Big Stack o' Comics VI and Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts before I continue to work my way through my back-log of issues (a back-log which will grow again tomorrow). Life is tough, so I like to focus on the stuff that makes me happy, so here's some random positivity for the comics world:

- I am very happy to hear that Kieron Gillen is going to be writing Thor. Bold choice by Marvel. I have been really enjoying his excellent indie, Phonogram, and it is nice to see him get such a high-profile gig.

- Is there anything more fun in superhero comics than a well-executed fight scene? Scientifically speaking, no.

- I have not read a lot of Marvel from the '70s, but man, everytime I do get into some of that it usually some fun, crazy stuff. Looking through old comics reminds me why, even though I continue to read more and more DC, when push comes to shove, I have to say "Make Mine Marvel!"

- Writing this blog leads to me wanting to write more, both on this blog and creatively. And I count that as a very good thing.

Now, back to the stack:

JSA v. Kobra # 3: Kramer's art continues to be excellent. Trautman's story stumbles just a bit here, as this is the first time this series has felt like a run-of-the-mill superhero comic. But its a well-executed and visually exciting run-of-the-mill superhero comic.

Red Herring # 1: Three words. Bond. Phillip Bond. The story is mostly set-up, but it ain't bad either.

Daredevil # 500: One thing modern Marvel has been doing oh-so-right lately is their anniversary issues. This one is no exception, as everything in this over-sized package is worth your time. Brubaker & Lark's lead story makes me wish I had been reading Brubaker's run from the start. Andy Diggle and Billy Tan's preview of things to come was intriguing. The Frank Miller reprint was mind-blowing - somehow I always forget exactly how good Miller's Daredevil was until it sneaks up on me and wallops me in the head. But the real gem here is a new story by Ann Nocenti and David Aja. Please, please Marvel, do whatever it takes to get Ms. Nocenti back doing more regular work. Or at least have the decency to collect her previous run on DD in a nice Omnibus or set of trades.

Wolverine - Weapon X # 4: Jason Aaron writes bad-ass like no-one else, and Wolverine is the ultimate mainstream Marvel bad-ass. Seriously, though, Aaron really knows what makes Wolvie tick, and writes the best solo Wolverine I've seen in a LONG time. Ron Garney's straight-from-pencils art is pretty good too. And the two-page fight scene between Wolverine and one of the new Weapon X soldiers is just this side of spectacular.

Punisher # 8: No offense to Tan Eng Huat, but I really miss Jerome Opena on this title. He was just a much better fit for the gritty world of Frank Castle. Rick Remender's story here is good, but not up to his best work on the title. It was fun to see Frank face off against a simulated old-school Avengers lineup, though.

Hellblazer # 258: John Constantine really is a right bastard. I am very impressed with Milligan's work on this title so far. Hellblazer is one of those series that gets overlooked and taken for granted, but Milligan deserves a lot of credit for placing it back in the upper echelon of Vertigo titles I look forward to each month.

Big Stack o' Comics V: The Neverending Stack

Wow, this has taken a lot longer than I thought it would. Part of it is the fact that I spent an inordinate amount of time this morning on the latest issue of the adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" - the book I have the most thoughts on, as well. Lets start with some other stuff and work our way to that.

Irredeemable # 5: Mark Waid's evil Superman, the "Plutonian", just gets more evil, and more creepy, issue by issue, touching on something that is almost never explored but is blindingly obvious - if Superman really can hear everything everyone on Earth says at any given time, wouldn't it be difficult for it not to warp him in some way? After all, there are some seriously messed up things happening pretty much constantly on this planet, and constant exposure to that would be pretty tough to swallow. The story with the supporting cast trying to figure out a way to stop what is, essentially, a god, is interesting, and finally seems to be moving somewhere, but its not as fun as watching the Plutonian toy with the general population every month.

