Getting My Read On

I went into something of a reading frenzy on Thursday night. I pulled out a bunch of comics I hadn't yet read, and some books that I'm in the middle of, and stayed up until the wee hours of the night getting my read on. Considering I had to be up at six the next morning, it probably wasn't a wise choice, but I don't have a time machine so, whatever. I then hit the library with my son yesterday with the intention of letting him browse around for some drawing books, and somehow I ended up grabbing a whole schwackload of trades and a Joe Kubert biography which, over the course of the day, I've been having trouble putting down.

I think it is entirely possible that my brain is trying to purge the Star Wars that I've been stuffing into it for two months.

So, with all the new reading material around, I thought I would mention a few of them here, give some thoughts on them, and then be on my merry way.

First up is Simon Oliver and Tony Moore's The Exterminators, which is a strange, disgusting, yet strangely compelling read. I don't know where Oliver got the idea for this one, but I had heard through the grapevine that it was a worthwhile read and I decided to grab it when I saw it. Glad I did, too. It was also a treat to see Tony Moore's stuff in colour. I've only ever seen his stuff on The Walking Dead before this, and it was nice to see another side to Tony's work. Not for the squeemish, though. If you don't like bugs, or exploding organs, stay clear of this one.

I also read Stan Sakai's original GN Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai, which was very nice book to look at (Sakai did it all in watercolour), and a pleasant read, overall, but I think I was expecting something with a little more punch to it since it was a special 25th anniversary book and it just didn't live up to some of the great Usagi stories that have appeared in his monthly book. I'd still pick it up in an instant, and the presentation of it is beautifully done from cover to cover, it just didn't blow me away.

Next up is Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, a collection of stories from the five (or six, if you count the special as part of the numbering) issues of the Dark Horse series of the same name. I don't know why this was something I ignored when it first hit the stands in the mid-1990s. Could have been the price point, could have been an ignorance of Harlan's work, or maybe I just wasn't into anthologies. I honestly don't remember, although I distinctly remember seeing these original books on the shelves at the comic shop. Regardless of that, I'm about sixty pages into the first collection and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. The stories are decent, sometimes a little bit on the broad side, but the artwork is quite good, the adaptations are well done and the interstitial bits written by Harlan and illustrated by Eric Shanower are fun to read.

The last one I'm going to get into right now is Man of Rock, the aforementioned biography of comics legend, Joe Kubert, by Bill Schelly. I've only just begun to read this one and am about 60 pages in. From a chronological standpoint, I'm around the early 1940s in Kubert's life and he has just been given the job to do Hawkman under Sheldon Mayer. I'm not a huge fan of the writing style or the organization of the information, but I do love me some Kubert so I am thoroughly enjoying learning more about his life and early works. I wasn't planning on picking up and reading another biography for a bit, but this one has kind of grabbed my attention and refuses to let go.

Anyway, those are a few of the things that on my mind and on my reading table at the moment.

Cheers!

mike

Talking About Dead Mann Walking

A little while ago I received an ARC of Stefan Petrucha's latest novel, Dead Mann Walking, and I had fully expected to have it done and have a review of it up on the blog prior to its October 4th release date. As of this writing, I'm about half way through the book and at least a day late on the post.

The best laid plans of mice and men.

Still, not wanting to stay entirely silent on the subject, I figured I'd post some general thoughts, anyways, and maybe do a wrap up post when I do finish the book.

I've actually been a fan of Petrucha's work for a few years, now. I've enjoyed much of his comic book work, dabbled with some of his novels, and still consider his run on The X-Files with Charlie Adlard for Topps Comics a crowning example of how a licensed comic should be done. So, when I received my copy of Dead Mann Walking I felt like this was a known quantity. In all fairness, I didn't expect to not like it and, so far, I haven't been proven wrong.

The story revolves around a private detective named Hessius Mann, who was put to death for the murder of his wife but was later returned to life when supressed evidence was discovered and he was cleared of the crime. Yeas, that's right, he was brought back to life using a process called a Radical Invigoration Procedure developed by a company who expected to cash in on rich folks who would want to bring back their loved ones. What they ended up with was a new sub-class of 'people' (zombies) that nobody wanted around, but once you've brought them back you can't just get rid of them again. Not unless they go all George Romero feral. They call them chakz instead of zombies, and the chakz (those who can speak) call the living livebloods.

Anyway, in typical noir fashion, Hessius is approached by a client find a deceased person who has been named in his father's will. Since Hessius is still a high-functioning member of the undead community and knows the world of the chakz, he is uniquely suited for the task and takes the job. Then things get interesting.

For what it's worth, I'm really enjoying what I've read so far. Petrucha does a really good job of balancing the noir elements with the horror bits, and most of the humour in the book derives from the combination of the two. The plot appears to be pretty straightforward with all the hallmarks of a good mystery/thriller story, but Petrucha breathes new life into the old tropes by approaching them with an undead perspective. Everyone knows how these detective stories work but when you expect the familiar scenes to play out, you get them, to be sure, but slightly askew, and that's where the charm of this book, ultimately, lies.

There's also an oddly amped up tension to the proceedings. You would expect to not worry about your protagonists life when he has already lost it once, but as Petrucha makes it abundantly clear in the first chapter, there are fates worse then death when your a chak. Death itself has some finality to it, but those who have been through the RIP go on after limbs are detached and bodies decay. It's also a chore-and-a-half for these guys to maintain themselves on a daily basis because they're constantly fighting rot, memory loss, and the fear that at any time they may go feral. Oh, and they also have to deal with a living population who generally views chakz as not deserving of any rights and routinely enagage in violent attacks on undead communities.

This is probably a good place to mention that the world Petrucha's created here is really well thought out and there's a lot of interesting things he could mine here, if he wanted to. I'm sure there's a lot of backstory he could explore but he wisely shies away from it, for the most part, in favour of advancing the plot. In fact, Petrucha recently posted on his website an excised chapter, or portion of a chapter, that served this exact purpose but found that it slowed down the plot enough that it had to go. For anyone interested, I'll be posting that excerpt at the end of this review.

