Comic Reviews - Part 1
I have a lot of these, so I decided to write them quickly and post what I have for now. I did the books I had the easiest time to find something to say, so it will probably take me a while to get the rest up. I'll have to remember plots and formulate opinions.
Prophet #26 - This is probably the best single Prophet issue so far. Brandon Graham takes on the art duties and tells the small story of two robots who find each other in the wastes and travel through space and time to help Old Man John. It shows their sadness (even if they are just bots) and the vastness (and loneliness) of space. Quiet and introspective. There's also an exciting, interesting, and inventive five page backup written and drawn by Emma Rios that shows off exactly what's great about her art.
The Boys #68 - The Boys are no up to speed on Butchers plans, which seem to be to use modified V to kill all supers on the planet, but that will also kill everyone with trace amounts. They are gearing up to take him down, but Mother's Milk stays behind for a minute, Butcher comes in, and they come to blows. Butcher is obviously willing to sacrifice all his friends and associates for his larger goal, proving he's the biggest bastard of them all.
Gargoyle by Moonlight #1 - This is a book that Miah inked and lettered. Reading it again in one go (and the proper order), I found the writing to be actually clever and humorous. The story isn't unique, but Gargoyle Doyle has some funny clips and the plot is as tight as it could be.
Glory #25-#27 - Glory #25 is a dream issue where the girl has a vision of the far future, Earth being a wasteland and she being a hardened warrior traveling to Mars. She is looking for Glory, who is responsible for the Earth, and has Glory kill her as a "retirement".
The next two issues has the girl training with Glory when Glory's father's army invades. We see Glory going berserk when fighting, which is something her companions obviously worry about. In the end, the girl is captured by the army, but is told that they are actually there to rescue her and that she is needed to stop Glory.
This was a great way of turning the story around on the main character. We saw her as a badass, but now it's obvious that she is a bigger danger to those that she protects.
Hit-Girl #1 - This is the story of Hit-Girl prior to Kick-Ass 2. She's trying to be a good daughter and go to school, but can't relate to the other kids. It's pretty sad, actually. Eventually, she goes to train Kick-Ass, but wants him to teach her how to be with "normal" people. Elsewhere, Red Mist is gearing up to take control of the mob from his uncle.
Legends of the Dark Knight #4-#6 - This was a neat three part story with sweet Templesmith art. It actually reminded me a bit of an old school Batman TV show plot. The Joker has kidnapped the Mad Hatter and is using him to make Gotham's wealthy think that they are Batman. They go out to fight crime and end up getting killed. The last one went after Killer Croc, who is annoyed that his peace has been disturbed. Batman can't find The Joker, so he gets Bruce Wayne kidnapped and brainwashed. Unfortunately, Killer Croc comes in at the same time and Bruce has the skills to actually fight as Batman, so he takes everyone down. Good story, sweet art, well paced and clever.
The Mire - The second solo book by Cloonan that I got. It follows a squire sent with a message to a castle and the ghosts he encounters on the way. He learns that the captain who sent him is his father, the ghost in the castle is his mother, and the ghost who tried to kill him in the woods is her husband. The story was a little confusing at first with a sudden flashback to an unknown time, but the ending made everything clear and showed how tightly it was plotted. Good stuff. I liked this better than Wolves.
Monocyte #4 - I am still completely lost in the story and this issue was less linear and comprehensible than usual. I read a bunch of rave reviews, but I can't understand why (or what's going on).
Empowered OGN SC vol. 06-07 - These volumes start off with Sistah Spooky grieving (internally) over Mindf**k and everyone dealing with the recent deaths in the last couple of volumes. We learn that some heroes come back from the dead, but they live incognito while being desired by Deathmonger for use in his zombie army (Empowered becomes friends with them and helps take out DM). Ninjette also has a big battle with a clan of ninjas looking to assassinate her. In between, we get lots of dealing with emotions on everyone's part, so bondage, and some sexy times. Quality wise on the level of the other volumes, but I'm starting to be really conscious of how wordy Warren is. Sometimes he needs to let the art carry the story.
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde HC vol. 01, 04, and 05 - So I collected the rest of this series. Great art! The writing is pretty good most of the time, but the "morals" are sometimes a bit ambiguous for "fairy tales". Quick rundown:
-A giant with a lovely garden learns to love children as they bring spring and joy. He learns this by helping a child who is Jesus and goes to paradise when he dies.
-An adopted "golden" boy who is a jerk to the less fortunate gets turned into an ugly frog boy when he insults his beggar mother. He goes on a mission to find her and get forgiveness, but ends up getting taken by a wizard. This guy sends the boy on errands, but the boy keeps screwing up by helping the less fortunate despite knowing he will be punished. Turns out it was a test by his parents, who are really the king and queen, and he lives as their prince (one of the best stories collected).