X-Factor # 47: This book is generally entertaining, but this particular plot-line has dragged on a bit too long. The one additional thought I have on this one is that some complaints I've read about Longshot's lucky shot in this issue seems to miss the point of his character -- his power's are luck-based. Which can lead to either some good storytelling, or become a recurring deus ex machina, depending on the writer. Here, its still leaning toward the former.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep # 2: Fascinating "adaptation." I put the scare quotes around adaptation, because this series is a word-for-word graphic illustration of Dick's novel - no writer is credited other than Dick himself. This leads to a really wordy, and actually almost schizophrenic book, with the pictures alternating between directly illustrating the words and providing atmosphere to some of the more expository passages. When the art actually follows the literal arc of the words, there is a kind of dual tracking feeling that happens, like you are seeing and being told of the same events, yet the perspectives are just a bit skewed and don't exactly match up. I'm not at all sure this is purposeful, but it works really well with this particular story. This issue also includes a very good essay by Matt Fraction (even if he does cheat and talk about the film "Blade Runner," which was based on Androids, rather than the book itself). This book is absolutely worth your time as a celebration of, and way to gain a bit of new perspective on, Dick's works. It certainly has inspired me to go back and re-read some of his other books. If you've never read Androids, though, I recommend you pick up a cheap paperback and do so before committing to this series. As a fan of the book already, though, I have to say I am really impressed by this work, despite some reservations I had going in -- the combination of the original text with visuals, plus the so-far excellent and illuminating essays by top comics creators, really shine new light on the text in a way that is very surprising.

Big Stack o' Comics: Even Bigger

I'm starting to wonder whether these posts are a good idea. There's a reason I usually don't review or otherwise write about every single comic I read - I just read too many, and a lot of time I don't have any real insight or strong reaction to the things. Even a book generally enjoy may not elicit a reaction from me that's worthy of broadcasting to the world. But I promised to write something about every single book in my stack this time, and gosh-darn it, that's what I'm going to do, continuing now.

Mighty Avengers # 28: This book is pretty good, but it has this weird vibe that makes it seem that no matter how big the events depicted are, this is just the off-to-the-side Avengers book thrown in by Marvel as a sop to Avengers traditionalists who hate what Bendis has done/is doing to the books that really count.

Dark Reign - The Hood # 4: Maybe I'm just a Mighty Marvel Mark, and will buy whatever crap they throw at me, but I really think some of these Dark Reign miniseries are being severely underrated. Jeff Parker turns in an excellent story here, portraying Parker Robbins (the Hood), not as pure evil, but a family man struggling to do the right thing for his wife and kid, in too deep in his life of crime, in too deep in his dealings with the demon Dormammu. All the while, the Hood has to deal with maintaining command of his organization, and a hero who seems to be on the verge of going too far and targeting Parker's family. One of the best thing a mini about a villain can do is show another, more relatable side of the character, and this one does that to great effect.

Dark Reign - Zodiac # 2: I'm not as enamored of this one as some in the blogosphere, but Joe Casey does do a good job in this tale of villains bent on pure chaos, making them just as much an enemy of Norman Osborn's new status quo as the heroes. Pure, sociopathic fun is the name of the game in this one, folks.

War of Kings # 6: A satisfying conclusion to this solid mini-series showcasing the oft-overlooked cosmic side of the Marvel Universe. We get a great fight (probably one of the best fights I've seen in a comic this year), a clear victor, and a set-up for future events that doesn't lessen the impact of what went on in this series.

The Stand - American Nightmares # 5: If you like the Stephen King novel, you'll probably like this adaptation. That's really as far as I'll go on this one, except to say that while I understand the strategy behind breaking the massive novel into several mini-series, the break points aren't necessarily intuitive. Seems they could have just as easily had an on-going series and broken it up into multiple trades, as there is so much carryover in the story (after all, its all one novel) the breaks seem really artificial. Its a minor quibble, though, for an otherwise well-done adaptation.

Greek Street # 2: I really love Peter Milligan, and want to like this series, but so far I'm on the fence. There are good bits, there are bad bits, and hopefully it will come together into something greater than the sum of its part as it goes on. In my experience, some of Vertigo's best series don't really gel until almost a year in, and I'm willing to give Milligan a chance to show me more with this, as there are glimpses of greatness in the general averageness of this issue. Part of the problem is the very large cast, which means that no character really gets a chance to engage us before we move on to another one.