Overall/so far, I'm really digging Dead Mann Walking. I'm engaged, I'm interested, and it's a great October diversion.

I've also heard that a sequel may have been approved, so it may not be too long before we're discussing A Hessius Mann Novel #2. Me? I'm looking forward to it.

If you're curious, Petrucha has the first chapter previewed at BoomTron, and the following is the aforementioned excerpt discussing some zombie history according to Hessius Mann:

Dead Mann: The Missing Chapter

Crowded, surrounded, attacked, the chakz gave the people what they wanted, proof that they were dangerous. It was as though that group-mind the LBs worried about had actually kicked in. Maybe the ferals just never had the numbers before, or maybe you had to be far enough back to see the patterns. I saw them now.

Flashes of chak-bodies moved in elegant waves, like flocks of migrating birds. The livebloods, for all their higher functions, fled without grace. The big picture pulsed and throbbed. But the personal tragedies played out in tiny spaces, as if the two had nothing to do with one another. In the center of the swirls stood the fair-haired cop I’d seen from the window, bullets spitting from his AK-47. They tore some dead flesh. Mostly, he was hitting livebloods before the ferals took him down.

So was this Ezekiel and his dry-bones rising in the valley of death? Was it then, or later, now, or the future? The edges were arbitrary, the beginnings and endings likewise. But as I watched, this was the shit I remembered.

In 1929 W.B. Seabrook wrote about voodoo cults and resurrected slaves in a novel called The Magic Island. It made sense that Haiti, whose population had recently thrown off their shackles, would have plantation slaves for their monsters. White Zombie

In 1932, Victor Halperin’s White Zombie took it to the white Europeans. The island lust of Murder Legendre, played by Bela Lugosi, put a white virgin’s virtue at risk.

But these were early, proto-forms. There was no blood yet, not like there was on the Fort Hammer plaza. My eyes singled out a male teen, all buff and dressed to shock with Mohawk, tattoos and piercings. He ran half-heartedly, grabbing at the side of his head where his ear had been once. Red liquid dripped between his fingers. Eventually, he slowed and then, simply stopped.

In 1943 Jacques Tournier’s I Walked With a Zombie gave us a dead-eyed scarecrow. It was more a symbol. No savagery, just foreboding. It was Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend in 1954 that took it up a notch. The book was sort of about vampires, but they were so much like zombies that the 1964 Italian film version with Vincent Price, The Last Man on Earth, became the prime inspiration for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

1968, the zombie had arrived. Romero was the first, really, if you don’t count Ezekiel and all the others. What took so long? Well, in those days, the dead moved slowly.

On the plaza, groups formed and collapsed like cauldron bubbles. I watched two families band together. The mothers carried the little ones, forcing the older children ahead. Weirdly, the fathers carried doors, using them as shields. Two danglers and a gleet banged at them. They even tried the knob.

Romero made it biblical again. Cannibal corpses, old friends and lovers among them, children chewing on parents. The condition spreading like plague, and no one knew why or who to shoot. His sequel, Dawn of the Dead, used the same idea, but more directly as social critique, played out in comic-book colors so gaudy you had to get the joke.

I hoped the family made it. Something should survive, and it didn’t look good for anyone else. The elegant swarms had surrounded the LBs, and as they squeezed in, began to lose their pretty shape. Together now, ferals and livebloods pushed and pulled en mass, so many, so close together, they could barely move. Limbs tangled, the center of the blob tumbled, all together, all at once, like football teams in a joint tackle.

Romero, what could you say? A horde of lesser efforts followed, Fulci’s Zombi 2 notable for an underwater battle between zombie and shark. Then decades passed. 28 Days Later brought some class back to the movies. That was more about plague than the dead, but close enough, and its monsters were fast. The Dawn of the Dead remake followed suit. The books and comics got better – Monster Island by David Wellington, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and later Charlie Adlard (now on TV!). By then people played video games like Rebel Without A Pulse and Left4Dead, shooting and being shot, eating and being eaten. The great democracy of mass media.

The mob in the plaza had formed a single creature, like one of Colby Green’s orgies, many limbs, many mouths, some screaming, some chewing. Stray Livebloods and ferals tried to pull the bodies free, but for different reasons.

The cop with the flamethrower stood at the edge of the mass and stared, unsure what to do. He tried to help, used his free hand to grab a hand and yank, but when a feral came free, a chunk of dripping meat in its mouth, he’d had enough. He let loose with the thrower, turning it on the writhing pile. Before the cop could barbecue the lot, a liveblood clonked him with a crowbar, then dived into the smoldering mess, screaming that he had to find his girlfriend.

I’d like to say all the books and movies fade against the reality, but maybe it’s the reality that fades. After all, who could forget the surprise hit, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? This is the shit that gives us shape, that let’s us understand the world, even build it from scratch. Shakespeare told us. We are such stuff as nightmares are made on, and our little life is rounded with a scream.

The plaza had reached critical mass. The blob broke and scattered. Bodies, some moving, spilled across the street, then onto the long black hospital entrance ramp that had kept the scene arms distant. The tide was coming in.

***

Cheers!

mike

The Counterfifth Detective

I think 100 Bullets was in it's late twenties or early thirties when 'The Counterfifth Detective' storyline rolled in, and for whatever reason, I stopped buying and reading the series at that point. It was probably a money decision, or I missed an issue and my store didn't have it and the completist in me made me stop buying it until I found it. Either way, it ended my relationship with the book several years ago and I haven't read an issue since.

Now that the series is over I've kind of had thoughts of revisiting it. I've always liked the series. Azzarello was one of my first interview gigs, too, talking to me for FEARSMag sometime before the first year was up. It's what started me on the book, to be honest.

So, I'm at the library and I'm picking out some books and movies to take home when I run across the collected 'Counterfifth Detective' and I think to myself, "why not?". I bring it home, I finished reading it today, and I'm a little surprised at how clichéd it was in plot and dialogue. I don't remember the book being quite that 'on the button', for lack of a better word, with all the noir tropes and catchy dialogue. I can't remember, for the life of me, but was the whole run like this from the beginning? There were some interesting elements to the story, and the artwork by Eduardo Risso was beautiful, as always, but something here missed the mark for me.

