Day 7: Four Color Funnybooks for 2/13/07
I’m sick as balls, so this’ll be another quick and dirty entry.*
*HA-CHA!*
*it was a self-imposed rule, anyway. Asterisks shouldn’t count.
Comic reviews after the jump.
Atomic Robo #5 - It’s a comic book starring the first sentient robot, invented by Nikolas Tesla who, along with his league of Action Scientists, run around the world fighting killer pyramids, Nazi cyborgs, and giant ants. It’s well-written, instantly quotable, with really great, simple, but not simplistic art. I highly recommend it to everybody. This issue begins to bring all the loose threads together, and reads very much like a set-up issue to close out the mini-series, and while not as good as say, the spectacular first and second issue, is still very good.
Booster Gold #0 - One of DC’s best books. Writer Geoff Johns is fantastic when his heart’s in it, and he loves writing this. Dan Jurgens is a solid artist with a recognizable style and nice clean lines. It reads, looks, and feels like a classic superhero comic. Plus, given Booster and Blue Beetle’s status as, at best, C-listers, all kinds of stories can be told and chances can be taken, which as we all know means exciting comics. This issue had a bit of fun with one of DC’s biggest suck fests, the Zero Hour crossover, and Johns gets to ret-con more history to make Hal Jordan’s descent into madness not his fault. As a huge Green Lantern fan, and hopeless Hal Jordan fanboy, I have no problem with this, whatsoever.
Fantastic Four # 554 - It’s written by Mark Millar so there’ll be lots of crazy future science, drawn by Bryan Hitch, so it’ll be the best looking thing on the shelves, and a promise to put Marvel’s First Family of Adventure back into the top ten. Since, it’s Millar and Hitch it’ll break into the top ten easily, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be great. The best run on FF, in my humble opinion, is Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo’s run a couple of years ago, and yes that does include the original first one hundred issues and change done by creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This feels like it’s going to ignore all the character work done by Waid and Ringo, and start off with the basic family template, Reed super genius dad, Sue level headed mom, Ben gruff but lovable uncle, Johnny, hot-headed little brother. The idea is solid, and I’m sure Millar will make it fun and interesting, but it feels like we’ve done it already. Still, it’s very pretty to look at, and this only the first issue, so who knows.
Green Lantern Corps #21 - This continues the story arc of “Who are the Alpha Lanterns,” and it is an interesting story, but it kind of sucks that both this and the Green Lantern title crossover so much. I’d prefer that both books told different stories, and only referenced or crossed over somewhat. Another fill in artist comes on board, and I hope DC either keeps him for four or five months so Patrick Gleason can get ahead on his penciling, or keep him forever. I’m not a huge fan of the art, but this book desperately needs a consistent artistic voice, even if it’s not my favorite.
The Goon #21 - The story is equal parts funny and deadly serious. The narrative shifts, revealing a greater power behind the Nameless Priest, and perhaps a greater evil. The book’s fun, but the humor’s not for everyone, and Eric Powell continues to be one of the industry’s best artists.
Scud: The Disposable Assassin #21 - This book and Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s run on JLA kept me in comics. They provided the bridge between the mainstream stories and ideas of Spider-man, X-Men, and Green Lantern with irreverent humor and a story telling that can be described as hallucinogenic (Scud) and the outside the box, cosmic, futurist ideas that are now the norm for comics (JLA), into more adult fare. They helped me get ready for Preacher, Planetary, the Authority, Transmetropolitan, Fables, 100 Bullets, etc. Ten years ago ended Scud on a cliff hanger with just one more issue to go. The Earth was awash in a war between private corporations and zombies, Scud was imprisoned in Heaven by a group of angels who overthrew God, himself, and his girlfriend was dead.
I really didn’t think we’d ever see this issue.
It’s good to have it back, and I hope it comes out monthly, as the series was originally released once every four months, as this issue while informative, is entirely set-up, and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Scud in action. Still, I’m ecstatic to have it back. Schrab’s pencils have grown, but still retain that gritty, graphitti feel, which is great to see again.
Fun Fact: creator Rob Schrab co-wrote and did a lot the design work for Monster House, which is a great movie you should have already seen.
Suicide Squad #6 - A really good book, showing the darker side of super powers, we finally get to see the squad in action as they invade Dubai to take an American corporation who’s producing bio-weapons off the board. Lots of intrigue and tons of cool characters but writer John Ostrander is spreading everything a bit thin. Our main characters get a lot of fleshing out time, but some of the other members are reduced to quick blurbs, and dialogue that’s a bit clunky.
So, what did you read this week?
Matt