The Boys # 33: Being edgy and transgressive means walking a line between the truly shocking and the so-over-the-top-it-becomes-mundane. The Boys too often finds itself on the wrong side of that line for my taste. The total evisceration of Avengers analogues "Payback" just came off as flat and ho-hum for me, though I was intrigued by the promise of more on Stormfront, who is basically, if I'm not mistaken, Thor as a Nazi.

The Amazing Spiderman # 601-603: Mary Jane is back. The Chameleon is actually menacing (which should really put to rest any question as to whether the Obama story was in-continuity, right? Right?) Peter Parker's personal life is interesting again. Things are humming along very, very nicely in this title right now. The book, for once, lives up to its billing - amazing.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape # 4: The reveal at the end of this series better be damn good, because as much as I love random mind-bending events in my pop entertainment, this series is starting to wear on me after a good start. Kind of like a TV series where the premise sets up well, then about halfway through the run you realize they are making it up as they go along and none of the stuff set up earlier will ever be satisfactorily answered, this thing is starting to worry me. Maybe Brandon will pull out the good stuff in the next two issues, tie it all together, and make a masterpiece. But right now I'm not holding my breath.

Ultimate Avengers # 1: Like a good summer blockbuster, Millar and Pacheco invite you to bring the popcorn, turn off your mind for about 10-15 minutes, and enjoy the spectacle. This is the book Millar was made for, and he shines on it in a way he doesn't quite stand out in his regular Marvel Universe work. Good stuff.

Big Stack o' Comics III: Muddlin' Through

Lots of ground to cover in this post, and lots of ground left to cover in catching up on my weekly books as well. Lets get started with the issue-by-issue musings:

Tiny Titans # 19: I get this book mostly for my daughter, but I make sure to give it a read on my own before sharing it with her, and its always a lot of fun. Silly stuff, but if you have young children (or want to re-capture some of the fun of childhood), you can't do much better than this.

Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers # 4: Similar to Tiny Titans (though perhaps for a slightly older audience), this mini-series has been one of the most fun books on the stands. Seeing a bunch of the most famous animals of the Marvel Universe take on Thanos (and win!) - and the creative teams ability to sell it convincingly - was a real treat. I'm glad we'll be seeing more of this group in the future.

Viking # 3: This over-sized book is a real value at $2.99, for the art alone. Nic Klein's work here is simply gorgeous, making great use of shadows and other hues to set the mood and convey the action contained herein. The story has been far out-paced by the art thus far, but that started to change a bit this issue, with the characters taking better shape, and the events becoming more compelling, meaning I'm actually starting to care about what's going on here rather than staring at the pretty pictures. Still the second-best Viking comic on the shelves, but well worth a look.

Blackest Night - Superman # 1: Not bad, but not great. Probably my least favorite Blackest Night tie-in so far, but maybe that's because I'm not all that steeped in the recent Superman mythos.

X-Men Legacy # 227: Another auto-pilot X-tale from Mike Carey. This book is about one month away from disappearing from my list altogether (and I give a LOT of leeway to the X-books).

BPRD 1947 # 1 and 2: I've never gotten into Hellboy and his associated titles. Just never enjoyed the few of them I flipped through all that much, didn't really enjoy the movie, never did it for me. I picked these up solely for Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, and boy, am I glad I did. These were surprisingly good reads, with lots of creepy atmosphere, a compellingly spooky story, and yeah, some fine drawing by Moon and Ba. I actually liked these so much I'll probably be picking up some of the older BPRD trades as well.

Batman - Streets of Gotham # 3: I had really hoped this title would be something more like Gotham Central than just another Bat-book, but alas, this one centers firmly on Batman and Robin. That issue aside, this is pretty good for what it is. If you enjoyed Dini and Nguyen on Detective, this won't disappoint.

Blackest Night - Batman # 1: This issue is everything a tie-in mini should be. It's firmly focused on the Batman family, and shows how the big events in Blackest Night specifically impact the Bat-corner of the DCU. Plus, as an added bonus, Deadman plays a major role. We see the relationship between Dick and Damian, how they are still dealing with the absence of Bruce, and how they deal with the concept of death generally. A great first issue of a solid mini, with nice scripting by Tomasi and Kubert-like art from Syaf. Highly recommended for Bat-fans.

