Worst to First: 6/20/07
A really good week in comics, and I’d love to dig into it pretty thoroughly, but I’m headed to Seattle early in the morning and still have some packing to do. So here goes a quick spin through this week’s sizeable-but-worthwhile pile…
Worst: The Spirit #7
The “Summer Special” issue means that Darwyn Cooke is on vacation. The first story (about an evil, diamond-thieving version of Britney Spears) is a good idea but about as complicated as a sandal. I’m not saying I’m looking for James Ellroy, but they could’ve tried a little harder. The second is a cutesy piece where everything goes wrong but ends up just right and then a schizo murder mystery that’s way too similar to the first story, but with terrible art.
Near miss: Madame Mirage #1
Top Cow has really been promoting the heck out of this, and it’ll probably sell decent if only for Paul Dini’s writing. Oh, and the huge pair of boobs on the cover… Despite that gratuity, I was willing to give it a shot. We get an interesting setup, with a future world where superhuman activity is banned but goes on behind the scenes in nefarious ways. The titular (get it?) character is a smoky scourge of the jerkwads of the world, ruthlessly killing them.
Like I said, the setup is very good and the writing’s as sharp as expected. The art by Kenneth Rocafort has a different sort of unpolished feel, which really clicks and really doesn’t, meaning serious distractions. Even worse are the page designs, which give the book the light-hearted feel that it desperately shouldn’t have. Sadly, that means I’m probably one and done.
Slight step back: The Brave and the Bold #4
Man, this book is a hell of a lot of fun. It’s so much fun that a HUGE amount of Lobo can’t even ruin an issue. Now that’s saying something. As seen in 52, there’s a way to write Lobo and make him less of the Wolverine caricature that he was intended as, but he’s in full-on annoying mode here. Which spoils his role as foil to the pretending-to-be-innocent Supergirl, who apparently still is hot for Hal.
As those two search for Green Lantern and the book o’ destiny, Batman tries to get himself untangled from an asshole robot (as opposed to a robot’s asshole) and Blue Beetle generally screws up. That last page… wow, this could get even more crazy.
Somber-ific: X-Men: Endangered Species #1
First of all, any big event that you can follow without picking up a billion books (or even a central mini) is pretty cool. So I gave this a shot. Once again, it’s annoying that it took this long for Marvel to realize the implications it had left with that House of M inanity, but Mike Carey sets the tone for the fall-out in a perfectly somber way. He manages to take a character so minor that we don’t even know who it is (at least I don’t), but his death is massively important because of the ramifications of M day. No more mutants are being born. What’s going to come of this? There’s not really any villain to battle directly (unless someone wants to slice of Wanda Maximoff’s head. Hint, hint). I’m really interested to see what comes of Beast, thanks to the “how far will he go to be a savior” teaser at the end. Way to set the table.
Slick: The Highwaymen #1
I had no interest in reading this, so it’s a good thing Wildstorm sent a review copy, because I would’ve missed a good story. There’s a lot of confusing setup that leads to a mysterious document being stolen, triggering an old message (this is 2021) from the now-deceased Bill Clinton. The recipients are two old fogeys who used to work for Clinton in some mysterious capacity. Now they’re reunited, out to catch some woman and do something with her. Vague, I know.
The main character (an old bloke with white hair and white suit) is a bit too much like the lead from Planetary, but other than that I had no complaints. Looks to be a fun ride.
Kinky: Army@Love #4
Not sure if anyone out there is still buying this, but you should be. Rick Veitch takes the romance, war and satire genres and comes up with something that doesn’t feel like an exercise in spoof but a clean story that’s extremely funny and depressing, all at once. While the book takes plenty of shots at the war in Iraq, Veitch is commenting more directly on Americans, our values and interests. He points out the superfluousness of consumers, the emptiness of relationships, the over-bearing of parents. But, as with the genre influences, all that is a smaller part of the larger story, and not overwhelming. From an opening sequence in which two army folks experiment with the “camels at the oasis” sex position to a psych-out conclusion, just a hell of a fun ride.
Hatching: Checkmate #15
Checkout sees its penultimate (ha, used it right!) issue with Chang Tzu (did you know there’s a Chinese philosopher named Chuang Tzu? Coincidence?) the literal egg-head scientist literally cutting apart Roy and Sasha. Ewwww. All the political intrigue and undercover ops makes this an easy book to compare to Alias, and that comparison seems to get made a lot. Let me just say that Alias wasn’t really that good. You need to accept that fact. Anyway, this crossover is loads better than Alias. Oh, and a great last page with Bats ready to jump into play. Hoo-rah.
First: Captain America #27
And you thought a little thing like the titular character dying would slow this down? Well, hold the phone. Along with simply perfect (no really) art by Steve Epting and Mike Perkins (you can’t even tell their work apart), we get typically strong and tense writing from Ed Brubaker. The characterization of The Falcon and Sharon Carter are the highlights.
While I was a bit annoyed that we didn’t see the plot advance a little more, Brubaker offered some new insights into Bucky’s existence as the Winter Soldier, and it added an awful lot to the character. For just a standard, mid-arc issue, it doesn’t get better than this.