New Books for January 5, 2006:
Jonah Hex #3 Another decent single issue story, this time pairing up Jonah Hex, the ethical bounty hunter, with Bat Lash, another old school DC western character, a womanizing gambler/gunfighter. Love to see that when it comes to clientele, or those who deserve the roaring vengeance of his gunfire, Jonah doesn’t discriminate.
Seven Soldiers Frankenstein #2 Mahnke’s style fits Morrison’s take on the Monster perfectly, but what really struck me about his issue was the way the two of them worked in all sorts of great references to the depiction of Mars in previous literary treatments, like Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter books, and the Martian Manhunter’s mythology. Ah the pleasures of continuity.
Team Zero #2 The first Deathblow gathers his team, an interesting looking crew of lethal specialists. Much as I like Manhke’s rendering style, there’s still something about the inking on this title, a kind of stiffness, that I haven’t seen in his work on other books (JLA Elite, Batman, Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein) that makes his work look pretty bland. The same might be said of the finished work on the Outsiders #32 and Teen Titans #31, though in these cases, it’s the new pencillers rendering styles. After following both titles for a little over a year, I finally decided to pass on them.
Punisher MAX #29 The pieces start coming together. The outcast cops, the social worker, and Frank are now all on the same page, freeing our man to do what he does best. “God Help the Guilty.” (I was kind of surprised that Ennis and Fernando didn’t choose to alternate between the present (the woman getting her face smacked into the shatterproof glass, time after time again) with Frank’s gun battles with the Old Man and his crew, and the other scenes in the book, a la Moore (the issue where Eveyln Creme, dying, recounts his sacrifice so Miracleman could live again). It would have lent even more impact to this chapter’s end. (Of course lack of page space might have had something to do with it).
Picked up Sable & Fortune #1 for Jim Burns art, which not only suits the characters, but recalls American pulp/paperback fiction illustration styles of the early-mid-sixties. (Didn’t this artist illustrated ESPers back in the indie boom of the '80’s.) Nice work all around. I like his take on Silver Sable as a semi-benevolent spiritual descendant of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.
Supreme Power Nighthawk #5 benefits from pretty efficient storytelling. In a dialogue scene between the Clown and Nighthawk, that echoes Batman’s plea to the Joker at the end of Moore’s and Bolland’s Batman/Joker: the Killing Joke, the creative team swiftly sets up a parallel diametric opposition between the two characters, as well as introduces the child I expect will become Nighthawk’s Robin. Looking forward to the ass-kicking to come.
Late Pick Ups
Black Panther #10 and #11 I liked the way Hudlin uses Luke Cage as a point of view character this arc, narrating the story from his eyes given the Panther’s new quest, and the fact Bendis retconned him into being something of a player “(I had the Black Cat on that couch”). I also appreciated the Deodato cover and the guest appearance from Shang Chi, Master of Ass Kicking in issue #11. I’m just surprised the daughter Fu Manchu tries to push on T’Challa wasn’t Fa So Lee, who once loved Sir Denis Nayland Smith and showed up a couple of times in Shang Chi’s title before it was put to bed in the '80’s (or was it the 90’s?).
I haven’t read Hudlin’s Panther since the first story arc, so I don’t know what kind of shared past this version of the Panther and Storm are suppoed to share, but I’m not opposed to the idea of her becoming a regular part of this title, though she might have to cut ties to the Xmen to do it (and I just can’t see the Xmen Office allowing that, unfortunately). A husband and wife superhero team doesn’t have to be a bad thing,… so long as it doesn’t get as boring as Reed and Sue’s relationship.
I finally read Testament #1 I hope the parallel storytelling we see here, between the story of Abraham and Issac, and the dilemma confronting the protagonist and his father in the future/present. I hope this device continues to be a feature of the title, it’s what makes the book interesting.
Without it I’m not sure I would follow along. Since I picked up this book late I’ve avoided the discussions on the first issue. Now I wonder how people feel about the writer equating God with the Government, as seen here.
