I haven't read Dear Billy, so I'll have to take Brian's word on that one. I have read Ennis's Hellblazer and agree with regards to Kit. I did find her a little one-note in her relationship with John, but she served a specific role and filled it well. Her later reppearance (of sorts) in issue 200 was even more terrible because she had been left out of the book for so long.
I guess I'll take issue with the Tulip stuff, because while she is clearly the 'least' of the three leads, I don't think she's as shunted to the side as Brian suggests (I could be reading that a little harsher than he intends). Part of the point of the series is that she gets shunted to the side by Jesse and everything we see with her is meant to show how wrong that is. She can handle a weapon, she keeps a cool head, and she saves his ass a time or two. She can also put Jesse in his place and keep him grounded. Beyond him, she functions just well. She's the one outside enough to see through Cassidy (though his behaviour doesn't help) and, often, sees things more clearly than Jesse, because she's not weighed down by his macho bullshit. It probably doesn't count per se, but one of my favourite panels in the whole series is in the final issue when she sees Jesse crying. That reaction may be the best thing that Steve Dillon has ever drawn. And you don't get that sort of reaction on my part if all that I can about is Jesse. Everything about that panel was earned because of Tulip and her story. Her childhood, her father, her saving her friend from date rape, her relationship with Jesse, her time outside of Jesse... it was a moment where you could see that maybe she would be happy and, goddamn, I wanted that. It didn't seem fair that Jesse could fuck that up and she would have to pay the price, too. It was never just about Jesse... if anything, for me, that moment was more about her and it working out for her.
If Ennis has one big failing with women it's that, too often, they exist only to point out the flaws in his views on masculinity... while then enforcing them by being with the men who espouse them. They sometimes seem to simply put up the token arguments before falling into bed with the very men they were criticising pages before. That is something very problematic and he's never really gotten rid of entirely.
In 30 minutes, I will tell you that Cyclops was right. Tim O'Neil will probably tell you that he was wrong. Trouble's a'brewing.
My mom donated and put the total up to $920! And she doesn't even love comics. She just loves me. Most of you love comics AND love (like? respect? tolerate?) me, so what's your excuse?
Also: we're halfway done. (Is that right? Only halfway? Oh lord...)
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Showing posts with label brian cronin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brian cronin. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Blogathon 24: Garth Ennis's Best Female Characters (Brian Cronin Guest Post)
While you and I both love the work of Garth Ennis, I think it is a reasonable criticism that as good as his work is, it tends to be a bit on the male-centric side. There is little doubt that one of the driving forces of much of his work is the bond of friendship between two men and how the said two friends play off of each other. That's the driving force of three of his most famous works, Preacher, Hitman and the recently finished The Boys. However, because that aspect of his work is so prominent, it also leads people to dismiss his work with women, which is unfortunate, because he HAS done some strong work with female characters in his career, including one of the most impressive handlings of rape that I can recall ever reading (not just in comics, but period). Here are my takes on the two best female characters Ennis has created.
Interestingly enough, his first major mainstream work, the work that led to him having the freedom to create Preacher in the first place, also introduced one of his best female characters, Katherine "Kit" Ryan, one-time girlfriend to John Constantine. Kit is from Belfast. She met John when they were both still teenagers but she was dating a friend of his. Years later, when the friend died, Kit and John became involved in a serious relationship. The greatness of Kit comes both from her steely resolve and her frank nature. She is willing to put up with a lot of shit for the people that she loves, but at the same time, it is clear that there is an imaginary line in the sand that she will not let people break and once they do, she is willing to cut people off, even people she loves. With John, that line mostly involved his dealings with the occult. If John were to have a real life with her, he had to be willing to give up his occult dealings and he, as much as he could, really did try to do so for a time. However, this being John Constantine, shit happened and Kit was forced to break things up. Really, in a lot of ways, what it seemed like was that Ennis just loved the character too much to see her be written by a different writer, It is no coincidence that she left Hellblazer at the same time that Ennis stopped writing the book. It is a testament to how well Ennis developed Kit that the editors of Hellblazer and future writers were willing to respect the way that Ennis essentially put her aside for protection. In a comics world where the supporting characters of previous writers rarely get respected and typically get brought back simply to kill (which actually has happened a number of times in Hellblazer itself - very few people who had extended dealings with John Constantine live to tell the tale for too long), Kit was different. She was so interesting that Ennis and his Hellblazer collaborator, Steve DIllon, even wrote a one-shot solo story about Kit featuring her time back in Belfast (Where she left after things with John ended). It is a compelling tale of Kit and her siblings and the things Kit was willing to do to protect them. It also, of course, deals prominently with the conflict in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics living there.