Big Stack o' Comics, Part II

Well, since yesterday, I have made a fairly substantial dent in the pile of comics waiting for me. I always hate to be put in the position of playing catch-up on serialized monthlies. Reading scads of unrelated comics in a row, for me at least, can often lead to said comics blending into each other, lessening my enjoyment of the really good ones. So once I miss a few weeks reading, and I have a big pile to go through, I am torn between slowing down, taking my time, and making sure I appreciate each one, or rushing through to finish them all so I don't get even further behind. One reason I'm blogging about "the stack" now is that by writing something (anything) about each book, I'll be forced to step back and evaluate it somewhat, thus lessening the blurring effect I get by sitting down and plowing through a big bunch of graphic wonder.

Green Lantern Corps #39 - Decided to pick this up on a whim, as I've been following the rest of Blackest Night. Super-hero zombies played seriously is a pretty decent concept, and one I'm surprised hasn't been done already, so I've enjoyed every piece of the Blackest Night pie so far. This issue of Green Lantern Corps is where some diminishing returns set in for me, though. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm not too steeped in Green Lantern lore - so I felt like I was definitely missing something when some of the fallen Green Lanterns were resurrected, as I had no idea who most, if not all, of them were. Otherwise, an enjoyable issue -- I liked the interaction between Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner, I LOVED Guy bringing his date to Wrigley Field as a "romantic" dinner, and there were other nice touches thrown in. But, overall, this didn't provide enough for me to justify sticking around for the next issue -- this is one part of the Blackest Night tapestry I feel content in foregoing for now.

G-Man: Cape Crisis # 1 - This book is a lot of fun, and brought a welcome bit of whimsy after all the darkness of GLC and Blackest Night. This is an all-ages book that kids and grown-ups can enjoy equally, with a suitably action-filled plot AND something to laugh at on every page. The back-up strips that ran after the main story were all enjoyable as well. Well worth every penny.

Batman # 689 - I really don't get the extreme hate for Judd Winick. He writes Dick Grayson exceptionally well in this issue, highlighting real differences between he and his Bat-predecessor. Dick tends to be less focused on staying in the shadows, and more interested in being out in the open and operating flamboyantly, than Bruce Wayne ever was, a difference that is 100% consistent with his character and background. I like that Winick shows this new Batman focusing more on protection and rescue than Bruce did as well. The character moments certainly shine brighter than the plot, however, as the conflict between Two-Face and the Penguin (with Two-Face intentionally leaking details of the Penguin's operations in order to gain an advantage for his own criminal organization), comes off as a bit by-the-numbers.

Batman Confidential #32 - I'm picking this up because I really like Peter Milligan's writing, but the art by Andy Clarke is a welcome surprise. Those looking for a fix of "classic" Bruce Wayne Batman, operating this time in Russia, of all places, shouldn't be disappointed with this book.

War Machine # 8 - Because maybe three people in the entire world demanded it, a West Coast Avengers reunion! Seriously, I started getting this book for Leonardo Manco's art, and said art is still a major draw for me, but I am having to seriously consider dropping this title. The story just did nothing for me -- a muddled mess of fights, explosions, a self-defeating villain, and Norman Osborne purposelessly skulking in the wings (I guess its because he's required to do so in every in-continuity Marvel book these days). There just wasn't anything here for me beyond the gritty style of Manco's pencils that makes me want to come back.

Adventure Comics # 1 (or #504, depending on who's counting) - a solid debut issue from Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul, starring Superboy (with a back-up feature featuring the Legion of Super-heroes that I couldn't really care less about). Johns' story doesn't quite live up to the beauty of Manapul's art, which is truly worth the price of admission alone. Geoff does plant the seeds of some good stuff to come, though, at least enough to insure I'll stick around for next issue. Superboy's attempt to discover who he is by tracing the footsteps of his biological "parents" (for those not familiar with the character, Superboy is a clone featuring genetic material from both Superman and Lex Luthor) is an interesting way to start the series, but I do hope that it doesn't linger too long, and we can get into other stories beyond the Superman/Luthor thing.

