The Authority: More Kev #2

June 18, 2004

Quick Rating: Below Average
Title: The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers Part Two

A dip into Kev’s past tells us why Earth has been targeted for destruction.

Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Glenn Fabry
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Glenn Fabry
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm Universe

Okay, let’s start by looking at the cover. Isn’t that baby tiger the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen?

Now keep going, because that’s the best thing about this issue. Garth Ennis, who reached brilliance with his Preacher series and continues to entertain with his Punisher tales, succumbs to the same trap that every Authority story I’ve ever read: shallow blood, sex and cursing for pure shock value.

With the rest of the team out of commission, Midnighter and Apollo turn to Kev to help them save the world from an alien invasion, but it turns out Kev may have a past with them as well. Through two flashback sequences which serve to give the book its requisite amounts of gore and kink, respectively, we find out why a dunderhead in Kev’s old unit may have inadvertently caused the downfall of humanity. (Naturally, the only character in the book to display any compassion at all turns out to be the idiot.)

Glenn Fabry’s artwork is fine considering what he has to work with. His troopers slagging through the jungle, his explosions and gunfights are just fine, and he does a very good job with the animal characters in the story. The superhero characters don’t have much to do in this issue except stand around and listen to Kev talk about himself, but they look just fine.

This is supposed superhero action with slasher movie blood and guts and teen sex movie jokes thrown as though they were redeeming qualities. Ennis is capable of much better than this. I don’t think I’ll ever understand what it is about The Authority that sucks talent into a black hole.

Rating: 4/10

Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash #3

December 30, 2007

Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash #3 (DC Comics/Wildstorm/Dynamite Entertainment)
By Jeff Katz, James Kuhoric, Rick Burchett, Jason Craig & Eric Powell

Now here’s what we’ve been waiting for! Trapped in a dead car outside the old Voorhees house, Ash finds himself facing off with the machete-wielding slasher. As he does battle with Jason, he simultanouesly is plunged into a race with Freddy Krueger — they both want the Necronomicon, but Ash wants to get rid of it, while Freddy wants to use its arcane knowledge to restore himself to power. This is exactly what I was waiting for in this miniseries — a seamless blending of elements from all three film franchises and tons of bloody action. This miniseries started out slowly, but this issue really is everything fans have been waiting for. A strong story, strong art and a really nasty cliffhanger. I’m finally loving this book.
Rating: 8/10

Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs #2

June 13, 2008

Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs #2 (DC Comics/Wildstorm)
By Hans Rodinoff, Joel Gomez & Jonathan Wayshak

Hans Rodinoff takes a pretty big chance here. It’s always a bit scary when a comic book spin-off messes with the mythology if a movie, as this issue does, but somehow he makes it work. Turns out ol’ David didn’t die after all… well, not permanently… He and a new brood of vampires come after the Frog brothers to seek retribution for their defeat. An old friend shows up to join in the fight, and the quest for the new Head Vampire begins. Rodinoff‘s changes to the myth are actually pretty logical in terms of the movie, and they work pretty well in terms of this comic book, although I would imagine some more fanatical fans of the film may be upset by what’s done here. Fortunately, as only a passing fan, it doesn’t really bother me. Joel Gomez does a really good job with the vampires here — he’s got a good style for a horror comic, and his fights work quite well. His characters don’t really look much like the actors, but that’s preferable to having them look so photorealistic that the artwork suffers, as happens in many adaptations. Overall, it’s not a bad book.
Rating: 7/10

Friday the 13th: Pamela’s Tale #1

July 17, 2007

Friday the 13th: Pamela’s Tale #1 (DC Comics/Wildstorm)
By Marc Andreyko, Shawn Moll, Dustin Nguyen

Marc Andreyko has made his mark with comics about strong, powerful women, and tells their stories very well… but this issue takes that idea to the extreme. On the afternoon of a very familiar Friday the 13th, a hitchhiker gets picked up by the kind-looking Pamela Voorhes, who begins telling the girl her own story. It seems that the evil that haunts Camp Crystal Lake didn’t begin with Jason’s “death” in the water, as we’ve so long believed. The evil was there much earlier. Whether it was within Pamela to begin with or within a monstrous “bad seed” remains to be seen, but either way, it’s clear that the roots of this darkness are very deep indeed. This is a nice look at the origins of one of the most enduring horror icons of the last 30 years, and fans of the franchise will be very satisfied with this issue.

Rating: 8/10

North 40 #1

July 21, 2007

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Now Entering Conover County

Conover County is a typical American town – except for the monsters.

Writer: Aaron Williams
Art: Fiona Staples
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Scott Peterson
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

Conover County seems like any of a thousand other small-town American communities. Normal people, normal problems. Until a couple of youngsters get their hands on a decidedly nasty book that should have been kept off-limits to the town library. They recite an ancient incantation, and when the night falls, the terrors begin.

