever he brings in modern elements like Tony’s high-tech lab, or even the series of e-mails he trades with Pepper Potts, it doesn’t feel out of place.

While it’s unlikely that anyone but serious Iron Man fans (if there are any left) will pick up this miniseries, it’s a fun little book that’s worth looking at for anyone who enjoys a book with a nice Silver Age/early Bronze Age feel to it, and particularly satisfying for those of us unhappy with the way Tony’s being portrayed in the modern comics these days.

Rating: 7/10

Serenity: Better Days #3

May 16, 2008

Serenity: Better Days #3 (Dark Horse Comics)
By Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad & Adam Hughes

With Mal in the clutches of a “Peacemaker” holdout from the war, Zoe quickly understands that she’s the person they really want, and it’s up to her to assemble the crew of Serenity for a rescue mission. While the main problem with this miniseries has been a lack of consequence (since we all know what happens later in the movie), the storyline here really does read like a solid “lost” episode of the TV show. If anything, it feels a little too similar to one of the best episodes of the show, “War Stories,” but the payoff is very different, with a very interesting development in Mal’s relationship with Inara that also sheds a little light on just how the ship is run, exposing a facet of his personality that is evident in the TV show, but that goes farther than we ever got to see it on the screen. In the end, this was a fun little miniseries, but we Browncoats have to hope that the next miniseries — a focus on Shepherd Book — will have more meat to it.
Rating: 7/10