Comics I Bought 9 July 2009

Time to wrap up talking about my weekly comic purchases for the past few weeks; fortunately, it was a small shop today, so I won't keep you too long.

No Hero #6
The proverbial hits the air movement system, as we find out what Carrick is really doing with his position as sole source of FX7 and the exact state of mind of Joshua Carver, the newest FX7 inductee. This means that Juan Jose Ryp gets to do what he does best, unleashing his hyper-detailed art on the Ellis ultraviolence, and he does a bang up job. I'm not sure about the direction in which Ellis has taken the story, but I'll see it through to the end.

The Unwritten #3
I really don't like the covers – is that just me? Anyway, the contents make up for it. Carey throws in some charming analysis of Frankenstein as well as having Tom finding a link to his past in the family home (that was where Shelley came up with the story, and Milton came up with Paradise Lost – part of what he calls his 'literary GPS bullshit'). Three issues in and this book is shaping up nicely; there's mystery, an intriguing concept and a good execution. I hope it gets the opportunity to continue its story.

Wednesday Comics #1
I wasn't sure about getting this – we don't have 'Sunday funnies' here in the UK to twang at our nostalgia strings, and I've never been a big enough DC fan to try this automatically – but it looked to unusual and interesting not to try. I deliberately made the decision to read this on the tube on my commute home – if you saw someone on the Northern line heading south this evening grappling with the first issue, it could have been me – just to see if I got a reaction out of other commuters. I'm strange like that. It's weird unfolding the book – it's a big thing, printed on traditional newspaper stock (I was expecting slightly glossier stock for some reason) – but I have to admit it looks great. The only trouble with it is the anthology nature of it – some pages work really well, playing with the idea of doing a story one page at a time (Gibbons and Sook on Kamandi or Kerschel and Fletcher on The Flash), whereas some just feel like single pages of an ordinary comic books (Azzarello and Risso on Batman). There is also the hodge-podge nature of the various different art styles – the cuteness of Allred or Galloway or Conner versus the scratchier art of Hueck or Pope. It's a very different thing, something DC should be lauded for – of the two mainstream publishers, they are the ones who experiment the most with what comics can try to do – and I hope it does well for them.

Comics I Bought 3 July 2009

Finally up to date (ish) with my thoughts on recent comic books with this post, just in time for more new comics to arrive tomorrow. It never ends, but in a good way. On with my ramblings.

Astro City: The Dark Age Book 3 #3
I've always enjoyed Astro City but this series has dragged in parts, not helped by the problems with the schedule. However, this issue sees things happen: we see Apollo Eleven in their missile silo, where they are attacked by Pyramid, Charles and Royal make a move, and the Silver Agent returns (with knowledge of something seriously important about to happen). The art from Anderson is still the same – it works for Astro City but I still don't like the style – but Busiek is doing his usual excellent job, and it's nice to feel like the story is actually reaching somewhere.

Batman and Robin #2
What a cracking opening page – Quitely really is a great artist. The way he moves the story around with his panel transitions are sublime, and his detail and action are fantastic. Not that he does all the work – Morrison tells a lovely story, as Dick Grayson relates to Alfred how the night with Damian went after responding to Gordon's Batsignal. Damian is a psychotic little turd who can't be controlled, and there are some lovely moments between Dick and Alfred. Grant also throws in the first use of 'Kushti' in a mainstream comic book I'm aware of, as well as circus slang ('I rokker the jib, Toby'). Another great issue of excellent comic book entertainment.

The Boys #32
Without going back to issue 31, I'm sure that The Female looked like she was being killed, not just put in a coma. Is she indestructible? Seems a bit of a cop out for Ennis, who likes to kill properly. Not that he doesn't fill this issue with more of his eye-watering violence, when the remaining Boys are attacked by Payback in the fake hospital where The Female has been taken. In between, there is an aside where Starlight is given a new costume that is basically some shoe laces tied together; it's supposed to be a satirical piece about the sexualisation of superheroines in mainstream comic books, along with the use of rape as a character origin. It's a genuine point but it turns very serious halfway through, which mixes the tones and causes a slight narrative wobble. Still, back to the ultraviolence next issue.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26
The dialogue in this issue is true to the television series – Jane Espenson was a regular writer on the show (my favourite line being 'We have a submarine?')– but the story doesn't seem as intense as it should, as exciting as it should; the threat in the narrative doesn't come through. All Slayer-related teams are attacked in unison, meaning Twilight is making concerted effort to wipe them out (is the naming of the Big Bad a snub to Stephanie Meyer?), which leads to the Retreat of the title. This gives us the best moment in the book, as they seek out Oz, but it only highlights the fact that comic books are not television because the Oz 'Huh' in response to seeing a submarine appear outside the monastery works because of Seth Green's delivery; on the page, it's flat without that knowledge in your memory. Let's hope this picks up with Oz returning to the mix.

