Why is it, whenever I start this thread, as I did yesterday, someone deletes it? I’d appreciate an answer. This would have been the third time since I joined this board.
As for my new books for the week:
**Batwomen & Bat-Related.
Batgirl #64, Batman #640** and Catwoman #43, were all pretty enjoyable this week. Anderson Gabrych’s Batgirl was the most memorable of the three, for Cassandra Cain’s use of her own experiences as the eager-to-please daughter of a demanding father figure, against Deathstroke and his daughter, Rose the Ravager. Grim as the end is, Cassandra’s tactics ensure a return match, one that I hope rivals her showdown with Lady Shiva. Garbrych also provided the script for a one-issue Catwoman story (the last fill in before Pfieffer and Woods take over next issue) a decent enough story which finds Selena Kyle and Onyx forming an ad hoc alliance to neutralize Killer Croc, and through him, the threat the Black Mask represents to their respective “stakes” in Gotham. (I hope someone follows up on this, or the story would be pointless.) In Batman #640 Winnick’s distracted Batman, seems close to despair over the mystery of Jason Todd’s resurrection, prompting a frustrated Onyx to throw in with the far more focused lethal vigilante, the Red Hood which leads to a neat cliffhanger at issues end. All well and good.
My one complaint about these three bat-books, would have to be the lack of detail in the pencilling. This is a matter of taste to be sure, but all three seemed a bit “underdone”. Of the three, Rich Burchett’s pencils are the most successful. His style looks simple to begin with, and does much to evoke the charm many Catwoman readers missed when Paul Gulacy replaced Cameron Stewart on the book a year and a half ago. (Jock’s equally simple cover is quite evocative, in it’s own way. This would make a nice print.) While Ale Garza and Paul Lee tell their respective stories well enough, and Garza lays out his fight scenes as well, as ever, his compositions seem to be getting more and more schematic, the further his run progresses. A little more detail would have helped a lot here. The same goes for Paul Lee’s guest pencils on Batman. A bit more detail on the faces (even with the mask) would have get across Batman’s exasperation more effectively (after all, he’s banging his head against the wall of the mysteries of life and death). I also think if Winnick and Lee had shown Onyx forced to dive under the Red Hood’s rail gun assault, it would have added a lot more drama to their last exchange, when she realizes just how dangerous he is. I couldn’t help but wonder if both pencillers weren’t a bit rushed this time out.
OMAC Project #2 was a big improvement on the first issue of the miniseries. Greg Rucka effectively brought the drama up a notch as we finally get to hear Batman’s reasons, (born of deep-seated Identity Crisis-related anger which will probably lead me to put JLA #115-120: Crisis of Conscience on my pull and hold list), for launching the Brother Eye project. Meanwhile Maxwell Lord shows us how ruthless he can be, and the focus of the story shifts over to Sasha Bordeaux’s ‘crisis of conscience’ and deep-seated sense of foreboding. (I find myself wondering if she will survive the arc.) I got a bit of confused when Bats and Sasha finally met, given what’s gone on between Bats and Cats since the close of the Bruce Wayne Murderer?/Fugitive! storyarcs, and it still bothers me that Superman still hasn’t simply ripped Brother Eye out of the sky by now. (Yes, I know, MHW. “Unlogic field”. Right.) Speaking of continuity-confusion: what’s bothering Bats more? The possible mechanics of Jason’s resurrection from the dead, or the sheer mad- on he has towards half the JLA, or the fact that once again, one of his contingency plans has reared its head to bite him on the @$$? Here, he reminds me of Devin Grayson’s conflicted, exhausted and despairing Nightwing. Not a good sign.
Of this weeks bat-books, the last one I read, Outsiders #24, was by far the most exciting. Part of it’s the art. Carlos D’Anda’s style works best in this kind of episode, which focused on the Outsiders (and later, the Titans) emotional reactions to violent betrayal. (The last time his work came across as strong was the climax of the Outsiders campaign against the child sex slavery ring, which was a tad over dark in comparison.) Winnick’s script read like a well balanced ensemble drama, with each member of the team getting their moment in the spotlight, whether it’s during the fight scenes or the recriminations that followed. (One could say the same about the last issue, I suppose, but I felt that was hurt a bit by the art: Shawn Moll’s women’s faces don’t convey nearly as much as his men’s faces, to the detriment of the last issue as a whole.) This issue closes with a solid cliff hanger and a great surprise ending on top of that. (Things will get much worse for the younger generation of DCU heroes long before they get better.) D’Anda’s work is really strong here, the best I’ve seen him do since his short Deathblow story in the last Wildstorm Summer Special.
