CBR Review: Deadpool Team-Up #897

I recently reviewed Deadpool Team-Up #897 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Deadpool is a popular guy these days,hence this third ongoing of his, which proves that, if the people want to see familiar characters that they love in as many comics as possible, Marvel is more than happy to oblige despite the risk of releasing mediocre comics like Deadpool Team-Up #897. This time, it’s Deadpool teaming with the Ghost Riders (both Johnny and Danny) in a fairly by-the-books, cookie-cutter, not terribly entertaining adventure that combines Deadpool hired to kill someone, a carnival, and demonic possession. There’s not much more to this comic than that and even those elements fail to impress."

You can read the rest HERE!

Rated R Reviews: Siege #1

It's difficult to call Siege #1 a good comic or a absolute failure despite it being both at the same time. Have you read anything about Siege wherein the basic concept is explained? Then you've read the first issue. "Norman Osborn and company invade Asgard after he stages a disaster to make Asgard look like a threat." That's the concept of the whole crossover and it's also the content of the first issue. I just saved you four bucks. Literally nothing else happens. It happens in more detail and those details are presented well, but that's it. The concept is the content.

Does that make this a bad comic? Well, yeah. And no. I guess it depends on how you approach it: as a single issue or the first issue in a story. As a single issue, this one fails as it feels like a letdown providing nothing I didn't already know about the project. Instead of blowing me away and increasing my excitement, I was left underwhelmed and feeling a little cheated. I repeat: nothing happens that I didn't learn for free from the publisher and writer ahead of time. Nothing.

But, Bendis needs to set the story up and that means laying out the concept. He could have rushed it and crammed it into the first five pages just to move on, but that wouldn't have been any better. It's like this first issue is disappointing by necessity. It's a necessary component of the larger story, so we have to suck it up and deal with spending four bucks on a comic that offers nothing we didn't already know (assuming you're the type to pay attention to interviews... otherwise, I guess this doesn't actually apply to you... unless you heard the concept at all going into it). Is this the best way to kick off an event? Not at all as most of my excitement and enthusiasm is gone (and despite my cynical 'too cool for school' front, I was excited -- I spent 24 hours on Bendis's Avengers work this past summer, so it's clear where my interests lie). It's like hearing the concept of a TV show and the pilot simply spells out that concept while offering little new information. Years later, it will work better when put together with what follows, but right now? Horrible.

Siege #1 is presented with skill and confidence, but is so unsurprising that it left me bored. The concept is the content.

CBR Review: Siege: Embedded #1

I recently reviewed Siege: Embedded #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "With another Marvel event beginning, that can only mean one thing: it’s time for another Front Line book to provide that ‘man on the street’ perspective that Marvel is quite fond of. This time, the book is titled Siege: Embedded as the focus is shifted from Ben Urich to also including another member of his (putting it loosely) profession, Todd Keller, a blowhard TV pundit who is taken along with H.A.M.M.E.R. to invade Asgard after the disaster in Chicago depicted in Siege #1. This adds an interesting dynamic to the series, but isn’t delved into nough to make an impact in this issue."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR's Best 100 Comics of 2009 Unused Blurbs

In the rundown of best 100 comics of 2009 as determined by CBR's staff, five of the blurbs I submitted with my choices were used, leaving five unused (three featured on the list, two that didn't make it). So, I figured I'd present those here, in alphabetical order, just for fun:

The Boys (Written by Garth Ennis; art by Darick Robertson, Carlos Ezquerra, John McCrea, and Keith Burns; covers by Darick Robertson; published by Dynamite Entertainment)
Funny, satiric, sincere, touching, and violent as hell, this past year of The Boys wrap up the first half of the series, set up the second, and tell us the origins of many of the members. While poking fun at superheroes is nothing new, Garth Ennis and the stable of very talented artists he worked with this year do it with style and flair, and always deliver quality books. Plus, they made a fight with 'Nazi Superman' work where most would have failed.

Captain Britain & MI:13 (Written by Paul Cornell; art by Leonard Kirk, Mike Collins, Ardian Syaf; covers by Stuart Immonen and Mico Suayan; published by Marvel Comics)
The concluding storyline of the series, "Vampire State" showed just how creative and imaginative Paul Cornell is as a writer as he made Dracula and vampires seem fresh and original, often ending issues on cliffhangers that seemed too bold for a superhero comic. While this series sadly ended, it went out with class and a great ending rooted in the characters that Cornell and Kirk had built up over the book's year-and-a-half.

