COMICS: Wed. 1/12/05

Hero Squared: Keith Giffen has always been hit-and-miss with me, more often miss. But I really enjoyed this comic. Maybe it's his pairing with J.M. DeMatteis that elevates it (I don't know, I can't say I'm very familiar with DeMatteis). Or maybe it's because it's an original creation, unburdened with DC continuity. But I liked the characters, I liked the story (even though it sounds exactly like the plot of some movie I can't think of right now -- seriously, isn't there some movie just like this? Hero from another dimension crosses into our dimension to find his non-superpowered counterpart? No? Maybe I dreamed it), I liked the pop culture banter, and I laughed a number of times. (Like at the newspaper headline: "Bush Signs Literacy Bill -- Misspells Name.") The art is enjoyable, but rough; much like Phil Foglio's Girl Genius, it looks like xeroxes were made directly from the pencils, skipping the inking stage. And the cover, by Giffen, is tremendously ugly. It looks like he drew it with his wrong hand while on hold with the cable company.

Shaolin Cowboy: Not much story here, is there? Just beautiful, beautiful carnage. Geof Darrow's artwork is so exquisitely detailed, it took me several minutes to absorb one panel. Of course, it was an eight-page long panel, but still. The more I looked, the more I found to admire. But there's not much to the comic. It sure takes a different tack from all those first issues that are nothing but set-up, set-up, set-up. This drops us right into the middle of a completely unfathomable situation, with bizarre characters, and explains nothing. I liked it.

What If Aunt May Had Died Instead Of Uncle Ben?: A leftover from last week. It escaped my notice that Ed Brubaker had written it. I picked it up this week, and much like the other What Ifs... eh. It was a nice gimmick, framing it as a conversation between comic shop denizens, but the story overall didn't work for me. The circumstances under which Uncle Ben wound up in jail were a little too forced and contrived for me to buy. Just didn't care for it.

The Pulse: Yet another issue in which Jessica Jones bumbles around hysterically, saying, "I have no idea what's going on with this Secret War thing!" Well, neither do we, sister, and guess what? I'm now officially pissed off. This title is dropped. P.S.: The art sucked, too.

Fables: The end of the four-issue holding pattern, which I've actually been enjoying a great deal. A year has passed since Snow gave birth, and we learn there's a seventh baby she didn't know about. Hmm... seven? Seven children, very young, very short... you might even say they're dwarf-like in stature. Funny. Much as I've enjoyed these change-of-pace issues, I'll be glad to see what's going on with Bigby again (hopefully next issue).

The Punisher: Frank gets taken down by Mini-Lee. (Lee, Bruce.) What a revoltin' development. I still don't get what the plane-hijacking has to do with anything. I don't know if I'm missing something, or if it's just the muddled mess it seems to me. Whatever. As long as Nick Fury appears, grousing about the time he's wasting when he could be with his whores, I'm a happy reader.

Marvel Team-Up: I really liked the last issue. This one was a mess. The disparate plot threads are distracting and annoying, not intriguing. I'll stick around for the end of the storyline, but if things don't pick up in those two issues, I'll probably be dropping this title, too.

Haven't read yet: a Dan Slott two-fer, She-Hulk and Spider-Man/Human Torch. I'm really looking forward to the Ty Templeton art in the latter.

COMICS: Wed. 12/8/04

I bought four comics. Two days later, I've still only read three of them. I'm slow.

She-Hulk: I love this comic. I prefer when Bobillo draws it -- something about that baby-faced She-Hulk, and his other non-traditional depictions of Marvel characters, really gives me a kick. But the writing is consistently entertaining no matter who's doing the art. I like the effort that goes into the minor characters. For example, I have to imagine no one has ever given as much thought to Titania as Dan Slott does this issue.

Powers: Nothing really happened this issue, did it? A lot of treading water. A lot of talk talk talk about whether it's right for heroes to challenge the law and use their powers openly. Then some nobody in a costume died, probably killed by a cop. Which might've been interesting, if they had actually dealt with it in this issue, instead of cliffhanging it. Pretty boring overall.

Punisher: I was a couple pages in, and one panel with Frank's face made me think, that looks like Bill Reinhold art. Which is unusual for me; I'm hardly an expert on artistic styles. But I was right, he's the inker. I had a little late '80s flashback, to when Reinhold was doing the art for Mike Baron's Punisher. As well as Baron's Badger. Those were the days. I wish Mike Baron were still writing comics. I mean, mainstream comics that have a future, not the ultra-obscure titles for mini-mini publishers that he seems to release once a year, which then disappear after the first issue (Faro Korbit, anyone?). In fact, he appears to have released a new book last month, The Detonator, which I've never even heard of. (It was scheduled for November, anyway; maybe it's not actually out yet.) And he's talking about a Badger revival for mid-2005. New issues of Grimjack and Badger scheduled for next year? Heaven!!