-A poor gardener is "friends" with a rice man that uses him until he dies. The rich man doesn't really learn anything from the experience.
-A man loves a woman, but she needs a red rose from him. A nightingale takes pity and sacrifices herself for true love, but the woman turns out to be a fickle bitch and rebukes the guy at the end.
-The statue of a well loved prince and a swallow conspire to give all the gold and jewels from the statue to all the poor in the city, even if doing so means their ends. As a reward, they are taken up to heaven when they die (or "die" in the prince's case) (another really good story).
Fatale TPB vol. 01 - Fatale is a pretty typical Brubaker/Philips crime story, but tinted with magic and deals with the devil. We are told of a seemingly immortal woman who makes men fall helplessly in love with her, a corrupt cop who has been with her since WWII, but is now dying of cancer, and an investigative reporter who is trying to help to woman escape after meeting her trying to get the scoop on the cop. Like Criminal, the story is tight with everyone having their own motives and nothing coming up roses. There is mystery left, from the demons that the cop is making a deal with to what happened to make the woman immortal. One thing I didn't like too much was a framing story where a man is in charge of the reporter's estate in the present, finds the story of him and the woman, then gets chased by the men the cop made a deal with in the past (he is helped by the immortal woman). This story is interesting in its own right, but kind of quickly forgotten, which is a shame. Hopefully it gets followed up on more in the next volume.
I Killed Adolf Hitler OGN - In a world where hired killings are legal, a killer is having issues with his girlfriend. He is given a job to go back in time and kill Hitler by a scientist (the machine takes 50 years to charge up). In the past, Hitler gets away, hops into the machine, and ends up in the present. The killer is there, 70 years older having lived since WWII, and shoots Hitler, but a copy of Mein Kampf saves Hitler and he escapes. The killer reunites with his girlfriend and they bond over time, but he is ironically killed in a random shooting accident. The woman then waits 50 years, travels to the "present" and double taps Hitler as he arrives from the past. This excellent time traveling plot of killing Hitler ends up playing second fiddle to the story of the two lovers falling apart, only to find love again once they have matured. It's short, but the book packs a lot of story in not a lot of time. The art is very clean lined and pleasant to look at.
Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl HC - Yumiko is the merch girl of a band and girlfriend of the lead singer. She catches him cheating and runs off, getting picked up by the members of another band. There, she does some drugs and has a vision of gods. The female had been tricked by her lover and is out for vengeance. Her lover uses mortals to feed off their life force. This band is made up of immortals (including Loki and Puck) who are now forced to serve the goddess. The male god is feeding off of Yumiko's friends (and ex-) and she is tasked with stopping him by the goddess. Pretty interesting story, though it doesn't tie into music as much as I would like (it has bands and looks at their hedonistic lifestyles, but that's a general celebrity critique). The art is a downfall. It's pretty stylized and has its own rules, but the lack of borders and uniform line weights and super saturated colors fail to give the art any depth. It's pretty difficult to figure out what's going on from time to time and it's hard for your eyes to rest.
Related, this book came with a companion CD. I thought the music would be a retread of the comic and figured I ruined the story listening to the album beforehand. Instead, the album took the basic story (girl scorned, powerful man using others, etc) and makes it something else more grounded in reality (drugs, prostitution, and revenge). Interesting to see the same plot tell two different stories.
Cape 1969 1 - This follows the father of the boys from The Cape in 'Nam and tells a pretty down to Earth war story with a tinge of paranormal in the end, but there's nothing to be seen of the titular "cape". I'll have to see where the story goes as this issue is mostly setting.
Punisher 13 - Punisher and Lady Punisher infiltrate a boat that is auctioning off super tech to villains to steal something (do we find out what? I forgot). Solid action packed issue. Nice moment where Cole-Alves sees the person she wants revenge on, but Castle reminds her to stay on task, but not much other character development happens here.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias 1 - This issue is basically a retelling of the Ozy origin story that we already know (minus the new introduction of a love interest), following him from his childhood to exploring the world, to building his empire, and ending with him putting on the costume. It's well done, but seems unnecessary. The love interest is a twist, but she's in here for a few pages before her death, which serves as a plot device. That bit actually bothered me because Ozy is so calculating in everything he does and his quest for revenge seems to come out of left field, especially since we already see him acting cold to the woman. The art is pretty good Jae Lee. he does his typical minimalistic backgrounds that feel otherworldly and claustrophobia to me, but the figure work and page design is top notch.
Conan 6 - Conan is on a brutal spree trying to get back to the ship and Belit, only to find her missing. He berserks and kills his way to her, ending with a nice splash page reunion that serves as a calm center to the story. I like that Conan (and we) sees all the destruction being caused and questions whether it is worth it for some gold, but that doesn't stop him from going with his love. We get a bit of hope that Conan can bring some peace to Belit's heart, but I kind of doubt that will happen.