Irredeemable (Written by Mark Waid; art by Peter Krause; published by BOOM! Studios)
This series began as a simple 'what if Superman turned bad' book and has grown with each issue in complexity and quality. Waid is examining not just what it takes to be a hero, but how we build up and destroy our heroes, how one little mistake can destroy a lifetime of work, and how we don't simply demand our heroes be super, we demand they be perfect. Waid is delivering career-best work here and Peter Krause is establishing himself as a capable, highly skilled artist.

Scalped (Written by Jason Aaron; art by RM Guera, Davide Furnò, and Francesco Francavilla; covers by Jock; published by Vertigo)
The complex story of life on a rez continued to be a fantastic read this year as Jason Aaron and RM Guere (plus a couple of great fill-in artists) devolved a variety of secondary characters, leading up to "The Gnawing," a story that is putting everything on its head with lots of emotion, action, and bold twists.

Wednesday Comics (Written by John Arcudi, Brian Azzarello, Kyle Baker, Eddie Berganza, Dave Bullock, Kurt Busiek, Ben Caldwell, Dan DiDio, Brenden Fletcher, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Vinton Heuck, Karl Kerschl, Adam Kubert, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Pope, Walter Simonson; art by Michael Allred, Kyle Baker, Lee Bermejo, Dave Bullock, Ben Caldwell, Amanda Conner, Sean Galloway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Karl Kerschl, Joe Kubert, Kevin Nowlan, Paul Pope, Joe Quinones, Eduardo Risso, Ryan Sook, Brian Stelfreeze; published by DC Comics)
An ambitious project that was by no means perfect, but created excitement for the twelve weeks it came out and delivered fantastic strips like Paul Pope's "Strange Adventures," Kyle Baker's "Hawkman," Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's "Batman," and so many others. If this was a list of the most exciting comics of 2009, it would win hands down.

Enjoy.

CBR Review: All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder Vol. 1

I recently reviewed All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder vol. 1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Has there been a more derided and divisive comic from DC or Marvel over the past few years than All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder? From internet memes surrounding ‘the goddamn Batman’ to the scandal over swearing not being properly blacked out to venom and bile piled upon the series for its portrayal of the Dark Knight as just plain mean and cruel... it’s not what anyone expected, but it is very good and exactly what a comic about Batman’s second year in action should be."

You can read the rest HERE!

Lesser Known Joe Casey Comics: Krash Bastards

[A 'lesser known' comic by Joe Casey which I will discuss and, then, ask and answer the question "Should it remain forgotten?" Haven't done one of these in a while.]

Thanks to Matthew J. Brady, I finally got a copy of the 2008 Krash Bastards graphic novel. It was a gift after I said something nice about his blog. How great is that? Say something nice about a blog you genuinely enjoy and you get a gift. Isn't Matt Brady a wonderful guy? And a great blogger, too. You should go read his blog. Then again, having read this book, I can see why he was so quick to say, "Chad, you read a lot of Joe Casey comics and I notice that you haven't discussed Krash Bastards. Well, I happen to have a copy of it and would love to give it to you so you can come one step closer to having read and written about this writer's entire body of work." It's not that this book is bad, it's just... not that good either. But we won't hold that against Matt, because I've read and discussed many comics by Casey that are worse than Krash Bastards.