Cable # 17 - This issue left me really wondering where this series is going. I've generally been enjoying Cable, but by the time the recent "Messiah War" cross-over with X-Force rolled around, I had started to wonder exactly how many post-apocalyptic futures there were for Cable and Hope to jump to. From the ending of this issue, it appears Swierczynski may have them sticking around and exploring this one for a bit longer, which I hope is the case. I should also note that Gullacy's art fits the tone of this book much better than Olivetti's ever did, so that too is a welcome change.

Destroyer # 5 - I'm almost ashamed to say that this series is the only thing I've read by Kirkman. Not that its bad -- its actually much, much better than it has any right to be. It has me thoroughly convinced that I should be reading Invincible and the Walking Dead as well, though, rather than just this tale of a nonagenarian who is so bad-ass he survives a heart attack by beating Death (actually, three "Deaths") to a bloody pulp.

Red Robin # 3 - I want to like this book, but I can't fully commit to it untili Chris Yost decides what he wants it to be. If it is the tale of Tim Drake growing out of his role as Robin and using his detective skills to prove he is correct in surmising Bruce Wayne is indeed still living, then I'm all for that. If it is the tale of Emo Boy and his infinite sadness reluctantly teaming up with a cookie-cutter team of super-assassins, then count me out. Unfortunately, its leaning toward the latter right now, but I'll give it at least through next issue to convince me otherwise.

North 40 # 2 - Love the concept - Lovecraftian evil unleashed in a small town. Love the art - Fiona Staples is a major new talent. Can't say I love the execution of the story - there are way too many characters that I simply could not remember the significance of in the story from issue # 1. Sadly, this may be a book that reads better in the collected edition than month-to-month, as while I could easily figure out what was happening in this issue, the significance to the continuing story was somewhat lost on me on the first read. I may be dropping this soon and picking up the eventual collection instead.

Around a dozen down, and I can't say I'm blown away by anything so far (with the possible exception of G-Man). I tend to save the best for last when I'm putting my books in reading order, though (which is why, after tonight, I'll be savoring the prospect of reading three issues of Wednesday Comis in a row), so there's plenty of room for things to turn around.

Big Stack o' Comics

Hello out there, everyone. It seems the day job took over for the past few weeks (and turned into something more like a 24-hour-a-day job), leaving me no time to blog. Indeed, not only did I have no time to blog about comics, I had no time to read comics, so as a result, I have a big stack o' comics (somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 weeks worth) to plow through, with more coming this week. As I go through them, I'll try to share a few thoughts about each, leaning much more toward instant impressions than in-depth analysis. I was able to make it through a couple on my commute in this morning, so let's take a look at them now:

Ultimate X-Men: Requiem # 1. Wow, that was horrible. I've always been a sucker for all things mutant, but this was too much even for me. I actually tend to enjoy "requiem" retrospective issues for dead characters (the Martian Manhunter Requiem book was one of my favorite Final Crisis tie-ins), but in order for them to work, their has to be some reminder as to why we should care whether they lived or died in the first place. This book has none of that - just a bunch of dead bodies laid out on the ground, and various "Ultimate" X-Men survivors sulking around basically saying, "It sucks they all died in that crappy cross-over". For a line with a lot of promise when it debuted, Marvel's "Ultimate" books are probably up there for the worst wrap-up/re-launch in history.

Marvel Comics # 1. I find these Golden Age reprint books fascinating. They are definitely more illuminating than they are entertaining, though. One thing I noticed was how long it took me to read this thing. There are a ton of captions explaining exactly what happened in the pictures, but nothing really has that great of a flow. It's also interesting to note the level of violence and death found in this book from a supposedly "simpler" time. The strip featuring "the Angel" is basically a Punisher-type character who chokes the bad guys to death rather than shooting them. This book also features re-prints of the first appearances of the original Human Torch, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, a masked-man Western, and a couple of jungle adventure stories (one of them is Ka-Zar, though it seems doubtful this is the precise same Ka-Zar still running around the Marvel Universe). If you are looking for a compelling story, you might want to skip this. If you are interested in tracing the roots of Marvel and comics story-telling in general its worth your time. Also, if you are picking up Brubaker and Epting's "Marvel Project" mini, the Human Torch and Sub-mariner stories do dovetail nicely with that and provide some good context for what Brubaker is doing with that story.

And that's all I got through so far. Two down, dozens to go. I'll be back with more thoughts later this evening.