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Punisher. Pretty good issue.

Fables: Haven't read it.

Also picked up (but haven't read) the first TPB of Ed Brubaker's Catwoman. I'd been resisting this, because I bought the first couple-three issues when they first came out, then decided to drop the title. But Ian's enthusiasm for Brubaker's Sleeper recently got me to pick up the first trade of that series, and I really enjoyed it, so now I'm on a mini-Brubaker kick, I guess. Next up: Gotham Central.

COMICS: Wed. 6/30/04

Went to my friendly neighborhood comics shop Wednesday and wound up hanging out with employees Mike, Dorian, and Chris, as well as fellow comics fiends Corey and Ian, for a good hour and a half. Good times. One of our conversation topics was about our Irish chins, all of which (but Corey's) are oh-so-cleverly concealed behind facial hair. Chris, who isn't Irish, felt left out, but we all decided that half Mexican plus half Jewish equals Irish, and that seemed to cheer the lad right up.

Anyway. Only three new comics today, a light and inexpensive load for me, but I collected a bundle of back issues as well, and wound up putting a serious hurt on my bank account after all. Hooray?

• Batman: Harley and Ivy
  Part 3 of a 3-part mini. Another funny issue from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, featuring Harley and Ivy's misadventures in Hollywood. Very reminiscent of the work the two did on the Batman cartoon -- but with a more adult slant. Which I think must be confusing parents and kids alike. A cursory glance reveals the same cartoony art style found in the children's comic Batman Adventures, but a closer look reveals:
  

  Lingerie shot. Lingerie shot. Panty shot. Panty shot. Bra shot. Ass shot. Panties around ankles shot. Shower shot. Shower shot. Shower shot. Panty shot. Partial bare boob shot. Panty shot. Panty shot. Towel shot.

  And so forth and so on. There's a reason this book isn't approved by the Comics Code Authority. It's very naughty, in an innocent way, if that makes sense. Good clean dirty fun.


• Invincible
  My favorite new series of the past year (or so) continues to satisfy. In the aftermath of last issue's brutal battle between father and son, an important new government agent character is introduced, Mark learns more about what his father did for a living, new relationships are formed, both inside and outside the superhero world, and Mark's got a new job. Which, after being so utterly betrayed by his father, seems like a foolish thing to jump into as blindly as he does, but hey, the kid's still learning. Robert Kirkman has quickly become one of my favorite writers, and Ryan Ottley continues to impress with his sharp, clean artwork. Invincible is one of my five current favorites.


• The Punisher
  After the amazing previous storyline, in which longtime Punisher ally Micro met his shocking, extremely graphic end at the hands (well, shotgun) of the Punisher himself, this new story feels like a muddled let-down. Something about the IRA and pirates on the East River and some old guy who cuts up people real good and a bomb expert who's missing nine-tenths of his face and a dreadlocked, gold-toothed gangster and oh, I just stopped caring. Maybe I was just tired when I read this issue, but it stopped making sense around page three. Too much plot getting in the way of the action, as Joe Bob would say.


• She-Hulk
  I've been hearing a lot of good things about this title -- "It's not what you'd expect!" -- so I finally broke down and bought the first four issues. (Corey was pleased that both I and Ian were buying it.) And it's a good fun book. The artwork is nice -- although, in some action sequences (such as the one with MODOK in outer space), it's a little hard to tell what's going on -- and the writing is clever and humorous. The book's about She-Hulk, after she's screwed up her life with excessive partying (losing her job and getting kicked out of the Avengers mansion in the process), getting hired by a prestigious law firm that handles supernormal clients -- but the catch is, they don't want She-Hulk, they want her non-powered alter ego, Jessica Walters. I have minor complaints about She-Hulk's/Jen's seeming inability to stand up for herself, whether it be against the Avengers or her bitchy new co-worker, and I think it's a little unlikely the Avengers would've gone straight to kicking her out of the mansion without having a talk with her first, but hey, you gotta get the plot and conflict somehow. And like I said, minor complaints. I've heard the book's in danger of cancellation. Which just figures, now that I've finally started liking it.

I also picked up Ex Machina (by Brian K. Vaughan, writer of Y: The Last Man -- another of my current favorites) and Astonishing X-Men, both of which I forgot to get last week. I've got nothing to add about them that hasn't been said already. (Oh, and also, I haven't read them yet.)

And on Corey's recommendation, I got an issue of Brit, by Invincible writer Kirkman, but I didn't read it yet, either. Possible follow-up post later today.