Monday, February 05, 2007
What I Did During The Superbowl
I walked Oscar about five times. I also read the following:
Fantastic Four / Iron Man : Big In Japan # 1-4.
This fun little mini-series is a nice antidote to the laughably stern-faced Civil War crap that's completely taken Marvel over as of late. The FF and Tony Stark are invited to attend the grand opening of Tokyo's giant monster museum, where they house artifacts from the days when Japan was regularly attacked by massive radioactive monsters. Soon enough these megalosauri, who haven't been seen in decades, return and reek havoc upon Tokyo. The FF and Iron Man team up to stop them, and in the process discover there's something far more sinister afoot. The story's fine enough, and the dialogue is frequently funny, but the main point of interest here is the art. Seth Fisher's cartoonish drawings are incredibly intricate and detailed, and his occasional appropriation of manga elements fits the story and the setting but is reined in enough to not become too distracting. Overall this is really fun yet inconsequential, which I'll take over painfully serious and "important" almost any day of the week. Unfortunately Fisher died before the final issue was published.
Drax The Destroyer # 1-4.
Civil war and Infinite Crisis got all the attention, but Annihilation was the best comic "event" of '06. This Drax miniseries is basically a precursor to that, reintroducing the Drax the Destroyer character, and showing us how he became connected to that overly sassy Earth girl who's been tagging along with him. Like Annihilation, Drax is written by Keith Giffen, as solid a pro as ever drew breath, and the occasional creator of truly great comics. Drax isn't quite great, but it does adroitly balance humor, violence, and human drama, without skewing too far into any one direction. It's apparently almost impossible to portray alcholism or parental neglect in a superhero comic without inviting some unintentional guffaws; Giffen comes close here, though. There's a relatively understated (for a comic book) scene that recalls the one from Freaks And Geeks when Bill Haverchuck comes home to an empty apartment after school, makes himself a sandwich, and watches tv. Giffen's always excelled at portraying his comic-book characters as real and believable people, and despite her occasionally overbearing attitude, this girl Cammi is no exception. And this book needed somebody to bear the dramatic burden, as Drax is little more than a cross-section of action movie and sci-fi cliches. Overall this is a fine mini-series; the story is kind of slight, and there's no direct connection to Annihilation, but the characters of Drax and Cammi are fleshed out a bit more than was possible in that over-stuffed event.
Checkmate Vol. 2 # 1-7.
Like almost all the new comics launched by DC in the wake of Infinite Crisis, this solid espionage / super-hero hybrid has been suffering from miserable sales. I'd be surprised if Checkmate reached issue number 25. And that's a shame, as the book has gotten progressively better over the last year. I bought the first issue back in April, and wasn't very impressed. I picked up 2 through 10 during NEC's half-off sale last week, based on many positive reviews around the internet, and I certainly don't regret it. Like his former Gotham Central co-writer Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka is adept at incorporating superheroes into real world settings without resorting to dull, grim 'n' gritty nonsense. Thus far Rucka has focused on political maneuvering and diplomacy as much as he has neck-snapping and rage-fisting, as the half-superhuman, half-non-powered espionage organization has gone up against both the terrorist cult Kobra and the international interests who wish to strip the agency of its UN sponsorship. Checkmate is definitely kind of a goofball concept, basically an Impossible Mission Force with a chess-based structure, but Rucka approaches it with a straight face, and in the process crafts a comic that, like 24, is gripping and complex while also being inherently ridiculous.
I walked Oscar about five times. I also read the following:
Fantastic Four / Iron Man : Big In Japan # 1-4.
This fun little mini-series is a nice antidote to the laughably stern-faced Civil War crap that's completely taken Marvel over as of late. The FF and Tony Stark are invited to attend the grand opening of Tokyo's giant monster museum, where they house artifacts from the days when Japan was regularly attacked by massive radioactive monsters. Soon enough these megalosauri, who haven't been seen in decades, return and reek havoc upon Tokyo. The FF and Iron Man team up to stop them, and in the process discover there's something far more sinister afoot. The story's fine enough, and the dialogue is frequently funny, but the main point of interest here is the art. Seth Fisher's cartoonish drawings are incredibly intricate and detailed, and his occasional appropriation of manga elements fits the story and the setting but is reined in enough to not become too distracting. Overall this is really fun yet inconsequential, which I'll take over painfully serious and "important" almost any day of the week. Unfortunately Fisher died before the final issue was published.
Drax The Destroyer # 1-4.
Civil war and Infinite Crisis got all the attention, but Annihilation was the best comic "event" of '06. This Drax miniseries is basically a precursor to that, reintroducing the Drax the Destroyer character, and showing us how he became connected to that overly sassy Earth girl who's been tagging along with him. Like Annihilation, Drax is written by Keith Giffen, as solid a pro as ever drew breath, and the occasional creator of truly great comics. Drax isn't quite great, but it does adroitly balance humor, violence, and human drama, without skewing too far into any one direction. It's apparently almost impossible to portray alcholism or parental neglect in a superhero comic without inviting some unintentional guffaws; Giffen comes close here, though. There's a relatively understated (for a comic book) scene that recalls the one from Freaks And Geeks when Bill Haverchuck comes home to an empty apartment after school, makes himself a sandwich, and watches tv. Giffen's always excelled at portraying his comic-book characters as real and believable people, and despite her occasionally overbearing attitude, this girl Cammi is no exception. And this book needed somebody to bear the dramatic burden, as Drax is little more than a cross-section of action movie and sci-fi cliches. Overall this is a fine mini-series; the story is kind of slight, and there's no direct connection to Annihilation, but the characters of Drax and Cammi are fleshed out a bit more than was possible in that over-stuffed event.
Checkmate Vol. 2 # 1-7.
Like almost all the new comics launched by DC in the wake of Infinite Crisis, this solid espionage / super-hero hybrid has been suffering from miserable sales. I'd be surprised if Checkmate reached issue number 25. And that's a shame, as the book has gotten progressively better over the last year. I bought the first issue back in April, and wasn't very impressed. I picked up 2 through 10 during NEC's half-off sale last week, based on many positive reviews around the internet, and I certainly don't regret it. Like his former Gotham Central co-writer Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka is adept at incorporating superheroes into real world settings without resorting to dull, grim 'n' gritty nonsense. Thus far Rucka has focused on political maneuvering and diplomacy as much as he has neck-snapping and rage-fisting, as the half-superhuman, half-non-powered espionage organization has gone up against both the terrorist cult Kobra and the international interests who wish to strip the agency of its UN sponsorship. Checkmate is definitely kind of a goofball concept, basically an Impossible Mission Force with a chess-based structure, but Rucka approaches it with a straight face, and in the process crafts a comic that, like 24, is gripping and complex while also being inherently ridiculous.