Aaron Williams is best known for his lighter fare, like Nodwick or the brilliant PS 238, so this horror story is something of a departure for him. In truth, the book reminds me a lot of Rising Stars or Heroes, except instead of a sudden inundation of superpowers, the people of the community instead find themselves transforming into monsters. Of course, the town isn’t entirely without protectors – some of the people who fall under the curse find some rather useful abilities as a result, and one girl in particular seems destined to stand against the darkness.

Williams manages to blend that sensibility with the small town life with a dash of Lovecraft for good measure. While he doesn’t abandon his sense of humor entirely, the comedy in this book is a great deal darker than what fans of his would be accustomed to. He’s really branching out with this book, and from a storytelling standpoint, it’s a real success.

Fiona Staples is a good choice for the artwork. Her characters have a good feel – they look different from one another, so it’s easily to quickly distinguish them visually. But she’s really good at the horrors, the monsters, and the nasties that come crawling out of the night once things go bad.

This is a really good first issue – plenty of fun, and a story that feels familiar without seeming like a pastiche of anything that’s already been done. This is one of the most original horror comics I’ve read in quite some time.

Rating: 8/10

Albion #3

October 3, 2005

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Don’t Start Me Talking

The comic books are alive!

Plot: Alan Moore
Script: Leah Moore & John Reppion
Pencils: Shane Oakley
Inks: George Freeman
Colors: Dave Gibbons
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Cover Art: Dave Gibbons
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

The idea behind Albion is a sound one – old comic book characters coming to life in modern-day London as a pair of comic fans try to unravel the mystery, but the execution is falling somewhat short. Perhaps its because these old British superheroes are lost on an American audience or perhaps it’s just that the writers aren’t giving us what we need to feel for them, but I just can’t seem to connect with any of the characters.

Danny and Penny, after sharing a little exposition, come across a comic book that shouldn’t exist, as the entire run was pulped, and set out to chase its origin. In the meantime, we check in on Captain Hurricane, a World War II-era bruiser, to whom the years have not been kind.

There’s not really anything bad about this issue – the ideas are solid and there’s a nice segment where we check in on an old super-villain, but things don’t quite come together, really. You don’t feel any cohesiveness or immediacy. You just don’t get excited.

The artwork is by far a step up. Shane Oakley uses a looser, cartoonish style complimented by heavy shadows, making the whole thing reminiscent of Mike Avon Oeming’s work on Powers, but they manage to shift gears entirely when they step into Captain Hurricane’s past, giving the sequence a look to mimic old-fashioned comics, and it works well.

This is definitely a comic that looks better than it reads, and with three writers named in the credit box it’s not hard to assume that Alan Moore just farmed an idea out to others without really developing it enough. It’s pretty bland overall.

Rating: 6/10

Sleeper Season Two #1

June 29, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Faith, Hope and Charity

On the run, trying to escape his past, Holden Carver gets a new “assignment.”

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips
Colors: Strachan With Sinclair
Letters: Jared Fletcher
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Cover Art: Sean Phillips
Publisher: DC/Wildstorm Universe

Okay, before I get into the meat of this review, allow me to voice a complaint about a practice I see way too often in comics. Why on Earth would anyone, rather than providing a proper credit box, simply run a list of names (just last names, mind you, not even first and last), not detailing who did what job and forcing anyone interested in such a thing to play detective? It’s not like a movie with big names where everyone recognizes everything. (Spielberg! Hanks! Zeta-Jones!) These people have worked damn hard to put out a good comic book – give them the full credit they deserve.

Okay, on to the actual book. While I was at a slight disadvantage, having only read the first issue of “Season One” and the prologue to this series that appeared in the Coup D’etat Afterword, this issue was very accessible, setting up the situation for even those with only a modicum of prior knowledge about the title.

Holden Carver has gone from being a deep undercover agent posing as a supervillain to an agent that feels betrayed by his agency and his former commander, John Lynch (whom Holden believes is still in a coma). When someone approaches him with an offer that will allow him to gain a measure of satisfaction, it’s clear that this “Season” of Sleeper will be quite different from the first.

This makes for a quite satisfying spy/espionage action/drama, and the story would probably work just as well without the superhero trappings, which is what holds me back from being the first book I’d recommend to someone looking for “superheroes with a twist.” It’s a solid book, don’t misunderstand, but for someone looking for a different take on superheroes I’d be more likely to recommend something like Powers, where it’s actually a new take on superheroics, as opposed to a book in another genre that happens to have superhero incidentals.

Sean Phillips is the perfect match for Brubaker’s story. He serves up good action and drama and the occasional appearance of the guy in spandex doesn’t look silly or jar you out of the story. (In fact, the look reminds me very much of Dark Horse’s The Escapist – Phillips would be a fine match for one of those short stories.)

So while I’m not exactly wild about this book, I did enjoy it and I think it does a fine job of setting up the new storyline. If you’ve been thinking about Sleeper and looking for a place to jump on board, this is the issue to do it.

Rating: 7/10

Astro City: The Dark Age Book II #1

November 25, 2006

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: A Cold Wind Blowing (Eyes of a Killer Part One)

Charles and Royal’s story continues in the sizzling 70s!