I'm certainly going to continue grabbing the trades and finishing the story to the end, I'm just a bit non-plussed regarding my reentry into the series. Here's to Book 6, I guess.

Later!

mike

The Indiana Jones Comic Book Revue #6

All books are rated on a 0 to 5 Fedoras system.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #7
(Marvel Comics Group)

Plot/Script by: David Michelinie
Pencilled by: Kerry Gammill
Inked by: Sam de la Rosa
Cover by: Kerry Gammill

"Guess I'd better switch to 'Plan B'. Playin' it by ear!"

Dateline 1936

"Africa Screams!" begins with an adventure in medias res. Indy has infiltrated a monastery in France to retrieve a summoning stone that was stolen from the National Museum by a man named McIver who deals in the trafficking of ancient artifacts. He uses the monastery to house them and transports them in wine barrels so they go unseen by the authorities. Indy is wise to their scheme and, in the process, runs afoul of McIver who gets the drop on Indy and sounds the alarm. A chase ensues where Indy evades McIver's men, steals a truck and gets away, traveling back to Connecticut and home.

There he meets with Marcus Brody who points out that the rock Indy recovered was wrapped in a piece of paper that Indy grabbed, and that paper happens to be a rare map which may show the location of the lost tribe of the Shintay, an offshoot group of Atlanteans who fled the continent. It appears that they may be located in the Congo and Brody tells Indy he will have to leave at once since time will be of the essence.

Marion Ravenwood re-enters the picture as she was 'hiding' in the room during Indy's discussion with Brody and insists on being taken along. Several days later the pair hit Western Africa and try to put together an expedition with some bearers but another group already came through and hired everyone in the small village for a similar expedition. Indy and Marion decide to go on alone and have some misadventures with the local wildlife until they meet up with the aforementioned group led by Dr. Curt Vogel.

Indy suspects this other group of also trying to find the Shintay and does some poking around the camp that night. He is discovered and the enemy is revealed as Vogel admits to being Colonel Vogel and that he is a Nazi. He has been working with McIver, who recognized Indy, and is about to eliminate Jones but is thwarted as Indy escapes, rounds up Marion and hides in a cave with her, waiting for the soldiers to leave before they double back to the camp and gather some supplies before continuing on their own.

Just then, from behind the two of them, a pair of eyes come out of the darkness and an animal growl can be heard...

This was another really good issue with all the right pacing, action and touches to make a proper Indiana Jones adventure. Surprisingly, all the characters from the film are very much in character and, if one really wanted to go there, this story could even be considered canon. I hope Michelinie manages to keep this style and quality of storytelling up for the duration of his run. If he does manage it, this will be a very enjoyable reviewing process for the foreseeable future. The artists, Kerry Gammill and Sam DeLaRosa, do an admirable job of creating a world that I can believe belongs to an Indiana Jones story. Their likenesses of the characters are quite good and their environments are nicely detailed and have a lot of texture. The storytelling is strong and Gammill moves things along at a nice pace, never letting the reader get lost either geographically or in the narrative. After several artist changes, good and bad, I hope this is the new creative team for a little while.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and look forward to the follow up in #8.

The Indiana Jones Comic Book Revue #5

All books are rated on a 0 to 5 Fedoras system.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6
(Marvel Comics Group)

Plot/Script by: David Michelinie (from an idea by Archie Goodwin)
Pencilled by: Howard Chaykin
Inked by: Terry Austin
Cover by: Howard Chaykin & Terry Austin

"I actually enjoy saving a person's life twice in one day for no gratitude whatsoever."

Dateline 1936

"Club Nightmare!" reintroduces Marion Ravenwood to the world of Indiana Jones as our hero joins her in New York for the opening of their new business venture, The Raven. With all the money Marion received from "that lost ark mess", and Indy as a silent partner, she decides to open a club in New York. Eventually, she runs afoul of local gangster, Emil Marko, who wanted to be a partner in the business in order to use it as a front for a gambling setup. Marion tells him to go suck an egg and Marko puts the squeeze on Marion, jeopardizing her life and opening night!

This is a pretty good story and stands as one of the best since the Byrne issues right off the top. Michelinie shows some classic pulp sensibilities, giving the affair a nice '30s New York feel and populates the story with characters that remind me of many of the cast of Casablanca. The wonderful art by Howard Chaykin (also the best in the series since Byrne's departure) only serves to enhance the period look and feel of the story and he does an excellent job with the action sequences. It's a shame that he's only here for a single issue fill-in. At least we get to enjoy Chaykin's work in the future when he lends his considerable talent to some excellent covers for the series.

This issue was a really solid installment in the series. It was nice to see a straight up Indy adventure that did not take place in a jungle (unless you want to argue a concrete one), had no supernatural elements and worked like gangbusters (no pun intended) without relying on Nazis, communists or the occult for an antagonist or a MacGuffin. It was also nice to see Marion return even though this story (and this whole series, for that matter) clearly takes place outside of Indy canon. She was consistent, in character and a really good foil for Indy. From what I can tell, Marion continues on in the series for a few issues so we'll see if that trend holds.

Now That I'm On GoodReads...

Tintin: A Biography by Harry Thompson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not a portrait of the artist so much as an analysis of Hergé's work. Granted, Hergé was not a person who spent a lot of time doing interviews or talking about his life, so the source material Thompson used to inform his book is sparse. Add to that the fact that the author did not have access to Hergé's estate and you have a book that is big on enthusiasm but lacking in any real meat-and-potatoes biography. The analysis of each album in the series does give Thompson an iron-clad structure and he manages to offer up some valuable information for the art/cartoon/comic historian/enthusiast. Still, for as much as it says about the artist and his work it still feels lacking. An enjoyable read, overall, and a good primer for the TINTIN neophyte, but I'll probably keep looking for the Hergé bio that sates my appetite. Not a bad thing, necessarily.