Krash Bastards is an OEL manga. It reads right-to-left and opens as such; if you open it like a regular North American book, you're treated to a page that tells you what you should be doing. It's an odd choice and one that Casey has yet to repeat. Then again, no further volumes of Krash Bastards have come out. In his afterword, Casey discusses wanting to try and make manga, to write in that language and style, basically, to see if he can. I wish I could speak about his sucess a bit more, but I'm a Joe Casey expert, not much of a manga one (honestly, this is the only comic I own that reads right-to-left), so I can't speak to that success too much. It seems to hit on a lot of the superficial elements often associated with manga: young warriors, combining sci-fi and monsters, big spikey hair, Japanese-sounding names... The pacing is brisk with the most panels a single page has being six and that happens once. The vast majority of pages have four panels or less. In many ways, Krash Bastards comes off as a cynical, misguided attempt to rip off manga without really understanding it (says the guy that doesn't understand manga either). Take the Krash Bastards: there's the cool warrior leader, his hot girlfriend, his younger brother, the silent/deadly/mysterious member, and the older mentor. Pretty much the prototypical manga/anime group as far as I'm concerned. Their enemy, Kau Death, wears samurai armour; they fight primarily with swords while traveling in a spaceship; one of the big threats is a 'gekko god-being.' It reads like a book of cliches. Or, at least, all of the cliches that I, the unknowing manga neophyte, would think of.

But, it's also a Joe Casey comic and that's how I approached it. Krash Bastards is concerned with many of the usual ideas and themes of Casey's work, falling into line with The Intimates and Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance in its conception of youth and 'cool.' The Krash Bastards are the coolest kids on the playground (not literally), a group of warriors that people love and media darlings. Their leader and his girlfriend are the 'it' couple. They speak in dumb-sounding slang, concern themselves with their image more than anything it seems... even the storytelling relates to this superficial, vapid approach as rarely does Casey go beneath the surface. Even when he does, he puts it in the language of the extremely self-aware, the metafictional. The leader of the group, Tran Lo Zip confronts Kau Death alone at the end as a means to define himself as the greatest warrior in the universe, an ego-driven move to give his life purpose and meaning -- it's not enough to be the coolest of the cool when there's a big bad guy that can kick ass better. His girlfriend doesn't understand and, honestly, I don't think he really does either. He almost seems to do it because it's what a young warrior in his position does.

I said that Krash Bastards is steeped in manga cliches and I don't think that's accidental. Casey has shown in his career a purposeful use of cliches and genre/medium tropes to examine them. Here, he's using these ones for the first time and doesn't really go beyond the surface as he gets his footing. Tran Lo Zip's turn at the end doesn't inspire and engage, because it's artifical... he does it because it's what he should do. That's what this book feels like. For a first-time effort at manga, Casey goes through the superficial, the familiar, in an effort to understand it. Krash Bastards is more a working examination of the superficial elements of manga so that, in the future, he can go beyond the superficial. It's a test run, practice...

Why then was it published? Well, because you can't really see how well it works until it's drawn, can you? And what artist is going to draw a 72-page graphic novel for the purpose of allowing you to see how to write manga? In North American superhero comics, Casey was able to learn much quicker with shorter, 22-page stories. I'm sure manga comes out in a variety of lengths, but that's not necessarily the perception and Casey seems to want to engage that perception. For what purpose, I'm not entirely sure, which is why this book doesn't work.

The plot here is very basic and peppered with soulless action scenes. It's not helped by Axel #13's art, which is very stiff and lacks the frenetic craze of much manga, where the action practically leaps off the page since it's little more than energy. The compositions of pages and design work aren't bad. His gekko god-being is quite interesting to look at. One big annoyance is the lack of pupils in his characters' eyes. Early in the book, pupils are there, but they disappear quickly into the book and it looks really bad as we go on. The stiffness throughout really bothers me since so much here depends on heightened emotions and fast, energetic action scenes, and his art doesn't convey either well.

Finally, I must ask, "Should this work remain forgotten?" Yeah, probably. Joe Casey fans who happen to be more well-versed in manga may want to give it a look, but, otherwise, it will probably sit alongside those other mediocre-to-bad Casey books that I only (re)read for the purpose of scholarly study/analysis.

CBR's Top 100 Books of 2009 Part Four (25-1)

CBR concludes its daily countdown of the top 100 books of 2009 as determined by its staff with a rundown of the top twenty-five. Going into this, only three of the top ten books I gave them have shown up and, in this one, five more make appearances: Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye (#24), Irredeemable (#14), Wednesday Comics (#12), Scalped (#5), and Parker: The Hunter (#3). I'm kind of surprised that my other two choices didn't crack the top 100, but it's not a big deal.

Sometime next week, probably towards the weekend, I'll do my series of 'best of 2009' posts including looking at what Joe Casey did this year, some notable books that didn't make my top ten, possibly a few words on my favourite critic of 2009 (simply because I feel like mentioning that), and, of course, my top ten books of 2009, which may not be the same top ten that I gave CBR.