Tulip O'Hare is one of the most popular female characters Ennis has created, but while she was certainly a force to be reckoned with in Preacher, like I noted before, the driving force of Preacher was the relationship between the title character (Jesse Custer) and the Irish vampire Cassidy. Tulip definitely got a bit of the short straw when it came to the great character work in the title.
The female character that stands out the most for me from Ennis is a recent creation, Carrie Sutton, of the mini-series Battlefiends: Dear Billy (as a quick aside - let me express my gratitude that a series of books like Battlefields even EXISTS. Dynamite takes good care of Ennis by giving him these series of war comics where he can tell whatever kind of war story that he wants. He hasn't had this type of avenue for his work since Vertigo's War Stories, which were almost a decade ago. The first Battlefields mini-series, The Night Witches, is also about a strong female character, one of the many female aviators for Russia during World War II, who were forced to use such outdated planes that they actually developed plans where they would cut their engines and just glide into attacks since their old engines made too much noise. Their silent attacks on German forces earned them the name "Night Witches"). In Dear Billy, Ennis explores the lesser-explored aspects of war, the treatment of female prisoners by the Japanese. Carrie was a nurse who was captured with a group of other nurses in Singapore and after they were all raped, they were gunned down, Only Carrie survived. Carrie eventually develops a relationship with Billy Wedgewood, a British pilot who was tortured by the Japanese. Wedgewood was stabbed so many times by Japanese bayonets that it is shocking that he survived. Here, though, is where Ennis gets into the disgusting yet fascinating issue of surviving rape. For lack of a better term, both Carrie and Billy were violently pierced by the Japanese. However, as Ennis rightly notes, there is no real comparison when it comes to actually being raped. Where Billy is a damaged person, he is able to heal. You can cure his stab wounds. You cannot cure a rape. Ennis gets that and the series follows the fact that while they love each other, Carrie and Billy are on two very different paths. Billy is like a broken chair. You replace the leg and you have a working chair. Carrie is like a broken mirror. You can't ever truly repair what happened to her. Carrie tries to explain herself to Billy through a letter (the "Dear Billy" of the comic's title comes from the letter, naturally) but as you go through the series until its tragic ending, you know that this powerful, fascinating woman is just too broken. But by the time the series ends, you will come to enjoy Carrie so much that the depravity of her rape feels that much more painful, that it robbed us of a woman like this.