View all my reviews

Later!

mike

Ghostbusters Completed

About a week ago I was overcome with ennui and decided to throw in my Ghostbusters video game into the PC and finish it once and for all. When I stopped playing it a while ago I had left off on one of the last levels, I was sure, as the story was kind of wrapping up in a climaxy kind of way. I don't remember what it was that stopped me from playing it through at the time, but I'm sure it got overly difficult and I got bored and busy or something. Anyway, it had been sitting on the shelf for some time and I decided to dust it off and get it out of the way.

Overall, it's probably some of the most fun I've had gaming. Really. The story, acting, graphics, all were top notch!! And, as far as I'm concerned, the game was written by Aykroyd/Ramis, stars the original cast (even Atherton and Potts) and continues the story as if it was the third in a trilogy bringing everything back to Shandor, Gozer, and explaining some of the stuff from GB1. And the new character you play doesn't intrude at all on the story. Even without saying a word he is seamlessly interwoven and actualy interacts with the other characters.

This, folks, is Ghostbusters 3. Make no mistake.

Anyway, now that I'm done the game I seem to still have a bit of a GB jones so I'm probably gonna grab some IDW Publishing GB comics and get an extended fix. I was buying and following all the GB comics but kind of dropped off there for a bit. A lot of one-shots seemed to be coming out that looked hastily conceived and quickly produced, so I sort of stopped buying, but I'll probably go back and re-examine. I just bought the Halloween special written by Peter David which wasn't bad. There's a time-travelling mini written by Scott Lobdell which I'm sure I should be checking out, so that's probably the next step.

Take care!

mike

Fringe Reading

This afternoon I finished reading the collected Fringe comic that Wildstorm put out a while ago. I picked it up because of my interest in the show and I'd heard that it was a not-bad read that did, in fact, enhance the viewing experience somewhat due to its exploration of the pasts of William Bell and Walter Bishop.

Well, the main story featuring the two oddball scientists was pretty lackluster so I was, overall, disappointed with the experience. I'll definitely keep to the show and avoid any more 'hidden tales' from the fringe. The shorter back-up stories, however, were pretty decent in a Weird Tales or Strange Science-Fiction Stories sort of way. In fact, it looks like the publisher is following this format for their second Fringe series called Tales From the Fringe which appears to be all shorter stories with twist endings and weird situations. The only real difference is the new series actually stars characters from the show like Broyles, Dunham and Peter, so it's a little more interesting to read.

Anyway, just wanted to get some thoughts down on the experience. Not really recommended for anyone but the most die-hard of fans, so reader beware.

Until next time.

mike

The Comic Haul - 03/25/09

And here we are with another installment of the getting more regular, The Comic Haul, where I, your intrepid blogging host, review some of the weeks comics for your perusal:



INDIANA JONES AND THE TOMB OF THE GODS #4 is my big pick for the week, and not just because I'm a huge Indy fan. Rob Williams continues writing an excellent Indy adventure, bringing the quest for the mysterious Temple to an end, and his characters always remain true to their cinematic counterparts (something some licensed books have trouble maintaining). The artwork of Bart Sears was an early concern but he has really distinguished himself on this book. His style is very detailed, tonally appropriate and he handled the few action scenes really well. A bit of a departure from the very slick look he had some years ago and I think I prefer his work that way. At times this issue was a bit Lovecraftian for my tastes, but it was never overpowering and it did bring a distinctly fresh flavour to the story. Something that Indy has never really faced before. Overall I liked this mini-series very much and I really hope Dark Horse try another one or two before giving up on the license completely.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: CYLON WAR #3 didn't exactly fill the BSG sized hole I've had in me since the series finale aired. To be honest, it didn't even hold up to the 12 issue BSG run that Greg Pak wrote a few years ago, and I would argue that Pak was darn close to capturing the essence of the show but just missed it by a hair. Essentially Cylon War tells the story of how the Cylon War began, and as we enter this third part of the journey, we find ourselves in the middle of a civil war in the colonies. Sagittaron and Caprica seem to be at odds and there are other, more mechanical, personalities that are keeping an eye on the proceedings. At the flashpoint of the war, the machines decide to attack, uniting the colonies against a common foe. Not a bad idea, per se, but the execution felt a little week, the characters a little thin, and the artwork by Nigel Raynor doesn't hold a candle to the dynamic stuff he was doing for Pak back in the day. It may be because it was shot off of Raynor's pencils, or maybe he's just off his game. Either way, this issue was not working for me.

NOVA #23 was a bit of a disappointment considering how much I have been enjoying Abnett and Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy. It had its moments, particularly an exchange between Rich Rider and a Dr. Necker near the end of the book where she was trying to help him with his condition (dying) despite leaving H.A.M.M.E.R. Some of the Quasar bits were nice and the ending piqued my curiosity, but nothing like how GotG grabbed me when I read one issue. Maybe it's just that I've never really cared for the Nova character. The artwork by Andrea Divito was decent, though. I may check in with the book again, but for now it's on the not bother to buy list.

STAR TREK: MISSION'S END #1 is yet another Trek book out of IDW, but this one stands apart by virtue of having been written by Ty Templeton. He makes a decent showing of it, spotlighting the early Enterprise crew we see in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which was kind of fun. I'm not sure if I'm totally engaged in the story, though. A race of spider-like creatures who are now warp capable get a visit from the Federation and what the crew discovers is that these creatures may be more dangerous than anyone had anticipated. Lots of walking and talking, which is fine, but the build-up is slow and the art not entirely electrifying. Still, I'll probably hang in for another issue, partly for the novelty and partly because of my curiosity.

SUPERMAN #686 was slow but decent. Not as enjoyable as the work these guys were doing with Superman as the lead, but I'm holding out hope that Mon-El will distinguish himself given some time. I've been a fan of the character since Giffen and the Bierbaums dealt with him in Legion and I'm hoping that this really secures a place for him in the current DCU. Not much happens in the story beyond Mon getting a haircut, but we'll see how things progress over the next couple of issues before making any permanent judgments one way or the other.