Returning Heroes & New Starts
My roommate bought the Ultra trade paperback, and while I enjoyed it, I have to say I got into the Luna Brother’s first issue of Girls has already made a much stronger positive impression on me. (I refuse to apologize for being male, though I admit it may well be because the protagonist this time is a young man, with all the normal frustrations and anger any young man would feel in his situation. I also found myself wondering if the set up for this first issue owes any inspiration for the barroom scene in Ennis Preacher, the scene where Jesse Custer, drunk, tells off the people of his parish, and get’s his butt kicked for his trouble. The close of this issue also reminds me, uncomfortably, of the darker stereotypes of small town people Ennis traded on when populating Angelville, the site of the third major Preacher storyarc. Still, the Luna Bros. Definitely have my interest. I’ll be taking a look at the second issue.
[spoilers]Bucky Barnes (as a convert to Russian Nationalism, if not quite Communism? - “the Red Star?”) makes a low key return in[/spoiler] Capt. America #6, a good example of Ed Brubaker’s ability to build suspense, by answering some questions, while generating new ones. (Someone please remind me if I forgot something,…) Just what was that building that was destroyed this issue: a historic and symbolic structure? And why would tying the destruction of that building to Jack Monroe be of any use (other than say, further psyching out Capt. America) to a Lutkin’s plans? Does the former Soviet General resent the Soviet Unions’ fall from prominence on the world stage? The only weakness I see here, (after due consideration of another correspondent’s arguments) that unlike Brubaker’s Selena Kyle or Holden Carver (or his Authority in recent issues of Authority: Revolution), I’m not quite feeling his Captain America. While Brubaker’s Steve Rogers is certainly a welcome throwback to the thoughtful Cap of my Vietnam-Watergate Era youth, he hasn’t quite come alive for me, quite yet.
DC Special: the Return of Donna Troy was better than expected. With an art team comprised of Jose Garcia Lopez and George Perez, how could it not be? Despite an utter lack of interest in Donna Troy, Garcia Lopez’s compositions drew me into Jimenez’s story about a Titan Demi-Goddess on the verge of rebellion against her “parents” ugly little attempt to subjugate a planet, a conflict running parallel to events in the Rann Thanagar War. All in all, a good start, and one of the most promising of the Infinity Crisis/Countdown spin-offs I’ve read to date. I just hope when all is said and done this new Donna Troy overcomes (and puts behind) much of the baggage of her convoluted continuity once and for all. She’s definitely one character that needs a new start.
Speaking of new beginning, now that Rebirth cleared away, more or less, ten years of Hal Jordan’s past as Parallax and the Spectre, Green Lantern #1 comes as a decent set-up for his new adventures. We get a recap of Hal’s “origin”, his attempts to reconnect with family and friends, a new romantic interest, and a new extraterrestial, and clearly lethal, threat. Doubt I’ll follow this title, but it’s a good start. Mercifully, there were no “born again” jokes.
Any words on whether or not Waid and Kitson’s Legion of SuperHeroes will be collected in trade paperback? I need to cut down my weekly pull and hold list, and, like Azzarello and Risso’s 100 Bullets, the new Legion title is a good candidate for “tradewaiting”. The two books likewise make for an interesting comparison. Whereas the twists and turns of Azzarello’s often spare stories are often best read in trades, if nothing else to keep oneself from tearing one’s hair out in suspense over what we don’t know, the sheer density of Waid’s scripts put me in mind of dense historical novels, featuring a huge cast of characters, and I can’t help but want bigger helpings, because of the amount of information and reinvention he throws our way. Legion of Superheroes #6 features another fun reinvention of a Legionnaire, this time introduced byCosmic Boy as he’s forced to play supplicant when meeting Princess (in every sense of the word) Projectra (apparently she’s the source of much of the Legion’s seed money). There’s also a fun bit where Karate Kid tries to teach an arrogant Ultra Boy a lesson in the difference between power and control. Waid provides such a nice balance between fun stuff (like the banter between Brainiac 5 and Dream Girl), the grim (genocide as seen via crystal ball) and foreboding (Brainiac 5’s creepy interview at issues end). There’s also the heartening news (delivered twice this issue) that we comic book geeks, and our enthusiasms, and the objects of our mutual affection will out live us, our detractors, and the industry that churns them out, month after month.