CBR's Top 100 Books of 2009 Part Three (50-26)

CBR continues its daily countdown of the top 100 books of 2009 as determined by its staff with the first half of the top fifty, #50-26. Only one selection from my top ten list is in this group: Young Liars (#36). That it places so low is a little annoying, but I can certainly understand people not liking it as much as I did. Oh. Wait. No, I can't.

Whatever.

CBR's Top 100 Books of 2009 Part Two (75-51)

CBR continues its daily countdown of the top 100 books from 2009 as chosen by its staff with a rundown of #75-51 and this bunch doesn't contain any books from the top ten list I submitted. But, on the books (Captain America) just missed the top ten, coming in at #11...

CBR Review: Punisher MAX Vol. 5

I recently reviewed Punisher MAX vol. 5 and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "The fifth oversized hardcover volume of Punisher MAX collects 'Long Cold Dark' and 'Valley Forge, Valley Forge,' concluding Garth Ennis’ phenomenal five-year run on the book that has defined the character of Frank Castle unlike any other writer’s work on the character. By the final page of this volume, it’s easy to see why some say they have no need for further Punisher stories, that everything to say and do with the character has been said and done, that Garth Ennis has, by taking the character to new heights of quality, ruined the character forever. It’s that damn good."

You can read the rest HERE!

The Splash Page: Comics and Wrestling (Part Two)

[A special holiday edition of the Splash Page that has nothing to do with the holidays. Read the first part over at Tim's blog and then come back here for the second half...]

Chad Nevett: What do you think of the matches themselves or the storytelling? The stories are usually quite basic, but have any caught your interest?

Tim Callahan: I'm amused by Sheamus's rise to prominence and this whole notion of whether he deserves the title or not, even though the pretty clear story is that he doesn't deserve the title and that's the whole point. But the other storylines I know of -- the stuff with Randy Orton and Legacy, the rise in popularity of Kofi Kingston, the betrayal/feud between Batista and Rey Mysterio -- these things seem compelling and yet utterly simplistic. I can see why kids can enjoy the theatrics of it, and I can certainly see the connection between wrestling and superhero comics, with the repetition, the clear good guys and bad guys, and the obligatory fights. But for me, wrestling is more akin to travelling theatrical troupes from the middle ages or early Renaissance. Taking their shows from town to town in a caravan. Entertaining the crowd.

And I think I like comics for the art more than anything else. The art of the storytelling. The style of the visuals. I understand that wrestling can have style within the matches, but the acting in the tv skits is just terrible, and the wrestling I saw in Albany was mostly boring. Not much high-flying action, just a lot of headbutts and crawling around on the mat. It was the equivalent of reading a Mark Bagley comic.

In wrestling, have there been any storylines with the depth of the comics of Grant Morrison or Alan Moore. Or Joe Casey or Warren Ellis? Or are they all Jeph Loeb stories, because that's what it seems like from my outsider's perspective?

CN: There have been stories that have gone beyond what's happening now, but not by a lot necessarily. Earlier in the year, the feud between Jeff Hardy and CM Punk was rather good with CM Punk winning the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania, which gave him a briefcase with a world title contract that he could 'cash in' at any time. He chose to do so after Hardy finally won the world belt off of Edge, which was surprising because Punk was a face at the time and that seemed a dick move. That began his slow turn to being a heel where they used his straight edge lifestyle as his selling point and he brought up Hardy's past drug problems. That was notable, I think, for them being willing to bring those real life personal problems up when a lot of kids probably didn't know about them. A feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels last year was amazing in its construction and execution. Normally, I don't get too invested in storylines beyond superficial enjoyment, but that one had me. Jericho is, by far, my favourite wrestler and he had me hoping Michaels would win the culmination of their feud, a ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. That may not be as deep as some comics, but getting me to hope that the guy I like more than anyone else will lose, that's some damn good storytelling.