And that was the Comic Haul for this week. Comments are always welcome so feel free to throw in your two cents worth.

Until next week, take care.

mike

The Comic Haul - 03/18/09

And here we are with another installment of the getting more regular, The Comic Haul, where I, your intrepid blogging host, review some of the weeks comics for your perusal:



JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER #253 was a pretty enjoyable read and a decent first effort by new writer, Peter Milligan. I've been a fan of Milligan's since his days back on Shade the Changing Man and was happy to hear that he would be replacing Andy Diggle as regular series writer. Diggle brought me back into the fold and with his departure I questioned whether or not I would continue on with the book. Milligan was the perfect name to keep me around for the long haul. I will say that the story of intelligent, and somewhat malicious, biological material (in this case a scab) rings kind of familiar (see latter issues of the aforementioned Shade) but Milligan manages to spin it well, and the addition of John's new girl, Phoebe, gives the whole story a nice little twist. I'm not entirely sold on the artwork of Giuseppe Camuncoli, but given some time I think he'll settle in just fine. Oh yeah, there's also a fine cover by regular cover artist, Lee Bermejo.

GROOM LAKE #1 is a book I knew nothing about until I read last week's Angel: Blood & Trenches. There was an ad in back that showed the cover image and listed the creative team, and my curiosity was piqued. As an X-Files fan from way back, how could I not think of that great episode, 'José Chung's From Outer Space" with the smoking alien and the "this is not happening" mantra? Unfortunately, Groom Lake doesn't really live up to that level of fun and sophistication. To be honest, it's not even fun and stupid. Chris Ryall riffs on Men in Black, X-Files, and every other space-horror-comedy that has come down the pike in the last 10 or 15 years to cobble this one together. Heck, even Ben Templesmith can't save this one. Skip it if it's an option.

THE X-FILES #5 has yet another creative team taking the reins where Frank Spotnitz and Marv Wolfman left off. This time around Scully and Mulder must deal with mysterious underground "demons" in a story that is a bit of a stretch, tonally, for The X-Files. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose who claims to be driven by 'demons' who live in an underworld that is analogous to hell. The police don't have enough information out of the suspect and they ask for a "Spooky perspective", inviting Fox and Dana to check on their guy. They get embroiled in something greater than anyone expected and judging by the cliffhanger ending, there be demons afoot. Either that, or Daphne, Fred and Velma are going to pop out soon and pull the masks off the ghoulies and reveal how the crime was done. In all fairness, Doug Moench does a decent job with the material, it just doesn't feel quite X-Filesey enough. It takes a special hand to get it right. So far, Stefan Petrucha and John Rozum, with an honourable mention for Marv Wolfman last issue, are the closest the comic world has come to finding writers that can do this material and make it feel like the television show. Next issue's the last so we'll see if the series goes out on a whimper or a bang.

SUPERGIRL #39 continues the "Who is Superwoman?" storyline that has been running post New Krypton, and remains one of my top of the pile reads every month. I never expected to be picking up a Supergirl book. I collected it briefly when Peter David was the writer back in the day, but this new Loeb-introduced Supergirl was never my thing and I avoided her like the plague. Enter Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle who do such a wonderful job of creating a character and a world that feels very real to me month after month. Watching Kara deal with her mother's disapproval, the continuing feelings of loss for her father, the trouble she's having being torn between two worlds (New Krypton, where her biological family is, and Earth, her adopted homeworld) and the mystery of this Superwoman character that is causing all sorts of trouble for her are totally engaging to me. This is the level of drama I like to see in a continuing monthly super-hero series. It's just a combination of good writing and great artwork. Grab a copy if you have a chance.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #588 was a book I planned to buy but didn't. Marvel raised the price on the book to $3.99 so I had to opt out of the last issue in the "Character Assassination" stoy. For what it's worth, JR, Jr.'s art looks sharp as ever but I'm just not buying any books that were essentially an impulse purchase that have gone up in price. I can put those dollars towards continuing to buy the 'must-have' stuff.

MYSTERIUS THE UNFATHOMABLE #3 continues to build on the larger story that writer Jeff Parker introduced with the seance in issue 1. Sub-plots continue to develop and become intertwined with the main story wherein Mysterius discovers that a series of rhyming Seussian children's books are actually designed as spell for people to unintentionally code-chant in order to unleash Hell on Earth. Fun stuff. You can practically feel the surprise and irritation Mysterius must be experiencing as he deals with elements beyond his control thanks to Parker's great dialogue and the beautifully comic artwork of Tom Fowler. Every time I see him trying to 'help' a person deal with the supernatural, I imagine it must be not entirely dissimilar to explaining e-mail attachments to my mother. It usually ends with my hand on my forehead and an accompanying slapping sound. So, if you haven't picked up on it yet, this is great stuff. Mysterius is one of those 'give me something new and different' books you always hear people asking for, so give it a try if you haven't already.

And that was the Comic Haul for this week. Comments are always welcome so feel free to throw in your two cents worth.

Until next week, take care.

mike

The Comic Haul - 03/11/09

And here we are with another installment of the increasingly irregular, The Comic Haul, where I, your intrepid blogging host, review some of the weeks comics for your perusal:





THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAVIOR 28 #1 is my pick for the week. A lot of folks have tried to do a book like this in recent years. They create a Superman analogue or other Golden or Silver Age hero, take him throughout history and show the effects his presence would have politically and on us as a society. I was a little concerned when I heard about this series because of the fact that this idea keeps getting rehashed in one way or another and I wondered why DeMatteis (someone I consider one of the best writers in the field) wanted to explore that idea. After reading Savior 28, I'm glad he did. This is really great stuff. The characters were interesting, the pondering of an alternate comic book history was kept to a minimum, and the pacing of the issue was razor sharp. Good dialogue, good art, great story, what else is there to ask for? I am really looking forward to what DeMatteis gives us next issue.