Greek Street #1
If you didn't try a new comic book that was $1 for full colour, 32 pages of story, then I don't know what else can be done for the industry. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant. Which leads to my reaction: I didn't like it very much, even though I appreciated the quality of book itself. The art is good – I've never seen Davide Gianfelice's art before, but he's got a clean, funky, loose style (albeit muddied by the Vertigo house palette of brown), which tells the story and creates characters you care about. I'm not sure about his depiction of Soho – I was raised in London and work near Soho, and it doesn't look the place I know – but that's not important; his work is sharp, visceral and dynamic. But this book is being sold on the name and work of Peter Milligan, a writer who has suffered a ups and downs in his career as his unusual themes have waned in and out of public affection (particularly his attempts at more mainstream work). He is a clever man, who loves his literary allusions, so he's perfect for an updating of the Greek myths in a modern setting. However, the problem I have is that those stories are from a different world and never felt relevant, so trying to change that is going to be hard to gel. This is well written, as a story that sets up its mysteries to keep you wanting to read more, but doesn't provide enough narrative satisfaction to have enjoyed the comic on its own. I'm sorry I didn't like it more, and I hope it does well, but I won't be around for the next issue.

Comics I Bought 29 June 2009

Putting down wood flooring doesn't leave a lot of time to visit the comic shop and buy the weekly pile, so I had to wait for the next four books to enter my collection. Not that I had the time to read them before that; I was too tired to read anything, which is not something I ever thought would happen.

Detective Comics #854
I've been looking forward to this since I first read about it – a book written by Greg Rucka and drawn by JH Williams III, with a back-up feature about Renee 'The Question' Montoya, also written by Rucka and drawn by Cully Hamner. And it didn't disappoint. Rucka does a great job introducing Kate Kane, the new Batgirl (and we've been waiting for stories about her for a couple of years now), and setting up her status quo, while giving her a focus – namely, shutting down the Religion of Crime, who previously abducted her and tried to carve out her heart; quite a reason. However, the real star is Williams – the art on this book is phenomenal, truly fantastic. The page design is stunning, directing the eye in a dynamic and exciting way but also in a visually arresting manner, with batarang-style panels, and showing the movement of the story within them. There is a sharpness and atmosphere, great camera angles and changes of focus, and the employment of the tools used in his run on Desolation Jones to show violence are also used, in a double-page spread where Batgirl takes down criminals underneath the central image of her kicking two of them in the head at the same time. Fantastic. Then, he uses another style for the story when Batgirl is just Kate Kane again, full of vibrant lights and colours and strong line work, opening up the story to let it breathe. Absolutely amazing. Hamner's art isn't so experimental, but he does a good solid job with his work telling the Question story, as Montoya helps a man whose sister has been taken by the gang he paid to smuggle her over the border. It's only a few pages but it justifies the extra dollar on the price and promises good stories to come. A good package and a good start.

The Literals #3
Over at last. Everything ends happily, thanks to Deus Ex Machina (he prefers 'Dex') and some heroics from Jack's son; Kevin Thorn doesn't rewrite the universe and instead gets his own new universe to do with as he wishes – although, of course, being a writer he doesn't like the blank page. Gary and the sisters stay in our universe, to keep the Jack of Fables character cast consistent, and the Fables characters go back to their book, where I hope they can safely ignore any ramifications of this crossover and go back to their normal quality and story lines. And maybe Bigby will stop looking so much like Wolverine, in his lumberjack shirt and hair style ...

Usagi Yojimbo #121
Fortunately for Usagi Yojimbo, it doesn't do crossovers that disrupt stories – it just keeps up the consistent quality. This story is a done-in-one adventure where Usagi helps an injured bounty hunter after a duel, who the reader doesn't trust, only for Stan Sakai to pull the rug out from under us and reveal another truth. The only problem with the tale is that there is no reason for the bandits not to have killed Usagi when he was unconscious – it's necessary for the resolution but it's a tiny flaw in an otherwise excellent comic book.

X-Factor #45
This comic will always be known for that kiss in it, although the portrayal of Dr Doom – refusing to believe that he has got old – is more interesting, but it's actually not as strong an issue as the previous couple of issues. Peter David keeps things moving, keeps the twists coming, but the dialogue and actual events of the book aren't as sharp; it's not bad, the art seems to be becoming more consistent, but it felt uneven compared to the strong run of comic books leading up to it.