I think you're right that it is theatre and not as sophisticated as many superhero comics -- but that's because of the limitations of the medium/genre and that wrestlers use a style of acting that big and loud, which doesn't translate well to quieter moments (which is why backstage segments are often very bad). But, I also think that wrestling does action and violence better than 99% of the superhero comics out there. Even the quickest, most boring matches are more exciting, for me, than almost any fight I've seen in a superhero comic, if only because wrestlers know how to contruct a fight, a back-and-forth contest between two opponents, and writers and artists don't. Or, at least, the experience of wrestling gives them a big advantage that writers and artists seldom have. I guess we disagree there a bit. But, then again, the WWE doesn't often have amazing matches. I got the first Dragon Gate USA pay-per-view on DVD for Christmas and it was the best single line-up of matches I've ever seen. Lots of high energy, high impact matches with wrestlers from Japan and North America. Probably something more to your speed.

TC: Well, fight choreography is about movement, so it's no surprise that wrestling does that better than comics. Though I'd still rather read a Kirby fight scene, or one by Denys Cowan or Frank Miller, than watch a wrestling match, even one that's better than what I might see on WWE.

And since plot and character are less important to me than tone and style, I don't think I'll ever succumb to the wiles of wrestling. From what I've seen, the tone and style only allow for so much variation, while in comics anything's possible.

If you had to choose -- if you could only read comics or only watch wrestling -- which one would be your top pick. Which is more important to you and why?

CN: Comics is a medium, while wrestling is a genre, so I think the answer is obvious: comics. One big plus for wrestling, though, is that I can experience most of it for free on TV. That nearly makes it a tough call. But, no, comics is more important to me than wrestling. That's one thing I've really hated about this whole wrestling/comics thing at CSBG: I have to be far more positive about wrestling than I actually feel. It has a lot of faults like you've pointed out. Its storytelling is limited and relies exclusively on conflict whereas comics can tell stories that go beyond that. I don't agree about your assessment of how each handles the fights (I'd choose the best wrestling over the best comic book fight any day of the week without question), but beyond that, comics can do more than wrestling. Superhero comics can do more than wrestling. Wrestling is a very narrow and limited genre, which is fine, because it's very entertaining. But, it's fictionalised sport -- would you choose football over comics? Some would, of course, just as some would choose wrestling, but you can see my point: I'm interested in stories and how they're told and what they tell, and comics can do so much more than wrestling. Thankfully, I don't have to choose.

To end things, I just want to touch on comics about wrestling. Titan will be publishing WWE Heroes in March and I've got to know: will you be buying it for your son?

TC: God, no. I saw some preview pages of that and it looks like something Malibu Comics would have squeezed out in 1995. Only worse. So, no.

Not because it's about wrestling characters. Because it's drawn with the grace and dignity of wrestling characters.

Would I buy a Quitely-drawn wrestling comic? A J. H. Williams III one? A Chris Ware one? Yes. Let's make those happen.

CN: Most westling comics, particularly licensed ones, are pretty bad. I may pick up the first issue for reviewing purposes -- or if I can get a gig going discussing/reviewing issues, but otherwise, I'm avoiding it as well.

And that does it. I don't know if we actually accomplished anything or shed new light on any subjects, but it was fun.

CBR's Top 100 Books of 2009 Part One (100-76)

Today, CBR begins its daily countdown of the collective top 100 comics of 2009 as voted on by its writers. It begins with #100-76 and includes two of my picks: Dark Reign: Zodiac (#99) and No Hero (#84). I wonder if all ten of the books I submitted will make the list. I guess we'll have to see!

CBR Review: Star Trek: Deep Space 9: Fool's Gold #1

I recently reviewed Star Trek: Deep Space 9: Fool's Gold (gotta love colons!) #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "When Sisko dismisses her concerns as a sign that people aren’t afraid to come to the station, she visits Odo who is having problems with all of the visitors as they seem determined to tear the station apart in an effort to find something -— and are bypassing his security measures to do so. While the Tiptons don’t quite have the rhythm and voices of most of the characters down yet, the way they write Odo’s dialogue is so good that you can practically hear René Auberjonois’s voice when reading the issue as they alter the spelling of words to match his delivery. Hopefully, future issues focus on the security chief because of this strength."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Guardians of the Galaxy #21