Harsh Realities & Adult Fare
One of the benefits of being a moderator on MW is that I get a chance, on occasion, to see advance pages from of Mark Millar’s titles. It’s a privilege I don’t often avail myself of, but this time I couldn’t resist, Ultimates 2 #6, featuring the debut of the Ultimate Defenders. As a result I’ve been dying to discuss this book for a couple of weeks. This installment could’ve been titled, “Pym Agonistes”, or “Pym in Purgatory”, and reminds me very much of 1950’s-60’s films about the very real pitfalls of corporate life, how no one wants to know you when you make a false step and fall out of grace with your peers. (Of course this was before American corporate life became one big exercise in shamelessness, but that’s another matter.) The robots subtle reaction to being labelled ‘disposable’ was hilarious, as many of the jokes (most pretty ribald) were this issue. Still there’s an odd ray of hope here, for poor, poor Hank. If Loki is indeed messing things up for everyone (“Thor was right!”) then the only way to be a hero in this corner of the Ultimate Universe, might just to be a traitor, at least until “proper reality” is restored. (Who’s willing to bet the person Hank’s talking to at issues end is the Wasp or the Scarlet Witch? I promise not to peek.)
I have no idea how long Azzarello & Risso’s current story arc, “Staring at the Son” is going to run in 100 Bullets (issue #61 being the second part), but so far, it’s a good example of something they seem to do better than anyone else these days (save perhaps Brubaker) gathering a platoon of major characters into a confined space, then lighting a long fuse. Here, in the confines of a sex-soaked night club we have Tino, the bellhop, Pearl, the errant mother of his child, the drug dealer she left him for, his “client” the mysterious Spain (who seems as belligerant as Lono), Megan Deitrich, Benito DeMedici (with Mr. Branch and Cole Burns close by) on the eve of what looks to be a Council of War within the larger Trust as a whole, and he’s going to kill us with suspense as we wait for the bloodbath to come. Sick as it is, I’m on the edge of my seat. Hope poor Tino makes it. Along with Benito, they’re the only near innocents in the room. Great art by Risso, as ever: the man & his colorists, never let us down.
Howard Chaykin’s City of Tommorrow #2 is shaping up pretty nicely. The “official story” seems to be that a suburban middle class utopia was corrupted into a moral cesspool when someone inserted a greed and lust virus into the army of human-looking robot workers that made the utopia possible. Soon enough they formed gangs, and kidnapping, extortion, prostitution, drug dealing, illegal gambling and the like became the rule of the day. It’s as though a robotic Levittown became a cross between Deadwood and 1920’s Shanghai, overnight. Given Chaykin’s view of human nature, I suspect that the official story is a consoling lie, that the robot servants were just made a bit too human, and what we’re seeing is what always happens when an underclass gets sick of social relations that allow no opening for personal advancement. They make their own by turning to crime. The big question is what role is Tucker Floyd, our former spec ops man, and questionable hero, going to play in all this. I’ll be disappointed if this ends up to be another “remake” of Red Harvest (yep, there are two factions competing for control of the town). ‘Course his only recourse to that might well end up by making a play for “king of the hill”. I’ll definitely stick around for the next chapter. This is the best work I’ve seen Chaykin do in ages: the story has some weight, the characters are as crooked as any in an Elmore Leonard novel, and the storytelling is clear and unhurried, a big improvement on both Mighty Love (which never quite got the “Nick & Nora” feel right) and Challengers of the Unknown (which was far too fast paced).
**A moment of silence please,… (Sleeper Season Two #12 & Legend #4) … **
… for two would be heroes,… Agent Holden Carver (in Sleeper Season Two #12), [color=yellow]an idealistic young soldier, chewed up and spit out by wiser, more cynical, and much more dangerous men: a tragedy we see too much of these days. Thanks to Ed Brubaker for a great ride which likely came to the only “good” end it could. … and Hugo Danning, the hero of Howard Chaykin’s and Russ Heath’s adaptation of Phillip Wylie’s Gladiator, Legend #4 which more effectively tells us why there’s no room in the “real” world for superheroes than Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme or Millar’s “Brave New World” storyarc in the Authority (perhaps for it’s focus on a single protagonist’s experience). Taken together, these stories leave us with the unpleasent thought that Azzarello’s two-legged monsters, and Chaykin’s nearly amoral Tucker Floyd, seem rational.
Perhaps we should observe a moment of silence for ourselves.[/spoiler]
Almost perfect… 'cept we usually date them based on Thursday. All in all, a good effort.
I’m pleased that they aren’t drawing out teh moral ambiguity on the Red Hood and having him steal Bruce’s allies. He’s a bad man. He just likes killing other bed men.