Tomorrow, we'll be up to date with my purchase of weekly new comic books, and I can start catching up with all the library books I've been reading.

Comics I Bought 18 June 2009

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I spent over a week removing the carpet from our flat and replacing it with laminate flooring; it was a bigger job than we anticipated, and it left me exhausted, and I spent the remaining time off just recovering from it (I'm still exhausted). This means I'm catching up with thoughts on the comics bought and not reviewed in the interim, with each week's haul separated into daily posts so I can keep track.

Captain Britain and MI:13 #14
After the digression that was the annual, this book was back to the Dracula invasion of Britain. Cornell reveals his ace – Plokta gave Dracula his dream come true – and we get back into the twisting and turning of the plot, and our British heroes being stiff of upper lip while plotting their counter attacks and trying to stop Dracula. Even though this book is destined for the scrap heap, it's not for lack of quality, with great dialogue and great characterisation in a great story. There's even time for Killpower from Marvel UK of old and Dr Doom to cameo his evilness. Great stuff.

Ex Machina #43
I find it hard to come up with something about Ex Machina – Vaughan is doing a great job of writing, Harris is doing a great job on art and the story is gripping, as Mayor Hundred comes up with a radical solution to the rat problem, which he thinks is related to an old nemesis. This is a very good comic book that will be missed when it finishes soon, but it's not ending without giving us a good story on the way.



Herogasm #2
I'm reading this because Ennis has promised that this will change the status quo in The Boys but I haven't taken much enjoyment out of these two first issues. The orgy stuff is just silly now – surely one issue was enough? – and McCrea's art still doesn't match his Hitman days. If it wasn't for the fact that the actual target of Butcher's plan is revealed in this issue (as well as the arrival of the Vice-President and the reveal that he is being lined up to be for the top job, and the soliciting of Payback for the storyline currently in The Boys), it would be a bit of a waste, something that is unusual for Ennis. I hope it picks up.

Incognito #4
It's always good to see a new comic from Brubaker and Phillips, and this keeps up the excellent hit rate. This one sees Zack being returned to the power-sapping drugs by the good guys, who want to use him as bait for the bad guys, we learn more about the methods of Professor Zeppelin and about Black Death himself, before Zack is rescued by Ava Destruction, meaning things are going to get hectic next issue. People may want more Criminal, but I'm enjoying this just as much and it's a lot of fun. A great package, as always.

Jack of Fables #35
And that's my last issue of Jack of Fables. If this wasn't part of a calculated effort to make me buy Jack, I might have enjoyed it – there are some nice jokes (including the extra page for Blue Ox: 'This is awkward.'), we get to see Bigby let loose on the Genres and Deus Ex Machina makes an appearance (to let us know how things will be sorted out in the final issue of the crossover) – but I was already antagonistic towards it because of why it exists in the first place. At least it's over and Fables can get back on track now.

Tomorrow, the comics from the week after, just to condense time lines.

Blogcation

I was hoping to have reviews of this week's comics up before I took an official, planned, no, honest, holiday from blogging for a week or so, but it was not to be. The carpet in the flat needs removing and new floor needs laying, so I need a week to do this (and probably another week after that to recover). I doubt I'll have the energy to read comics or books or watch films or TV, but I definitely won't be able to write about them afterwards. Anyway, you'll be too busy talking about whatever news comes out of HeroesCon, so it won't be too much of a struggle for you. See you soon.

From A Library: Catching Up With Some Trade Paperbacks

For as long as I've been a member of my local library (about three years now), it has been free to reserve a book using their online system and I have used that to the full – the library is part of the London borough libraries, so I could get books from all over London even if my own didn't have it. If you look at the 'From A Library' tag, you'll see the extent to which I have taken advantage of this. However, as of this month, they are charging £1.20 per book to reserve an item online, which isn't a huge sum but it feels enormous after getting it for free. Therefore, I've been cramming in as many books as I could get my hands on before the deadline. Here are a few.

JLA: That Was Now, This Is Then (JLA: Classified #50–54) by Roger Stern & John Byrne

This is some old school comic books, as if Stern dug up an old script and dusted it off without changing it much. There are narrative captions explaining 'J'onn J'onzz, the justly famed Martian Manhunter from Mars' is 'altering his density ... like a ghost' while the picture shows exactly that. There is ropey dialogue (Wally West: 'I'm just quick – like a flash! Ha! I made a funny' [Erm, no, you didn't]) that feels at least 20 years old; I'm not sure if it's supposed to be deliberately old-fashioned or not. Byrne's art, once cutting-edge, is no more and he seems to deliberately reference old comic book art – like the last page of the second issue, with the disembodied faces of league members shocked at seeing Superman being knocked down by their foe. Byrne is still a good artist, but his stock bodies and faces peek through more than normal, and the grimaces on his characters' faces are starting to look ludicrous. He can design a good page but they've gone overboard for the last issue, where the two different time frames of the story switch and juxtapose and mirror each other to the point of confusion – it's ambitious but slightly annoying. They don't make them like they used to, for a reason.