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Interestingly enough, his first major mainstream work, the work that led to him having the freedom to create Preacher in the first place, also introduced one of his best female characters, Katherine "Kit" Ryan, one-time girlfriend to John Constantine. Kit is from Belfast. She met John when they were both still teenagers but she was dating a friend of his. Years later, when the friend died, Kit and John became involved in a serious relationship. The greatness of Kit comes both from her steely resolve and her frank nature. She is willing to put up with a lot of shit for the people that she loves, but at the same time, it is clear that there is an imaginary line in the sand that she will not let people break and once they do, she is willing to cut people off, even people she loves. With John, that line mostly involved his dealings with the occult. If John were to have a real life with her, he had to be willing to give up his occult dealings and he, as much as he could, really did try to do so for a time. However, this being John Constantine, shit happened and Kit was forced to break things up. Really, in a lot of ways, what it seemed like was that Ennis just loved the character too much to see her be written by a different writer, It is no coincidence that she left Hellblazer at the same time that Ennis stopped writing the book. It is a testament to how well Ennis developed Kit that the editors of Hellblazer and future writers were willing to respect the way that Ennis essentially put her aside for protection. In a comics world where the supporting characters of previous writers rarely get respected and typically get brought back simply to kill (which actually has happened a number of times in Hellblazer itself - very few people who had extended dealings with John Constantine live to tell the tale for too long), Kit was different. She was so interesting that Ennis and his Hellblazer collaborator, Steve DIllon, even wrote a one-shot solo story about Kit featuring her time back in Belfast (Where she left after things with John ended). It is a compelling tale of Kit and her siblings and the things Kit was willing to do to protect them. It also, of course, deals prominently with the conflict in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics living there.
Tulip O'Hare is one of the most popular female characters Ennis has created, but while she was certainly a force to be reckoned with in Preacher, like I noted before, the driving force of Preacher was the relationship between the title character (Jesse Custer) and the Irish vampire Cassidy. Tulip definitely got a bit of the short straw when it came to the great character work in the title.
The female character that stands out the most for me from Ennis is a recent creation, Carrie Sutton, of the mini-series Battlefiends: Dear Billy (as a quick aside - let me express my gratitude that a series of books like Battlefields even EXISTS. Dynamite takes good care of Ennis by giving him these series of war comics where he can tell whatever kind of war story that he wants. He hasn't had this type of avenue for his work since Vertigo's War Stories, which were almost a decade ago. The first Battlefields mini-series, The Night Witches, is also about a strong female character, one of the many female aviators for Russia during World War II, who were forced to use such outdated planes that they actually developed plans where they would cut their engines and just glide into attacks since their old engines made too much noise. Their silent attacks on German forces earned them the name "Night Witches"). In Dear Billy, Ennis explores the lesser-explored aspects of war, the treatment of female prisoners by the Japanese. Carrie was a nurse who was captured with a group of other nurses in Singapore and after they were all raped, they were gunned down, Only Carrie survived. Carrie eventually develops a relationship with Billy Wedgewood, a British pilot who was tortured by the Japanese. Wedgewood was stabbed so many times by Japanese bayonets that it is shocking that he survived. Here, though, is where Ennis gets into the disgusting yet fascinating issue of surviving rape. For lack of a better term, both Carrie and Billy were violently pierced by the Japanese. However, as Ennis rightly notes, there is no real comparison when it comes to actually being raped. Where Billy is a damaged person, he is able to heal. You can cure his stab wounds. You cannot cure a rape. Ennis gets that and the series follows the fact that while they love each other, Carrie and Billy are on two very different paths. Billy is like a broken chair. You replace the leg and you have a working chair. Carrie is like a broken mirror. You can't ever truly repair what happened to her. Carrie tries to explain herself to Billy through a letter (the "Dear Billy" of the comic's title comes from the letter, naturally) but as you go through the series until its tragic ending, you know that this powerful, fascinating woman is just too broken. But by the time the series ends, you will come to enjoy Carrie so much that the depravity of her rape feels that much more painful, that it robbed us of a woman like this.
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Blogathon 23: Garth Ennis's Best Female Characters (Part 1)
Anyone who's read some Garth Ennis comics for a decent period of time knows that Ennis seems focused around a certain type of masculinity. It's an older sort where men are men and they drink and hurt bad people and say "ma'am" and treat ladies with respect. It also means often keeping emotions bottled up and act condescending to women. Preacher dealt with that in a big way. The Boys did it again with a slightly different take. Yet, despite this recurring pattern, Ennis does have a habit of writing strong women who act as counterbalance to his men -- often pointing out the faults in this particular view of men and woman, too.