Prophet #26 - This is probably the best single Prophet issue so far. Brandon Graham takes on the art duties and tells the small story of two robots who find each other in the wastes and travel through space and time to help Old Man John. It shows their sadness (even if they are just bots) and the vastness (and loneliness) of space. Quiet and introspective. There's also an exciting, interesting, and inventive five page backup written and drawn by Emma Rios that shows off exactly what's great about her art.
The Boys #68 - The Boys are no up to speed on Butchers plans, which seem to be to use modified V to kill all supers on the planet, but that will also kill everyone with trace amounts. They are gearing up to take him down, but Mother's Milk stays behind for a minute, Butcher comes in, and they come to blows. Butcher is obviously willing to sacrifice all his friends and associates for his larger goal, proving he's the biggest bastard of them all.
Gargoyle by Moonlight #1 - This is a book that Miah inked and lettered. Reading it again in one go (and the proper order), I found the writing to be actually clever and humorous. The story isn't unique, but Gargoyle Doyle has some funny clips and the plot is as tight as it could be.
Glory #25-#27 - Glory #25 is a dream issue where the girl has a vision of the far future, Earth being a wasteland and she being a hardened warrior traveling to Mars. She is looking for Glory, who is responsible for the Earth, and has Glory kill her as a "retirement".
The next two issues has the girl training with Glory when Glory's father's army invades. We see Glory going berserk when fighting, which is something her companions obviously worry about. In the end, the girl is captured by the army, but is told that they are actually there to rescue her and that she is needed to stop Glory.
This was a great way of turning the story around on the main character. We saw her as a badass, but now it's obvious that she is a bigger danger to those that she protects.
Hit-Girl #1 - This is the story of Hit-Girl prior to Kick-Ass 2. She's trying to be a good daughter and go to school, but can't relate to the other kids. It's pretty sad, actually. Eventually, she goes to train Kick-Ass, but wants him to teach her how to be with "normal" people. Elsewhere, Red Mist is gearing up to take control of the mob from his uncle.
Legends of the Dark Knight #4-#6 - This was a neat three part story with sweet Templesmith art. It actually reminded me a bit of an old school Batman TV show plot. The Joker has kidnapped the Mad Hatter and is using him to make Gotham's wealthy think that they are Batman. They go out to fight crime and end up getting killed. The last one went after Killer Croc, who is annoyed that his peace has been disturbed. Batman can't find The Joker, so he gets Bruce Wayne kidnapped and brainwashed. Unfortunately, Killer Croc comes in at the same time and Bruce has the skills to actually fight as Batman, so he takes everyone down. Good story, sweet art, well paced and clever.
The Mire - The second solo book by Cloonan that I got. It follows a squire sent with a message to a castle and the ghosts he encounters on the way. He learns that the captain who sent him is his father, the ghost in the castle is his mother, and the ghost who tried to kill him in the woods is her husband. The story was a little confusing at first with a sudden flashback to an unknown time, but the ending made everything clear and showed how tightly it was plotted. Good stuff. I liked this better than Wolves.
Monocyte #4 - I am still completely lost in the story and this issue was less linear and comprehensible than usual. I read a bunch of rave reviews, but I can't understand why (or what's going on).
Empowered OGN SC vol. 06-07 - These volumes start off with Sistah Spooky grieving (internally) over Mindf**k and everyone dealing with the recent deaths in the last couple of volumes. We learn that some heroes come back from the dead, but they live incognito while being desired by Deathmonger for use in his zombie army (Empowered becomes friends with them and helps take out DM). Ninjette also has a big battle with a clan of ninjas looking to assassinate her. In between, we get lots of dealing with emotions on everyone's part, so bondage, and some sexy times. Quality wise on the level of the other volumes, but I'm starting to be really conscious of how wordy Warren is. Sometimes he needs to let the art carry the story.
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde HC vol. 01, 04, and 05 - So I collected the rest of this series. Great art! The writing is pretty good most of the time, but the "morals" are sometimes a bit ambiguous for "fairy tales". Quick rundown:
-A giant with a lovely garden learns to love children as they bring spring and joy. He learns this by helping a child who is Jesus and goes to paradise when he dies.
-An adopted "golden" boy who is a jerk to the less fortunate gets turned into an ugly frog boy when he insults his beggar mother. He goes on a mission to find her and get forgiveness, but ends up getting taken by a wizard. This guy sends the boy on errands, but the boy keeps screwing up by helping the less fortunate despite knowing he will be punished. Turns out it was a test by his parents, who are really the king and queen, and he lives as their prince (one of the best stories collected).
-A poor gardener is "friends" with a rice man that uses him until he dies. The rich man doesn't really learn anything from the experience.