Red Razors by Mark Millar and Steve Yeowell – so ho-hum, it's not getting a complete entry. For Millar completists and people who want to see Millar's development (if you can call it that) and his early obsession with pop culture infusing everything (I'm sure he gets Yeowell to draw one of the characters like Eminem ...)


Ultimate X-Men Volume 9: The Tempest (Ultimate X-Men #46–49) by Brian K Vaughan and Brandon Peterson

In his proposal at the back of this collection, Vaughan states that he wanted to make Ultimate Sinister 'the scariest character in the Ultimate universe'. I'm afraid he didn't – Sinister is still silly, he just has some defined and dangerous powers. We are led to believe that he hallucinates Apocalypse, who tells him to kill mutants for him, only for the reveal at the end to be that he is supposedly real. Which doesn't work as well as Vaughan believes. The stories in the Ultimate universe are supposed to be new with no link to the old, but they still feel like minor tweaks on old tales: Storm goes leather and gets a haircut, just like in the 616 universe, but here because Beast died; Dazzler is still whiny and annoying, although she is drunken and tattooed; Northstar is still annoying but at least he is allowed to be openly gay now. This is a small story trying to be bigger – Vaughan wanted to create a good impression so people would read Runaways – but it doesn't succeed, particularly the anti-climactic last chapter, which has some preachiness thrown in to remind you of the Claremont days. Peterson provides strong art – slick, smooth, dynamic, pretty, although he draws women's legs too long (there's a panel of Kitty, in a completely inappropriate bikini for swimming laps in the mansion's pool, in which her teenage legs appear to be responsible for three-quarters of her body), but the rest of the work is nice superhero comics.


Ultimate Annuals Volume 1

Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual 1 by Mark Millar and Jae Lee; Ultimate X-Men Annual 1 by Brian K Vaughan and Tom Raney; Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Brook; The Ultimates Annual 1 by Mark Millar and Steve Dillon.

Millar provides two annuals in this collection, both of which are supposed to be more substantial than they actually are, and both of which are worth reading for the art. The Fantastic Four story is the Ultimate Inhumans but it's a bit dull, and it's only Lee's stylings that making it interesting to look at. The Ultimates story is a non-story about Nick Fury, to show how bad ass he is, but as an excuse to examine the behind-the-scenes of the Ultimates world. Dillon's art is the usual high quality but his superhero work never seems as strong as his non-superhero art. The X-Men story is a very silly story about Rogue and Gambit, with Ultimate Juggernaut attacking them and Gambit sacrificing himself to get Juggernaut, which doesn't feel remotely like his character, before Rogue kisses him and then absorbs him (like the 616 universe equivalent with Carol Danvers). Raney's art is okay but but doesn't have the pizazz of his earlier work. The Spider-Man story makes up for all of this by being a totally adorable and charming story that you wouldn't believe came from the computer of Bendis. Kitty Pryde and Peter Parker go on a date and start their relationship, with some superhero hijinks along the way, of course. It is quite, quite delightful and leaves you with a great big smile plastered across your face. Brooks isn't an artist who I've seen before but he does a great job here, especially as he draws his teens as actually teens, rather than small adults.

That's enough to be getting on with. Lots, lots, lots more to follow, so prepare yourself.

Films: Telling You What I've Seen Recently

Apart from not having the ability to write about films every week, I don't know if I have enough to say for a post dedicated to the film. So here are a few thoughts on films I've been watching in the cinema lately, with more to come (at some point).

State of Play

Although I am British, I never saw the original television mini-series, so I came to this completely fresh. It is a well-made thriller, with a crusading journalist (Russell Crowe with silly long hair and a messy car and desk, apparently requirements for a job in newspapers) helping his former room-mate, Ben Affleck (who are obviously not the same age), who is now a senator whose aide has died while Affleck is heading an investigation into a suspect company with government connections and it leaks that he was having an affair with her, despite being married to the beautiful Robin Wright Penn. It is updated by having a journalist who does the newspaper blog (Rachel McAdams) becoming part of the investigation, and Helen Mirren does her normal accent even though it is set in Washington, DC. There are nice turns from Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels, in addition to all the leads turning in good performances, and Kevin Macdonald handles everything with aplomb, confirming his move to mainstream cinema after the documentaries and The Last King of Scotland. The only thing that disrupts the flow is the presence of Brennan Brown in a small role – British audiences are so used to his role as the Hollywood Producer in the Orange mobile phone cinema adverts that you expect him to sell you video messaging in the middle of the film.