I want to focus on Annie January in The Boys, because she seems like a possible target to point out where Ennis writes women poorly, mostly because of her introduction: she performs oral sex on three men to get into a Justice League-esque superhero team. Ennis has said that the character began as one-note joke. Another example of how horrible and crude the supes in that world are. Someone who would be corrupted (willingly to a degree) and really just another supe for Hughie to see and feel disgust at. But, something changed and, soon, Annie reappeared and, slowly, became a more rounded character, someone who struggled with the choice she made, what says about her, who she thought she was, and where she is. Over the course of the series, she developed into her own person who falls in love with Hughie and, while understanding his issues with her actions, stops apologising and says that he needs to move on, because that's something she did. She regrets it, but she's not going to obsess over it and allow it to determine every aspect of her life. If there's a weakness to the character, it's her inability to move past Hughie. It's understandable given that he was a genuine moment of kindness at a time when she needed it. She even recognises this weakness. But, what I have to wonder is if that's really cause for criticism. Since when is anyone perfect and sound in their judgment, especially when it comes to matters of the heart? She fell in love and can't get past that. It winds up happy in the end when her idiot boyfriend gets over himself. I don't know what anyone else would want, besides that perfect embodiment of everything righteous and wonderful in a woman.
And what are those qualities, by the way? For me, someone making a horrible mistake and then doing their best to learn and grow from it is about as close as it gets.
More than other Ennis women like Kit or Tulip, there's a bit more of a flawed streak running through Annie and I appreciate that. If she were a male character, no one would pay a second look to those flaws. They would simply see an interesting character. A well-rounded character even. Look at her other half, Hughie. He is the entry-point character of The Boys and is horribly flawed. He's narrow-minded, whiny, and selfish. He doesn't always do the right thing and struggles. All of which make him more 'real' and interesting. The relationship between the two is so compelling and engrossing because they're both so flawed. Neither is perfect... except maybe for each other. (Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...!)
In 30 minutes, Brian Cronin will share his thoughts on this topic.
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
I want to focus on Annie January in The Boys, because she seems like a possible target to point out where Ennis writes women poorly, mostly because of her introduction: she performs oral sex on three men to get into a Justice League-esque superhero team. Ennis has said that the character began as one-note joke. Another example of how horrible and crude the supes in that world are. Someone who would be corrupted (willingly to a degree) and really just another supe for Hughie to see and feel disgust at. But, something changed and, soon, Annie reappeared and, slowly, became a more rounded character, someone who struggled with the choice she made, what says about her, who she thought she was, and where she is. Over the course of the series, she developed into her own person who falls in love with Hughie and, while understanding his issues with her actions, stops apologising and says that he needs to move on, because that's something she did. She regrets it, but she's not going to obsess over it and allow it to determine every aspect of her life. If there's a weakness to the character, it's her inability to move past Hughie. It's understandable given that he was a genuine moment of kindness at a time when she needed it. She even recognises this weakness. But, what I have to wonder is if that's really cause for criticism. Since when is anyone perfect and sound in their judgment, especially when it comes to matters of the heart? She fell in love and can't get past that. It winds up happy in the end when her idiot boyfriend gets over himself. I don't know what anyone else would want, besides that perfect embodiment of everything righteous and wonderful in a woman.
And what are those qualities, by the way? For me, someone making a horrible mistake and then doing their best to learn and grow from it is about as close as it gets.
More than other Ennis women like Kit or Tulip, there's a bit more of a flawed streak running through Annie and I appreciate that. If she were a male character, no one would pay a second look to those flaws. They would simply see an interesting character. A well-rounded character even. Look at her other half, Hughie. He is the entry-point character of The Boys and is horribly flawed. He's narrow-minded, whiny, and selfish. He doesn't always do the right thing and struggles. All of which make him more 'real' and interesting. The relationship between the two is so compelling and engrossing because they're both so flawed. Neither is perfect... except maybe for each other. (Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...!)
In 30 minutes, Brian Cronin will share his thoughts on this topic.