-A man loves a woman, but she needs a red rose from him. A nightingale takes pity and sacrifices herself for true love, but the woman turns out to be a fickle bitch and rebukes the guy at the end.
-The statue of a well loved prince and a swallow conspire to give all the gold and jewels from the statue to all the poor in the city, even if doing so means their ends. As a reward, they are taken up to heaven when they die (or "die" in the prince's case) (another really good story).
Fatale TPB vol. 01 - Fatale is a pretty typical Brubaker/Philips crime story, but tinted with magic and deals with the devil. We are told of a seemingly immortal woman who makes men fall helplessly in love with her, a corrupt cop who has been with her since WWII, but is now dying of cancer, and an investigative reporter who is trying to help to woman escape after meeting her trying to get the scoop on the cop. Like Criminal, the story is tight with everyone having their own motives and nothing coming up roses. There is mystery left, from the demons that the cop is making a deal with to what happened to make the woman immortal. One thing I didn't like too much was a framing story where a man is in charge of the reporter's estate in the present, finds the story of him and the woman, then gets chased by the men the cop made a deal with in the past (he is helped by the immortal woman). This story is interesting in its own right, but kind of quickly forgotten, which is a shame. Hopefully it gets followed up on more in the next volume.
I Killed Adolf Hitler OGN - In a world where hired killings are legal, a killer is having issues with his girlfriend. He is given a job to go back in time and kill Hitler by a scientist (the machine takes 50 years to charge up). In the past, Hitler gets away, hops into the machine, and ends up in the present. The killer is there, 70 years older having lived since WWII, and shoots Hitler, but a copy of Mein Kampf saves Hitler and he escapes. The killer reunites with his girlfriend and they bond over time, but he is ironically killed in a random shooting accident. The woman then waits 50 years, travels to the "present" and double taps Hitler as he arrives from the past. This excellent time traveling plot of killing Hitler ends up playing second fiddle to the story of the two lovers falling apart, only to find love again once they have matured. It's short, but the book packs a lot of story in not a lot of time. The art is very clean lined and pleasant to look at.
Yumiko: Curse of the Merch Girl HC - Yumiko is the merch girl of a band and girlfriend of the lead singer. She catches him cheating and runs off, getting picked up by the members of another band. There, she does some drugs and has a vision of gods. The female had been tricked by her lover and is out for vengeance. Her lover uses mortals to feed off their life force. This band is made up of immortals (including Loki and Puck) who are now forced to serve the goddess. The male god is feeding off of Yumiko's friends (and ex-) and she is tasked with stopping him by the goddess. Pretty interesting story, though it doesn't tie into music as much as I would like (it has bands and looks at their hedonistic lifestyles, but that's a general celebrity critique). The art is a downfall. It's pretty stylized and has its own rules, but the lack of borders and uniform line weights and super saturated colors fail to give the art any depth. It's pretty difficult to figure out what's going on from time to time and it's hard for your eyes to rest.
Related, this book came with a companion CD. I thought the music would be a retread of the comic and figured I ruined the story listening to the album beforehand. Instead, the album took the basic story (girl scorned, powerful man using others, etc) and makes it something else more grounded in reality (drugs, prostitution, and revenge). Interesting to see the same plot tell two different stories.
Cape 1969 1 - This follows the father of the boys from The Cape in 'Nam and tells a pretty down to Earth war story with a tinge of paranormal in the end, but there's nothing to be seen of the titular "cape". I'll have to see where the story goes as this issue is mostly setting.
Punisher 13 - Punisher and Lady Punisher infiltrate a boat that is auctioning off super tech to villains to steal something (do we find out what? I forgot). Solid action packed issue. Nice moment where Cole-Alves sees the person she wants revenge on, but Castle reminds her to stay on task, but not much other character development happens here.
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias 1 - This issue is basically a retelling of the Ozy origin story that we already know (minus the new introduction of a love interest), following him from his childhood to exploring the world, to building his empire, and ending with him putting on the costume. It's well done, but seems unnecessary. The love interest is a twist, but she's in here for a few pages before her death, which serves as a plot device. That bit actually bothered me because Ozy is so calculating in everything he does and his quest for revenge seems to come out of left field, especially since we already see him acting cold to the woman. The art is pretty good Jae Lee. he does his typical minimalistic backgrounds that feel otherworldly and claustrophobia to me, but the figure work and page design is top notch.
Conan 6 - Conan is on a brutal spree trying to get back to the ship and Belit, only to find her missing. He berserks and kills his way to her, ending with a nice splash page reunion that serves as a calm center to the story. I like that Conan (and we) sees all the destruction being caused and questions whether it is worth it for some gold, but that doesn't stop him from going with his love. We get a bit of hope that Conan can bring some peace to Belit's heart, but I kind of doubt that will happen.