Rating: DAVE


I Love You, Man

Because I have what is effectively a season ticket to a cinema chain, I try to watch a film in the cinema every week. Times and availabilities of films can affect my choices, which is why I ended up seeing this. It had got okay reviews, and I like Paul Rudd, but I rarely see comedies in the cinema – humour is very subjective, and trying to make everybody happy with jokes is not going to work. It was a similar feeling here – I could tell when the jokes arrived but I didn’t guffaw, and neither did most of the audience. The story was a little different – a man (Paul Rudd) who doesn’t have what the Yanks determine as a ‘best male friend’ (although he has always got on well with females), and therefore no option for best man when he proposes to his girlfriend, meaning he has to find someone to fit the position. After ‘man dates’ that go awry, he finds Sydney (Jason Segel), with whom they bond over the music of Rush, and Rudd spends more time with his new mate than his fiancée, thus providing the film with some sort of dramatic plot device. There are some chuckles here and there, and a surprising number of faces you know (Jaime Pressley, Jon Favreau [who is looking big], JK Simmons, Jane Curtin), but it’s not a film that merits going to the cinema to see it. There are no huge laughs, no big moments, and the story feels forced – Segel’s character is a cipher who just exists for the sake of being in the movie and allowing Rudd to have his story arc. Not awful but not great.

Rating: VID


12 Rounds

In addition to the excuse for I Love You, Man (re: unlimited ticket), this article [LINK] where Shane Black lays down the rules for a good action film is also to blame for me seeing this in the cinema: it is worded in such a way that it makes you think there is a connection between Black and the film. There is not. This is a real throwback to 1980s action flicks, which uses the tropes from such films as Die Hard (ordinary cop has to battle criminal mastermind using one crime to disguise a heist), Die Hard With A Vengeance (criminal mastermind has a personal grudge against cop) and Speed (cop is constantly running around to criminal’s plan – the cop in this film even wears a similar ensemble to Keanu in Speed, with a white t-shirt under an open shirt and dockers). The Die Hard connection is apt because it is directed by Renny Harlin, who directed the lesser Die Hard 2: Die Harder (but he also directed a Shane Black film, The Long Kiss Goodnight, so we can forgive his poor resume), and he throws the camera around and blows things up in a workman-like fashion. The ‘star’ of the film is John Cena – a WWE wrestler who, his backers at WWE hope, is going to be the next Dwayne Johnson. He is not. His acting range includes the screwed-face of anger all the way to showing emotion by closing his eyes and tilting his head downwards. Not for him the charisma of The Rock. The freakiest thing about him is the size of his hands – they’re enormous. When he holds his girlfriend’s head in his hands to kiss her, they are bigger than her head. It’s made worse by the fact that he has to spend a lot of the film with a mobile phone in his hand – it just highlights the great big flappy enormity of his mitts, making it look like he’s holding a child’s toy. The rest of him is big, too – there’s no getting over the fact that he looks like a wrestler. Actually, his facial features had me disconcerted for a while before it hit me, halfway through the film: he looks like a steroid-pumped version of Matt Damon, particularly in The Bourne Identity, with the cropped hair; if you inflated Damon’s head and bone structure, you would have Cena. It’s bizarre. As for the film, it’s pretty mindless nonsense, with an insanely detailed plan from the villain to cover up his even more complicated scheme to rob stuff – you are given an idiotic short-cut as to the level of his planning genius when he identifies the winning moves in a chess game he walks past in the street with one glance before explaining it to the players. I felt sorry for the actress playing his girlfriend, who is kept hostage throughout the film as the impetus for our protagonist to jump through hoops, and it looks like the filmmakers felt the same way because they give her some ‘tough chick’ stuff at the very end of the film – for some reason, she can fly a helicopter, which is key to the villain’s plan. However, as she helps her man take down the crim, she says some of the most stupid things imaginable when you are flying a helicopter as your boyfriend fights your kidnapper in the back, and doesn’t seem to realise that the reason where headphones with communicators in helicopters is because they can’t hear what you are saying due to the noise of the enormous rotors above them. A very silly film that I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I saw on the big screen.

Rating: DA