New Books for September 21st, 2005.
Men Under Fire
Captain America Vol 5 #10 – We get to see Steve Roger’s life play out, as it might of, had he and Bucky emerged from their last battle together against Baron Zemo relatively unscathed. A decent portrait of a man of principle, however House of M “history” turned out in the end. Also interesting for the sense this story imparts that Magneto’s rule would have relatively little effect on most humans’ lives. Lee Weeks tells Roger’s story in a nice straightforward way, suited to the limits of the tale.
Supreme Power Hyperion #1 – An interesting, if not quite smooth, mix of between the melodramatic (which I found a bit over-baked), suggesting Mark Milton’s possible inspiration for building his own “Fortress of Solitude”, and JMS’s very, very promising take on Emil Burbank and Arcana Jones. I really look forward to seeing how he further develops his Moore-ish “Tao” and his Ellis-ish “Melanctha” in upcoming issues. Were last weeks [Supreme Power: Nightwing as innovative in it’s recreation of Batman’s Gotham. Features good, solid storytelling from Dan Jurgens. Recommended for the introduction of clever new JLA Analogues
Ultimates 2 #8 – Excellent. Strongest issue of the second volume to date: Mark Millar’s really done a great job of gradually building the tension in his second year on the title. Though I suspect Mark might eventually prove his Nick Fury wrong about Capt. America. However alienated from the new world he finds himself in, I just can’t see him turn traitor . Miller’s ice-cold Fury really steals the show here. This has to be one of Mark’s best scripts, blessed with believable, mature, adult dialogue, greatly enhanced by Hitch’s great cinematic storytelling. Highly recommended .
Women Working it Out
Birds Of Prey #86 – As ever, good script. Adriana Melo’s layouts have really improved since Simone’s Rose & Thorn miniseries, and are pretty consistent with Joe Bennett’s recent work on this title. Still it’ shard to stand out when subsequent chapters of the book are so well handled by Bruce Timm and David Lopez (also the best work I’ve seen from this artist yet]. The assembled artists really do succeed in lending their chapters distinct moods. Timm’s Canary layouts were exuberant, befitting her generally positive personality, and Lopez’ Huntress was appropriately moody, even thought-provoking. (I would have forgiven Helena if she killed that guy). The idea of using different artists on different parts of the story is one that I’d like to Simone use more often, as she often has the Huntress and the Canary operating very differently from each other, often in different settings. Regarding the Huntresses’ outfit: if Simone & Company plan on covering up the Huntresses’ belly, I really do wish they’d either extend the white strip running down the center front of Helena’s uniform all the way down to her pubis, or switch back to the older outfit. As it stands, it looks like someone forgot to add something critical to the design. Recommended.
JSA Classified #3 (Powergirl) – Great issue. I understand that Amanda Connor cannot commit to a monthly title, but can she do layouts, indicating gesture and facial expressions? Check out the way Connor has the Huntresses facial expressions shift from surprise, to worry and concern on pages 2, 4, 5 and 6. She’s great at it, which underscores the how weak other pencilers use of gesture is, in comparison, no matter how “awesome” their 90’s-ish pencils are in this week’s issues of Batgirl and Supergirl. I hope Johns or Simone expands upon the Huntress/Powergirl connection shown here. A characters, the two women are particularly well suited to each other. Also I’ve never seen such an interesting take on Psycho Pirate before (did the “satellite” League lobotomize him too?) I’ve never seen him present such a threat before. The way he manipulates Garrick and Terrific here, he’s closer to Marvel’s Purple Man here, than the weak whiner I recall from the eighties. I love the interesting, and potentially hilarious, idea that the real reason poor Karen Starr has had so many “origins”, and apparently survived the collapse of “infinite earths”, may be due to the simple fact that her “killer bod” is virtually indestructible. Highly recommended.
BatKids
Batgirl #68 – While the mystery of who is Cassandra’s mother deepens (I’m betting on Nyssa), I really didn’t care for Garza’s layouts this issue. I was particularly disappointed by Shiva and Cassandra’s “reunion rematch”, which just didn’t “flow” from panel to panel very well in places. I was also very much surprised to see Alpha again, which negates the elegant ending of Puckett & Scott’s original Alpha story, where he seems to retire from nuclear extortion/terrorism by story’s end.
The art has me worried about this title.
Robin #142 - Great military action story. Should the Veteran and his crew survive this arc, I’d love to see more of them in another context. I’d like to see more of this kind of action in other titles. Previous issues played up Robin’s cunning. This issue’s conundrum (how to contribute to the effort without killing) added to Tim’s treatment of Darla (which mirrored Batman’s rejection of Leslie Tompkins at the end of “War Crimes”) effectively emphasizes their ethics, far better than the bald statements we’ve been hearing in recent DC Countdown related spin-offs. Don’t say it, show it. Did everyone pick up on that line about Von Hammer wanting to blast the safe? Willingham may be setting her up to be a double agent of sorts: after all, someone tipped-off the terrorists the strike team was en route. Recommended.
Super-Girls
Supergirl #2 – An unintentionally funny story, where bad timing, misunderstandings and macho posturing leads to dislocated jaws and lots and lots of yelling, as an anorexic Kara, and later, the Teen Titans descend on the Kent family farm to talk to or check in on Connor, who really just wants to be left alone. While I like Churchill’s take on Robin, Cyborg, Kid Flash and Starfire, I thought his Jim Lee-ish way of lending drama to the characters stances and postures just didn’t suit the intent of the story. This would have been better told by someone like Amanda Connor, Tom Grummett or Dan Jurgens. Also, black kryptonite? What does it do? Make kryptonians homicidal?
Wraithborn #1Very, very “Top Cow”. I felt Chen’s script got a bit too melodramatic at points, but that’s par for the course in this kind of title. There were times when the crowded vertical elements in Benetiz’ finely detailed,(in some panels crowded) layouts are a bit too strong, actually inhibiting the eye’s travel over the page. While the facial expressions are fine here, the gestures are a bit stiff at times, making the posed “pin-up” panels a bit obvious here, as they were in this week’s issue of Supergirl. That said, I loved the fight scene that opens the book. It reminded me of some of Greg Land’s better fight scene layouts in Nightwing, which I still remember fondly. It made me hope that Chen and Benetiz plan to emphasize action in this title, turning it into something akin to “Buffy with Balls”. I’d also love to see what Benetiz can do with Artemis (from Wonder Woman), Zealot (of the WildCATs or the current Batgilr. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen these Warrior Women mow down a small platoon of enemies. My only complaint about Benetiz art, is that the poses get a bit obvious here, as they did in this week’s Supergirl.
Didn’t get to Teen Titans Outsiders Secret Files 2005 last night. It looks unusually dense for one of those “Secret Files” specials. Hopefully I’ll get to it before the weekend.
My jealousy knows no bounds!