I recently reviewed Guardians of the Galaxy #21 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "You would think that after the previous story arc where half of the team was killed, Abnett and Lanning would take a few issues to slow things down and relax, but you would be wrong. Guardians of the Galaxy continues to be that rare mainstream superhero book that is not afraid to change the status quo and put characters in real danger to suit the needs of the story. You literally do not know what to expect when you turn a page and that’s refreshing."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Uncanny X-Men #519

I recently reviewed Uncanny X-Men #519 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Things have not been going well for the X-Men since moving to Utopia (the former sunken Asteroid M), which is their island home off the coast of San Francisco, with an attack by the mutant-eating Predator Xs, a sliver of the Void making its home in Emma Frost’s mind, and the recent discovery that Utopia is sinking. Guess Cyclops didn’t think things through entirely, eh?"

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: The Last Days of American Crime #1

I recently reviewed The Last Days of American Crime #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "At some point in the future, the United States of America is switching from paper money to exclusively electronic currency, a move that will effectively kill crime since, now, every transaction will be recorded, monitored. How can you pay for drugs or prostitutes or any other illegal service when the police can access financial records showing where the money went? Two weeks before the switchover, Graham has a plan to make himself and some associates quite wealthy by stealing one of the machines designed to credit people’s accounts under this new system."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Powers #2

I recently reviewed Powers #2 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "The second issue of the third volume of Powers is an entertaining comic, but is a step down from the stronger first issue, as Bendis and Oeming devote much of this issue to a fight during World War II between the Daring Eagles and a giant Nazi robot instead of the mystery at hand: who killed Z, the former Daring Eagle and friend of Detective Walker? Instead of a simple flashback, the battle seems like padding. Entertaining padding, but still padding."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: What If? Spider-Man: House of M #1

I recently reviewed What If? Spider-Man: House of M #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "One of the best and most heartbreaking parts of House of M was the ‘wish come true’ life that Peter Parker got to live and, then, that he would always retain knowledge of that perfect life where Uncle Ben never died, he and Gwen Stacey wed and had a son, and he was beloved and famous for being Spider-Man. The idea of exploring what would happen if the House of M Gwen managed to live past the end of House of M is interesting because of the conflict and emotional turmoil that seems to come with it, something that should work quite well. Sadly, neither story presented here manages to capture that or even tell an entertaining story."

You can read the rest HERE!

The Splash Page: The Plot and Characters of "Dark Reign" (Part One)

[We have returned and are trying to become better critics/dudes who talk about comic books. We may not succeed, but it should be fun to watch...

Chad Nevett: Normally, in the Splash Page, our focus is more on how stories are told (technique, style, and other elements) rather than what the story actually is. In discussing reviewing, Tim has revealed that he doesn't really care about what happens so much as how it is presented to the reader. Well, this discussion is going to change that as Tim and I have decided to discuss "Dark Reign" on purely plot and character levels (or try to, at least), talking about what we liked, what we disliked, and, really, let our inner fanboys out a bit. I already kicked things off (without meaning to) with my post on Noh-Varr and Dark Avengers annual #1, which was all about how Brian Michael Bendis has ruined that character in my eyes, so let's use that as a jumping off point: do you agree with my assessment of the use of Noh-Varr or do you like what Bendis has done?

Tim Callahan: Okay, let me see if I can keep this on purely a plot and character level: the plot of Dark Avengers annual #1 was no good. And neither was the characterization. And since we aren't getting into style, I won't bother complaining about the design of "Captain Marvel's" new costume. I mean, everyone has seen it, so I don't need to ridicule it any more.

Back to the plot stuff! Here's the thing: I'm not as proprietary about Noh-Varr as you are. I don't have any overwhelming compulsion to see the Morrison version of the character pop up in the comics of other writers, and if a writer has the character do something that seems out of place (which I guess is more of a character complaint than a plot one), it doesn't usually bother me much at all. I thought the Noh-Varr was dull in Young Avengers/Runaways, or whatever that comic was called, but I wasn't offended by what he said or did there. It wasn't good, but it wasn't the worst thing ever.

Noh-Varr's characterization and the plot of that Dark Avengers annual kind of did offend me, though. Not offend me, really, but annoy me. Because I don't know who that guy is in that comic, but it's not Noh-Varr, and it's not even Marvel Boy. It's some "stranger in a strange world" who's trying to grok the people of Earth -- some dorky, confused space-hippy -- when the character is supposed to be operating on a level that's way ahead of our current processing ability. He's ultra-kick-ass punk rock super-genius spaceboy. Or that's what he should be. That's what he was. Even in his watered-down non-Morrison appearances.