Writer: Kurt Busiek
Art: Brent E. Anderson
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: John Roshell of Comicraft
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Alex Ross
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

After too long a break, Astro City: The Dark Age returns. Book Two (subtitled “Eyes of a Killer”) picks up a few years after the first ends. Charles Williams is still a police officer. His little brother Royal, still a crook. But things are changing in the world around them. Heroes are no longer the objects of trust they once were, things are becoming strained between Charles and his wife, and both Charles and Royal are facing real dangers on the job, as it were.

This series starts in 1976, and Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson have done a fantastic job of emulating that 1970s comic book feel. Gleaming heroes like Samaritan, Silver Agent and the First Family are either absent or reduced to cameos, while characters in the kung-fu/pseudo-mystic vein take the forefront. We also see a lot from Street Angel, once a brighter character who has embraced a darker side (not unlike a popular JLA member who underwent a Bronze Age reinvention).

As always, though, Astro City isn’t about the superheroes as much as it is about life in a superhero universe, and the unique difficulties faced by Charles (a cop) and Royal (a criminal). Things feel very ominous for both of them, and you definitely get the feeling this issue that the current state of their relationship, not to mention their lives, will be drastically changed by the time this four-issue miniseries reaches its conclusion.

Brent Anderson, as usual, does a fine job on the artwork, and Alex Ross pulls off a particularly unique cover. While still using his regular linework and techniques, he’s dropped back to a muted color palette, doing the entire thing in shades of blue and pink. It makes for a very eye-popping cover, as well as a very unusual one for him.

This first issue is very promising, setting up a lot of things and showing us yet another invention of the Astro City universe.

Rating: 8/10

Thundercats: Enemy’s Pride #1

May 29, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Lie of the Beholder

An attack by the mutants forces Lion-O into making some tough choices for the future of the Thundercats.

Writer: John Layman
Art: John Vriens & Roberto Campus of Udon Studios
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Alex Sinclair
Cover Art: Joe Vriens & Roberto Campus
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

Mumm-Ra’s mutant allies attack the Thundercats, leaving a dazed Lion-O angry and acting not at all like himself. Wileykit and Wileykat overhear him making some disturbing statements, and a proclamation and demonstration of his prowess do nothing to quell their fears.

The basic situation in this title doesn’t present much mystery at all. The question isn’t really why Lion-O is suddenly no longer acting like himself, it’s which of the at least three clichéd excuses for his transformation Layman will prove to have gone with by the time the miniseries is over. The situations that this basic problem creates are a bit better – the idea of the Thundercats deciding to bolster their defenses is a good one, and one that actually is probably long overdue.

The story also begins way too abruptly, in the middle of a fight scene that left me flipping back to the cover to be sure I was, in fact, reading a first issue. It’s like Layman lost the first several pages of the script.

Vriens and Campus’s artwork is pretty good. They handle the characters well, although they are a bit blocky at times, and for the most part the Udon coloring team does a good job with a slew of characters with unrealistic fleshtones.

The main problems aren’t really with the comic but with the franchise itself. The Thundercats haven’t aged as well as some other 80s revivals like G.I. Joe and the TransFormers, and it’s hard to get particularly exited over even a well-done story with them. Fans of the property will probably enjoy this much more than I will.

Rating: 7/10

The Authority: More Kev #1

May 22, 2004

Quick Rating: Average
Title: The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers Part One

With most of the Authority out of commission, it’s up to Apollo, Midnighter and Kev to save the world.

Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Glenn Fabry
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Glenn Fabry
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm Universe

I’m not a fan of The Authority. From what I heard of volume one, it was a concept that didn’t interest me. When I reviewed volume two, I thought it was lousy. While having the fantastic Preacher buddies Garth Ennis and Glenn Fabry on this miniseries certainly helps, it doesn’t do anything to warm me up to the core concept or to make me care about these characters.

When most of the team gets scrambled and put on injured reserve, Midnighter and Apollo are forced to turn to the less-than-savory S.A.S. agent named Kev to help them find something an alien invasion fleet wants before it destroys the Earth. Since this series is called “More Kev,” I assume he’s shown up before, but I’ve got no idea who he is or why he should be considered so dangerous. There certainly isn’t anything in this issue that makes him look particularly intimidating.

Ennis has a great, wicked sense of humor that made Preacher and his Punisher run some of the best mature readers comics of recent years. That same sense of humor is evident here and is responsible for virtually all of the good bits of the book. The situation isn’t that gripping and the characters are the same boring caricatures they’ve always seemed to be to me.

Fabry’s artwork is fine, and really better than the book. He has a grimy style that works very well. The panel where the scrambled Authoritarians show up is the best bit in the book. He does a nice, appropriately bloody gunfight at the beginning and gives the promise that he’ll serve up some real grotesqueries as the story escalates.

This book still won’t turn me into an Authority fan, if you like the characters you’ll definitely find this miniseries more entertaining than the regular series is these days.

Rating: 5/10