COMICS: Wed. 8/25/04

I didn't update yesterday, because I'm a bad, lazy man, and yet my hit count was slightly up from Tuesday, when I did update. Weird.

Just a quick one to let you know I'm still alive. And also because I've only read two of my comics so far. Spoilers ahead.

Brit: Red, White, Black & Blue: I've only read one of the previous one-shots of Brit, so I was a little lost in this one. First of all, I didn't even realize Brit officially tied in with the rest of the Image universe; seeing Savage Dragon and Invincible pop up during the big fight scene was a little surprising. Second, the whole thing with his son being shot into the sun really left me scratching my head, as did Brit's friend with the robotic body. I'll have to assume this weird stuff was explained in a previous issue. And Brit's ex-wife has claws? Whatever.

I was disappointed that Tony Moore wasn't doing the art, but I did enjoy the artwork. The story was kind of weak. Aliens invade, how original. And the instantaneous way they suddenly go into attack-mode didn't really build up any suspense or drama. Just all of a sudden, Independence Day is happening. And what is the point of having the French be the aliens' allies? Just a swipe at the French for the hell of it?

The scene with Brit's ex-wife getting killed is truly shocking, though. Anyone who's ever heard the term "pornographic violence" could look at that panel and understand the meaning. Not that there's anything sexual about: it's just so horrifically, unexpectedly, unnecessarily graphic, that I just stared at it in disbelief for probably a full minute. I'm not suggesting the violence should have been toned down, I'm just saying, it really caught me off-guard, and that rarely happens, in comics, films, or any medium. There was violence throughout the comic, but mostly involving the aliens, so it was cartoony, Mars Attacks! violence. Brit's ex-wife's death, in contrast, seemed disturbingly real. It felt like the whole purpose of this comic was to get to that one panel.

Overall, a disappointing issue, but, due to that one sequence, it'll stick with me for a while.

The Authority: More Kev: Funny stuff, though about 90% of the humor is gay-themed insults. Midnighter's eventual bashing of the homophobic and stupidly overconfident Kev was especially satisfying. And the final page was a great reference back to the original Kev one-shot. The stupid bastard's killed the Authority -- again! I've never been a big fan of the regular Authority comic -- it always seemed a little too creepily, unironically fascistic to me -- and Ennis plays right into my dislike, by mocking and belittling the superhero team as they so richly deserve, and just outright killing them every once in a while. Good stuff.