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Saturday, July 14, 2012
A Few Links on Your Saturday Night
1. I did this week's mini-reviews and star ratings exclusively for Comics Should be Good. I guess it becomes a less funny joke when it's an exclusive for another site.
2. The latest ...And the Superhuman Review is up with Brian Cronin and I discussing Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2.
3. Alec Berry and the Guttersnipes have departed Spandexless Reads, mostly because we were thrown out since it's a column meant to spotlight what the Spandexless writers are reading and everyone who participated (save Alec) doesn't write for the site. Of course, Alec asked us all to participate because no one who writes for the site would. Logically, you'd think they would simply go "Hey, do any of you want to contribute more than this?" to work around that little problem in concept and execution, but they didn't. So we're gone. I'll miss doing those capsule reviews of "The Curse of the Crimson Corsair." They amused me. But, I was only there because Alec asked and I like Alec, so I don't mind too much. Still...
Later
2. The latest ...And the Superhuman Review is up with Brian Cronin and I discussing Before Watchmen: Minutemen #2.
3. Alec Berry and the Guttersnipes have departed Spandexless Reads, mostly because we were thrown out since it's a column meant to spotlight what the Spandexless writers are reading and everyone who participated (save Alec) doesn't write for the site. Of course, Alec asked us all to participate because no one who writes for the site would. Logically, you'd think they would simply go "Hey, do any of you want to contribute more than this?" to work around that little problem in concept and execution, but they didn't. So we're gone. I'll miss doing those capsule reviews of "The Curse of the Crimson Corsair." They amused me. But, I was only there because Alec asked and I like Alec, so I don't mind too much. Still...
Later
Thursday, June 21, 2012
EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of June 20, 2012
The third "...And the Superhuman Review" where Brian and I discuss Before Watchmen: Comedian #1 is up. No contribution to Spandexless Reads this week, because my internet was down for a couple of days -- same reason why Random Thoughts didn't return this week. Ah well. The world survived somehow.
Casanova: Avaritia #4: I reread the first three issues on Tuesday and... I don't know, man. It feels like running away. Because it is running away. First, he sends his mom and sister away. Then, he almost saves them all by unmaking himself. Now, he runs away... In some ways, Avaritia has been a mess, spinning out from a single concept/mood towards this ending that seems like it should be big and mean something like the two before it and... it doesn't. It doesn't feel like much, man. It feels like running away. Then again, from a certain angle, that's what this series has always felt like to an extent, except the best moments came when characters didn't try to escape, didn't try to leave, they just stood and took it. I don't know, man. [Great art, though, of course]
Daredevil #14: Great-looking comic and... I... don't care...? That's how it feels when a new issue of this comes out. That whole Omega Drive bullshit just dragged me down. What began as a series that felt a little special quickly became like the rest... not really fair or anything, because this is an enjoyable comic. I loved the final page. Chris Samnee draws very, very well. Mark Waid's writing is clever. But! But but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but... [But]
Journey into Mystery #640: The finish seemed obvious a mile off, but some clever writing here nonetheless. I like the idea of old gods vs. new gods, especially when it's not about simple destruction/replacement or the idea that the new gods are somehow worse than the old ones. Neil Gaiman has done some nice work on the matter and I like this take, too. [***1/2]