ANGEL: BLOOD & TRENCHES #1 wasn't perfect and certainly had its problems, but if Dark Horse had been trying stuff like this when they had the license, I think they would still have the Angel license. John Byrne comes in from out of nowhere and gives us a WWI Angel tale that is a fun take on the character and different enough from what is currently going on with the regular series to really stand out. Byrne's art is all pencil work here and he proves that, while he may not be the brightest light in comics any longer, he still has the art chops to knock one out of the park. Everything from the lush background details to the spot-on likeness of David Boreanaz go a long way to making this one of the best looking Angel stories I have ever seen. Story-wise, Byrne doesn't give us anything miraculous but it is a solid effort and he throws in enough detail to show that he was either a fan of the show or he did his research before taking this on. It's definitely worth checking out.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #34 has some very dramatic moments and is clearly building towards something, but my lack of interest in the Lantern universe is working against me, here. The owner of my LCS told me that Green Lantern stuff was just rocking these days and I should try it, so I did. Not so much with the rockin' and I feel pretty firm in my belief that I won't miss much if I skip the upcoming "Blackest Night".

THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #23 is a pretty decent read. I haven't had my hands on an Iron Fist comic since somewhere in the first 6 issues by Fraction,Brubaker and Aja, so I had no idea what to expect, but assumed, foolishly, that there was no way it could be as good as those early issues. Swierczynski does a nice job of creating atmosphere, communicating who these characters are with very little spoken information (also a credit to his art team of Travel Foreman and Co.) and coming in on the second part of a story and knowing exactly where I am and what's going on without 6 pages of exposition is a nice change. I'm seeing this more and more in Marvel books and it's making them so much more accessible than so much of DC's output. After reading this issue, I may consider catching up and continuing on with the book.

BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL #1 was better than I expected it to be, but I'm not sure I'm in for all three issues at this point. I do give it credit for being only three issues. I mean, considering all the crossovers and events in just about every corner of the DCU, and the multi-part R.I.P. storyline that seemed to go on forever, I tip me hat to them for showing some restraint and not milking this one. I should also give Tony Daniel some props for a not-bad job of writing, the first I've seen him do to date. It should be noted that the writing and art in Battle for the Cowl were both clearer and more engaging than any single issue of R.I.P. so maybe I should reconsider sticking around for the next two issues. Worth checking out if you've been a part of all this Batman tomfoolery over the last year, otherwise it might not have much resonance.

ACTION COMICS #875 was a really, really quick read. Still, I've been enjoying the happenings in the Superman corner of the DCU for a while now and this was no disappointment. The first of the all-new, all-Superman-free issues starring the Kryptonian heroes, Flamebird and Nightwing planted the seeds for what looks to be a decent story (or part of one) that will play out over the next 12 months. Kryptonian sleeper agents have been planted on Earth and they work for Zod who has not yet given up on his desire to crush Kal-El and his adopted homeworld. DC is certainly doing something right leaving their mightiest mascot in the hands of Greg Rucka, James Robinson and Geoff Johns.

That was kind of a DC heavy Comic Haul but I honestly didn't go crazy on the Marvels this week. I didn't review the new Captain Britain or Iron Man even though they were on the pile mostly because of time, but if I get a chance I'll run a couple of quickies off.

Until next week, take care.

mike

The Indiana Jones Comic Book Revue #4

All books are rated on a 0 to 5 Fedoras system.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #5
(Marvel Comics Group)

Plot/Script by: David Michelinie
Pencilled by: Ron Frenz
Inked by: Danny Bulandi
Cover by: Ron Frenz

"I'm just glad mom isn't here to see this..."

Dateline 1936

"The Harbingers" continues right off the cliffhanger from last issue with Indiana Jones and Karen Mays as they dangle precariously off of a bridge in a commandeered Rolls Royce. As they make their escape they find that they are out of the frying pan only to jump into the fire as the Nazis are waiting for them on the bridge. Indy and Karen leap for the Thames and land on a garbage scow which takes them away from the immediate danger.

What follows is a series of misadventures with Indy and Karen dodging the Nazi menace at every turn while they try to make it to Stonehenge with the crystal artifact. Once there, they hope to see if the carvings that tell of the return of ancient beings to our plane of existence are true. What they find is pretty much as advertised and Michelinie describes it as such:

Above the ancient rock towers of Stonehenge the very sky splits open giving hazy glimpses of things reptillian, simian, canine, insectile, and utterly, utterly unknown!

Indy is tempted to let the beasties out so he can learn their secrets but has a change of heart and smashes the crystal, locking them away to wallow in their otherworldly place forever, not to mention foiling those pesky Nazis yet again.

Although I am never a fan of showing Indy too much of the supernatural, it is a necessary element to telling a certain kind of Indiana Jones story so I'm not going to condemn the creative team for going to the places they did in "The Harbingers". It's not the best Indy story I've ever read, but the characterizations were good, the action was fun, there was a fight on top of a train, and it was, overall, a decent pulp-inspired read. I also think this tale succeeds primarily because it mirrors so much of what made Raiders work: the race against time; the Nazi's around every corner; the ancient artifact that promises wondrous things; and a showy SFX finale with swirly ghost-like apparitions.

I honestly thought I was going to dip down with the rating on this one but I think it could be argued that "The Harbingers" was totally consistent with its predecessor and, therefore, earns three well-worn fedoras.

The Comic Haul - 03/04/09

Sadly, I must apologize to anyone who is paying attention to these posts, but I'm not going to be able to get a Comic Haul out for this week. I have some contract work that I have to get through and it's sucking up a lot of time. Hopefully back on schedule for next week.

Oh yeah, and if you picked up Agents of Atlas this week, you get a cookie.

Later!

mike

The Comic Haul - 02/25/09

In all fairness, I haven't managed to improve my situation time-wise so this week's TCH will resemble the one I did last week. Still, that being said, I kind of didn't mind the format from last week and have been giving it some thought as to how one could refine it a bit and possibly make that the one I use from here on out. I'll keep thinking about it. And now, on to the reviews:



BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #2 was the second issue I bought from this series and the first I read, but seeing as how these are one-off stories, I don't think it really matters. I didn't have high hopes for it as I'm not a fan of the show but I picked it up for my kids who I thought might get a kick out of it. I have also enjoyed most of the DC kids books so there was always the chance that I would get a kick out of it too, but no such luck here. I'm sure it would appeal to my 7 year old immensely but, unlike Tiny Titans or the new Supergirl and Shazam! books, it's all ages appeal is pretty limited.