Until that ridiculous annual. That annual that has him somehow contact some version of the Kree Supreme Intelligence (I have no idea how that works within the context of Marvel continuity and/or parallel universes within that continuity). That annual that showed him not as a insect-laced super-scout from space, but a space-puppy. A nice little lapdog who couldn't be with Normy because he was naughty.

Am I even talking about plot and character here? I don't know how to do that without talking about the way the writer used these techniques. Plot and character don't exist without the authorial hand.

CN: Yeah, I know, I was thinking the same thing.

What surprised me most is that the internal logic of the story didn't make sense. Noh-Varr learns that these Avengers are bad guys: wouldn't that make him more inclined to return to his 'take over everything and remake it in Hala's image' plan? Obviously, the system is broken, humanity has screwed up and needs to be taken in hand to improve. I think where Bendis misses the point is that this character sees taking over and remaking the world as protecting it. He wouldn't just play superhero like everyone else, he's here to save us from ourselves. Sadly, the fake spoiler I gave at Comics Should be Good regarding Oubliette returning would have been far better. God, that sounds so sad and lame, doesn't it? "Screw you, Bendis, my version is better! PWND! LOL!" Shoot me now. Is this why we don't discuss plot and character specifically?

Going beyond that, how have you enjoyed "Dark Reign" in general? Have you been interested throughout or has it seemed like a year of kind of okay stories? Do you love or hate Norman Osborn? Ever want to see him in another comic again?

TC: I don't feel anything towards Norman Osborn, because he's a fictional character. But I have enjoyed seeing him play the Jerry-Lewis-as-Darth-Vader role in the Marvel Universe for the past year. I think it's safe to say that "Dark Reign" > Secret Invasion, mathematically speaking. I liked Norman Osborn's appearance in the Joe Casey-penned Zodiac series, and I like what's happening to him in the more recent issues of Dark Avengers. He ain't holdin' it together too well, that guy.

It's certainly the most interesting version of Norman Osborn that I've ever seen -- this guy who took over the Thunderbolts and then became the maniacal Nick Fury of the upside down world. Though Bendis'a Osborn isn't quite as viciously interesting as the character in the hands of Warren Ellis, he's still visibly on the same end of the spectrum. (Unlike Noh-Varr, Morrison version compared to Bendis version.)

I really like the Hood, too. And his role in Punisher has been great.

Overall, I'm pro-"Dark Reign."

You?

CN: I've enjoyed it on the whole. I liked that Bendis made a crack about Osborn going overboard and doing everything in an issue of Dark Avengers to poke fun at him being in every book. I've really liked Osborn when he seems genuine in his desire to make this work and do his job well. He's still a messed up crazy guy, but at least he's trying to do the right thing, which is far more interesting than him just being an evil smarmy bastard all of the time. It's a shame that far too much of the time is spent on him being an evil smarmy bastard.

Some people didn't enjoy the scene, but his first discussion with the Sentry in the third or fourth issue of Dark Avengers is still one of my favourite moments to come out of "Dark Reign" as Osborn half-manipulates the Sentry, but also comes down to his level and says, "I know you have problems, but so do I and look at me, I'm doing great, which means you can get better, too." It was a really humanising moment for Osborn and, again, made him interesting. Watching him struggle to keep it together and overcome the image that some have of him was usually the best stuff for me whereas typical supervillain behaviour left me cold.

[To be continued over at Tim's blog...]

CBR Review: What If? Daredevil vs. Elektra #1

I recently reviewed What If? Daredevil vs. Elektra #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "One of the more radical reimaginings of the Marvel Universe in a while, What If? Daredevil vs. Elektra #1 offers an engaging story where a young Matt Murdock sacrifices his life to save Elektra Natchios and her father where, in the regular MU, it was Elektra’s father that died. The resulting story is a twisting of various elements of Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil with numerous allusions and in-jokes, but is still easily accessed by those who haven’t read Miller’s seminal work on the title."

You can read the rest HERE!