The Unwritten #38: Still unsure about the new 'season' of the title. Some of the underlying bits are nice, especially Tom being kept off-panel, but it also feels like... spinning wheels somehow? Like there isn't a clear idea yet of what this book is about. It could be about the idea of Leviathan dying and what that means... but that's not there yet. Odds are the whole arc will lay things out, but this is what I'm stuck with right now. [**3/4]
Winter Soldier #7: As far as car chases/highway action scenes go in comics, this was pretty well done. [***3/4]
Wonder Woman #10: There's a part of me trying not to laugh about this comic being about Wonder Woman and the gang teaching Hades to love himself. That's... so fucking weird, man. But, Diana's "I love everyone!" was fantastic. Gotta just embrace it, y'know? Consistently good comic. [***3/4]
Later
Casanova: Avaritia #4: I reread the first three issues on Tuesday and... I don't know, man. It feels like running away. Because it is running away. First, he sends his mom and sister away. Then, he almost saves them all by unmaking himself. Now, he runs away... In some ways, Avaritia has been a mess, spinning out from a single concept/mood towards this ending that seems like it should be big and mean something like the two before it and... it doesn't. It doesn't feel like much, man. It feels like running away. Then again, from a certain angle, that's what this series has always felt like to an extent, except the best moments came when characters didn't try to escape, didn't try to leave, they just stood and took it. I don't know, man. [Great art, though, of course]
Daredevil #14: Great-looking comic and... I... don't care...? That's how it feels when a new issue of this comes out. That whole Omega Drive bullshit just dragged me down. What began as a series that felt a little special quickly became like the rest... not really fair or anything, because this is an enjoyable comic. I loved the final page. Chris Samnee draws very, very well. Mark Waid's writing is clever. But! But but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but... [But]
Journey into Mystery #640: The finish seemed obvious a mile off, but some clever writing here nonetheless. I like the idea of old gods vs. new gods, especially when it's not about simple destruction/replacement or the idea that the new gods are somehow worse than the old ones. Neil Gaiman has done some nice work on the matter and I like this take, too. [***1/2]
The Unwritten #38: Still unsure about the new 'season' of the title. Some of the underlying bits are nice, especially Tom being kept off-panel, but it also feels like... spinning wheels somehow? Like there isn't a clear idea yet of what this book is about. It could be about the idea of Leviathan dying and what that means... but that's not there yet. Odds are the whole arc will lay things out, but this is what I'm stuck with right now. [**3/4]
Winter Soldier #7: As far as car chases/highway action scenes go in comics, this was pretty well done. [***3/4]
Wonder Woman #10: There's a part of me trying not to laugh about this comic being about Wonder Woman and the gang teaching Hades to love himself. That's... so fucking weird, man. But, Diana's "I love everyone!" was fantastic. Gotta just embrace it, y'know? Consistently good comic. [***3/4]
Later
Thursday, June 14, 2012
EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of June 13, 2012
The second "...And the Superhuman Review" is up at Comics Should be Good. It was amusing to watch the comments section of the first one devolve into a bunch of idiots saying stupid things. My favourites were the comments that basically said "Contracts are too hard to understand, so Alan Moore was screwed" and "DC fucked Alan Moore by not forcing him to hire a lawyer to make sure he understood what he was signing." And I say that those are stupid things to say in the broadest sense, looking at ANY situation, not the DC/Alan Moore one specifically. I wonder how long it will take before the comments sections for those posts are dead, because no one wants to talk about the situation surrounding Before Watchmen... My bet is never.