SUPERMAN #685 was a bit dry for my tastes and suffers from being a purely expository issue to set up the next year of the Super-books. Robinson does manage to not make it a complete bore by giving us some nice moments with Mon-El and the artwork by Javier Pina was pretty solid. I don't know how closely Pins worked with Hi-Fi, the colourists for this issue, but it did feel a bit off, with some of the scenes coming off a little too bright. Maybe they need just to adjust some of their photoshop filters. Overall a decent, if unspectacular, read.

YOUNGBLOOD #8 reminds me why I stopped buying this series after the first issue. It's chaotic and it's bland which is a strange combination and one that doesn't make for good comics. I wanted to like this series when it first debuted because I've enjoyed the talents of Joe Casey and Derec Donovan elsewhere on other books. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of that talent showing itself 'round these parts. Could be that the Liefeld characters are really limited, could be the stories that Casey is coming up with are uninspired, I don't know. What I do know is that, 7 issues later, I give Youngblood yet another pass.

STAR TREK COUNTDOWN #2 is a surprisingly decent effort from IDW, writers Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, and artist David Messina. Despite the Trek magic being thoroughly tarnished after many years of returning to the proverbial well, and the new film not inspiring me with a great deal of hope for a successful franchise reboot, this mini-series gives me some comfort. It's a prequel, but doesn't appear to have anything to do with the movie two issues in and reads better than most of the comics or novels that have been released over the years, which is interesting. It's also a nice blending of the old and the new with characters like Spock, Picard, and Data making appearances that don't come off like stunt casting, and the new characters, like the Romulan miner, Nero, who manage to fit seamlessly into the existing Star Trek fabric. It is, by no means, a perfect comic book, and the plot bears some similarities to Star Trek VI, but I've genuinely enjoyed reading both the first issue and this one, so I'll probably stick around to see how it ends.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #22, part two of "Earth's Mightiest", doesn't really improve on the first part much, although I seemed less bothered by Khoi Phamm's work here than I was previously. Oddly enough, I think Quicksilver sums up my feelings on the issue best when he refers to the new team that's assembling as "pure chaos". I know there are supposed to be interesting character dynamics forming between Avengers past and present, but the whole thing seems too staged and just isn't working for me. And I don't know who is responsible, but what's up with Quicksilver being back in the green suit? I may stick around for the final chapter just for completion's sake, but I can't guarantee it.

And that's another Comic Haul in the bucket. Looking over the list I think I'd have to vote Star Trek: Countdown #2 as the Pick of the Litter which would be the second time that book has surprised me since picking it up.

Take care.

mike

The Comic Haul - 02/18/09

Man, keeping up with this review stuff has been really tough these last few weeks. I'm going to have to take another angle on things with this edition of The Comic Haul and will try and have things back on track for next week's stash.

The books I would have reviewed are covered below...



The Amazing Spider-Man #587 was good but nothing to write home about. Seeing as this series is working for me one issue and bombing the next, I don't know what to say, really. Likely the next issue won't be very good, but I'm willing to be surprised.

Four Eyes #2 was a long wait but it was worth it. I love this mini-series and you should definitely check it out. This is the first in a three-way tie for pick of the litter this week.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #2 is the second book in the three way tie for pick of the litter this week. I'm just loving what Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler are doing with this mini-series. There really isn't another book quite like it on the stands and if you're not checking it out, it comes highly recommended.

The X-Files #3 came as something of a disappointment this month. I had been enjoying the series up to this point but Marv Wolfman just didn't follow-through satisfactorily on this case. The premise was intriguing, the characters wewre well portrayed, but we've seen the Chinese Tongs in the television series and I sort of felt like they were treading water on this one. Hopefully the next story arc will be more fun.

Last in the three-way tie this week is The Zombies that Ate the World which is great fun and I am always happy to welcome more Guy Davis artwork into my home. It's also nice to see Humanoids getting their stuff out there again after the debacle with DC. If you dig zombies, get your grubby little fingers on a copy of TZTATW at your earliest opportunity.

Runner up for Pick of the Litter would be Robin #183. Funny that the last issue would also be the best issue in months. If this stuff would continue at this level when the series (possibly?) returns, I'd be happy to pick up where they left off. Seeing as how the Bat books are in flux, though, there probably won't be a Robin book to come back to when the dust settles. When it was good it was good, when it was stuck in the middle of the event whirlwind, it was marginal. Went out on a high note, though.

And with that, I am outta here. I'm almost liking the new format (even though it was meant as an ad hoc replacement for the 'older' style. I'd be curious to hear what any of you think or prefer review-wise so feel free to comment. I'll also try to have this all back on track for next week.

Cheers!

mike

The Comic Haul - 02/11/09

My weekend is goofy with stuff to do so I'm going to be unusually brief this week.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #1: I was a little concerned about DC going back to the well with this concept, especially one that was a bit goofy to begin with. L.E.G.I.O.N. served a purpose and was an actual acronym for the Licensed Extra Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network. When they relaunched the series as R.E.B.E.L.S. (Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eradicate L.E.G.I.O.N. Supremacy) I continued to buy the book but rolled my eyes every time I saw the logo on the stands. I'm happy to say that despite all the things it had working against it, Tony Bedard and Andy Clark pulled off a really interesting issue. I felt like I just got out of the wayback machine and characters like Vril Dox and the Omega Men served some kind of purpose in the DCU. And the way Clark does his stuff, it reminded me of Gary Frank's work on the Action Legion storyline from a ways back. I'm definitely going to keep following this book.

Patsy Walker: Hellcat #5: Another harmless and fun Marvel title. It goes without saying that this mini-series is a total throwaway disposable entertainment kind of package. It will not be considered a seminal work for the medium, there won't be any gritty moving picture crime epics to be made of this, and tomorrow I probably won't even linger too heavily on what transpired in these five issues, but I also can't say that there is anything inherently bad about it, either. The writing by Kathryn Immonen was kooky and fun (there's that word again), the artwork by David Lafuente was dynamic, colourful and easy on the eyes (kudos to colourists Dave and Natalie Lanphear for part of that) and at no point was I confused about the metatextual aspects of the story, nor was I thinking of just about everything else I could be doing instead of reading this comic book. So, lame review as this is, I give Hellcat a pass because it is the literary equivalent of eating a really yummy cookie.

Amazing Spider-Man #586: The secret origin of Menace revealed, finally! Because you demanded it!

Well, the Marvel solicitation lies about the artist on this book because when I got home and opened her up, it was Barry Kitson and not John Romita, Jr. on the art chores, which knocks this one down a few notches for me on the happiness scale. Barry's a competent artist but I generally find his stuff to be bland and I think they went all digital on this one because it just looks wrong. Guggenheim's script was equally uninspired trying to inject drama and shock and surprise when really it was just a lot of standing around and talking about stuff that isn't really that interesting to begin with. By definition this is the Interlude episode of "Character Assassination" so they're even telling us they've put the good stuff on hold for a sec to do this other little thing over there, don't mind us. Dry is the only word to describe this.

Sorry to go out on such a bummer note but I really have to split. I'll try and have something beefier next week. Until then, take care and remember, comments are always welcome and encouraged. Until next week.

Later!

mike

The Comic Haul - 02/04/09

Back with another week of The Comic Haul. Let's get to it, shall we?

Agents of Atlas #1: Here's my pick of the litter for this week. AoA #1 is a long time in coming and worth every minute of the wait. Parker does a great job of bringing you into the Agents' world and, as he did in Mysterius before this, gives us a lot of exposition without making a single moment of it boring. Case in point, in this issue we get introduced to Norman Osborn and his interest in the Atlas Foundation, the hidden headquarters of the Agents, a bait and switch plot that introduces you to the powers and motivations of our principle characters and a Dragon eats Man Mountain Marko. How much more could you possibly want? Could it be a back-up story featuring the Agents and Wolverine in 1950s Cuba contending with brain controlling bugs? Yeah, I thought it might. The only negative thing I can say about the book is that Leonard Kirk isn't drawing it but 1)I never want him to leave Captain Britain (unless it is to return to AoA), and 2)Carlo Pagulayan is doing a phenomenal job in his place and looks to be quickly making this book his own. I can only hope that Marvel keeps putting out books like Agents of Atlas. I'll be spending more of the hard-earned cash in the Marvel U if they do, that's for certain.

Witchblade #124: I'll state my bias right off and say that I've never loved this concept or title much in the past. The gothic softcore stuff that Top Cow has been producing for 10+ years just doesn't catch my interest much. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, when I say that I did not enjoy Witchblade #124 very much and have very few good things to say about it overall. Seeing Ron Marz' name on the cover had me hoping for at least a readable story. I mean, I bought a number of Wetworks issues when JM DeMatteis worked on it, so anything was possible, right? I have my doubts as to whether or not Marz even dialogued this one, to be perfectly honest. I've read his stuff before and it's never been quite this stiff and meandering. There was nothing to draw me in, here. The artwork by Stjepan Sejic had a couple of brief moments of coolness, but just don't think his stuff works well in sequential form. I suppose if you're a devotee of Greg Horn, you may find some appeal in Sejic's work, but I can't come back for another issue after this one. My Witchblade days are done.

Invincible Iron Man #10: I'm not at all happy with the artwork of Salvador Larroca in this issue, which disappoints me a bit. Salva is one of the reasons I still maintain any interest in this book despite slowing down, somewhat, since its initial storyline. Part of the ennui could be a result of how interweaved into the Marvel U Tony's story has become and I've never been a big cross-over summer event kind of guy. I do, however, really like Fraction's portrayal of Pepper and I'll admit that the Tony on the run does have some charm to it. Watching him dismantle his empire in order to keep it out of the hands of Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. has its moments. And the 'surprise' direction for Pepper has me kind of enthused for where things may be going. Still worth keeping up with if the cover price doesn't kill me in the end.

Dead Irons #1: It seems to be all the rage for popular artists to 'art direct' but not actually do anything more than the covers and that remains true of Dead Irons, the new horror/western out from Dynamite Entertainment. I really liked the artwork of Jason Shawn Alexander and, I'll admit, he is the primary reason for why I picked this book up. Still, the story by James Kuhoric feels very draggy and, for the most part, fails to even convey what it is you're reading. If you haven't read the solicitation text you may never know it's about a group of brothers and sisters-the Irons-who are all creatures of the night. Three have become bounty hunters and work both sides of the law, while one has dedicated himself to stopping his siblings. I think that's what it is about, anyway. Like I said, it was never entirely clear. The plot, such as it is, moves achingly slow and I almost put the book down twice before deciding to soldier on in order to finish it for this review. As always, I'll keep an eye on the series, maybe try another issue or two in the store and see if it develops its legs, otherwise this one is hitting the pass pile

Amazing Spider-Man #584: This issue was an improvement over the last which surprises me since so much of it is taken up by a slugfest. Normally I criticize books when they forego good dialogue and characterization to have a 22 page smack down, but I'm willing to entertain the idea that I not-so-secretly enjoy seeing Spidey giving or taking a whuppin' because I really enjoyed reading this one. And the way Romita, Jr. draws the whole affair is just sublime. I should also give props to Marc Guggenheim who managed to keep my interest this time around. As evidenced in my last review something about last issue just didn't click with me. It felt like there was too much exposition, too much plot with too little of anything else for someone just tuning in to latch on to and, as a result, I almost passed this one up. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because the second part of "Character Assassination" was much better balanced and could be shaping up to be a fun ride.


Comments, as always, are welcome. Until next week.

Later!

mike