Avengers Assemble #4: Why the fuck did they get rid of Star-Lord's helmet? That helmet was badass. Not as badass as Thanos, though. Bendis comes pretty close to getting the character right here -- much better than the Dr. Strange attempt from Avengers. Of course, Bendis doesn't have to get it right, because this Thanos is a clone. Obviously. [***1/2]
Batman #10: Thomas Wayne, Jr. It was at that reveal that I officially decided that this was a little too similar to Grant Morrison's Black Glove/Dr. Hurt story. It's like the mainstream movie adaptation of that story. Something a bit more easy to swallow by the masses. Something that doesn't quite hold together as well. After all, halfway through this issue, Batman suddenly solves the mystery and we all collectively went "Wait... there was a mystery?" Not that there's something inherently bad about a story recalling a previous one; it's just that... "Batman RIP" is only, what, three years old? Part of me wonders how long it will be before we get a resurrected Dr. Hurt teaming with undead Thomas Wayne, Jr... (Also, if you JUST read Batman, the Court of Owls was a group with a lot of build-up and almost no payoff.) [***]
Captain America #13: The panel where Henry Gyrich screams "I'm the hero here! Me!" as he's arrested sums up that character in the most profound way that I can imagine. [***1/2]
Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #10: I forgot when Matt Kindt was taking off (and so did the person who proofread the credits on the cover) and I'm glad that I stuck around. This was a good start to his run -- not radically different, but definitely a shift in storytelling. I love the flashback/hallucination stuff. AND(!) that final page...! Awesome. Glad to see Ponticelli sticking around, too. [***3/4]
The Massive #1: This was Brian Wood Week at the shop or something with this series kicking off on the same week that he took over Ultimate X-Men and X-Men. Unfortunately, my shop didn't have any rack copies of X-Men, so I only got two-thirds of the experience. This was a decent first issue. It didn't quite address the central idea of the series, but it laid a lot of groundwork. Definitely a good enough hook for me to stick around -- and I do dig that art. [***1/2]
The Mighty Thor #15: I wish this were nothing but Amora and Don Blake. I'm kind of putting in times right now until the crossover with Journey into Mystery, I guess. [**1/4]
Spider-Men #1: A total impulse purchase. I was curious. This was your typical first issue where you get to see the premise you already knew played out. But, I do enjoy the way that Bendis writes Spider-Man -- and once the comic has him fighting Mysterio, it hums along nicely. The ending was a nice, especially the "Thanks, but that costume is in bad taste..." scene. And the comic looks pretty, pretty good, too. I'm a sucker for stories where alternate versions of characters meet. AND where they're not zombies or vampires. Wait -- is Miles Morales a vampire or zombie? [***1/4]
Ultimate X-Men #13: It's funny jumping into this book as a reader of The Ultimates where the southern states seceding doesn't seem like an anti-mutant Sentinels thing -- it seems like a nation panicked over Washington getting blown to bits thing. For the first 2/3s of this issue, I had little interest in buying issue 14, but I like the way it built at the end there, making those first 2/3s seem necessary and worthwhile. You don't see that too often and Wood pulled it off. This could be an interesting little book. [***1/4]
Untold Tales of the Punisher MAX #1: I said that there need be no more Frank Castle stories, but this isn't a Frank Castle story. Like most of these one-shots (and this feels like a one-shot that got put into this mini-series) featuring the Punisher (MAX or otherwise), he appears at the beginning and the end only long enough to kill folks. Otherwise, it's someone else's story. I dug this. I like Roland Boschi's art -- especially when he's working with Dan Brown on colours. The writing was solid. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy this and, then, it was in my pull file, so... And I have to admit, they've got a decent set of creators lined up for this title so far. I guess I'll ride it out... [***1/2]
Later
Avengers Assemble #4: Why the fuck did they get rid of Star-Lord's helmet? That helmet was badass. Not as badass as Thanos, though. Bendis comes pretty close to getting the character right here -- much better than the Dr. Strange attempt from Avengers. Of course, Bendis doesn't have to get it right, because this Thanos is a clone. Obviously. [***1/2]
Batman #10: Thomas Wayne, Jr. It was at that reveal that I officially decided that this was a little too similar to Grant Morrison's Black Glove/Dr. Hurt story. It's like the mainstream movie adaptation of that story. Something a bit more easy to swallow by the masses. Something that doesn't quite hold together as well. After all, halfway through this issue, Batman suddenly solves the mystery and we all collectively went "Wait... there was a mystery?" Not that there's something inherently bad about a story recalling a previous one; it's just that... "Batman RIP" is only, what, three years old? Part of me wonders how long it will be before we get a resurrected Dr. Hurt teaming with undead Thomas Wayne, Jr... (Also, if you JUST read Batman, the Court of Owls was a group with a lot of build-up and almost no payoff.) [***]
Captain America #13: The panel where Henry Gyrich screams "I'm the hero here! Me!" as he's arrested sums up that character in the most profound way that I can imagine. [***1/2]
Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #10: I forgot when Matt Kindt was taking off (and so did the person who proofread the credits on the cover) and I'm glad that I stuck around. This was a good start to his run -- not radically different, but definitely a shift in storytelling. I love the flashback/hallucination stuff. AND(!) that final page...! Awesome. Glad to see Ponticelli sticking around, too. [***3/4]
The Massive #1: This was Brian Wood Week at the shop or something with this series kicking off on the same week that he took over Ultimate X-Men and X-Men. Unfortunately, my shop didn't have any rack copies of X-Men, so I only got two-thirds of the experience. This was a decent first issue. It didn't quite address the central idea of the series, but it laid a lot of groundwork. Definitely a good enough hook for me to stick around -- and I do dig that art. [***1/2]
The Mighty Thor #15: I wish this were nothing but Amora and Don Blake. I'm kind of putting in times right now until the crossover with Journey into Mystery, I guess. [**1/4]
Spider-Men #1: A total impulse purchase. I was curious. This was your typical first issue where you get to see the premise you already knew played out. But, I do enjoy the way that Bendis writes Spider-Man -- and once the comic has him fighting Mysterio, it hums along nicely. The ending was a nice, especially the "Thanks, but that costume is in bad taste..." scene. And the comic looks pretty, pretty good, too. I'm a sucker for stories where alternate versions of characters meet. AND where they're not zombies or vampires. Wait -- is Miles Morales a vampire or zombie? [***1/4]
Ultimate X-Men #13: It's funny jumping into this book as a reader of The Ultimates where the southern states seceding doesn't seem like an anti-mutant Sentinels thing -- it seems like a nation panicked over Washington getting blown to bits thing. For the first 2/3s of this issue, I had little interest in buying issue 14, but I like the way it built at the end there, making those first 2/3s seem necessary and worthwhile. You don't see that too often and Wood pulled it off. This could be an interesting little book. [***1/4]
Untold Tales of the Punisher MAX #1: I said that there need be no more Frank Castle stories, but this isn't a Frank Castle story. Like most of these one-shots (and this feels like a one-shot that got put into this mini-series) featuring the Punisher (MAX or otherwise), he appears at the beginning and the end only long enough to kill folks. Otherwise, it's someone else's story. I dug this. I like Roland Boschi's art -- especially when he's working with Dan Brown on colours. The writing was solid. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy this and, then, it was in my pull file, so... And I have to admit, they've got a decent set of creators lined up for this title so far. I guess I'll ride it out... [***1/2]
Later
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Because "Riding the Gravy Train" was already taken...
Over at Comics Should be Good, the first "...And the Superhuman Review" on Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 is up. Every week, Brian Cronin and I will briefly review/discuss new issues of Before Watchmen. The title is Brian's and I like it. I was leaning more towards something a bit more childish involving the term "scab comics" or something. But, Brian is more mature than I --and less willing to be an asshole for the sake of it. Thank god.
And, over at Spandexless, I wrote about the first part of "The Curse of the Crimson Corsair" for Alec Berry's Spandexless Reads column. Alec's a good guy and, as his intro says, he's not thrilled to have Before Watchmen content in the column, but he's also on board with me writing about the strip there every week. Me, I'm looking at it as a challenge: how do you write about a serialised story that comes out every week in two pages? It's similar to writing about Wednesday Comics to a degree, I suppose; except, there, I was writing about it with Tim Callahan and we weren't limited to just one of the strips.
So, look for those every week.
And, over at Spandexless, I wrote about the first part of "The Curse of the Crimson Corsair" for Alec Berry's Spandexless Reads column. Alec's a good guy and, as his intro says, he's not thrilled to have Before Watchmen content in the column, but he's also on board with me writing about the strip there every week. Me, I'm looking at it as a challenge: how do you write about a serialised story that comes out every week in two pages? It's similar to writing about Wednesday Comics to a degree, I suppose; except, there, I was writing about it with Tim Callahan and we weren't limited to just one of the strips.
So, look for those every week.
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