War Journal Entry number 706 - Weekly Haul 12/9/09
Smaller week this time, had to wait for the paycheck to clear. But fewer comics means more words used per each. Seems fair, yes? Of course, you know that means next week is going to be freakin' huge, right?
MARVEL
Deadpool #18 - Daniel Way + Paco Medina. Deadpool's plan for the X-Men comes full circle. Is he a hero? A masochist? Or just somebody that really, REALLY hates Norman Osborn? Considering how crazy DP is, it's near impossible to tell. But it's fun seeing how he works it all out.
Deathlok #2 of 7 - Charlie Huston + Lan Medina. The updated retelling of the original Deathlok's origin continues into the dark corners of science fiction, horror, the military/industrial/entertainment complex, and the inner workings of a soldier's mind. It's got a nice bow to Rich Buckler's original stories with the appropriate amounts of trippyness and social commentary mixed into the blend.
Incredible Hulk #605 - Greg Pak + Ariel Olivetti/Paul Pelletier. The Fantastic Four guest star as both the Mole Man and Tyrannus have giant monsters attack Manhattan. Fortunately, Banner brought the most monstrous of all monsters, Skaar, son of Hulk, to do some clean up. Then again, Skaar has a soft spot for monsters so all may not go as planned.
The Savage She-Hulk back up by Fred Van Lente + Michael Ryan/Sergio Arino sees Lyra doing batle with the last of the three women that have attacked, unfortunately this one not only has the power of Zzzax, but also has hostages. The stories are still pretty good, but wouldn't really hold my interest as a series of its own. This leads directly in Fall of Hulks: Gamma, so I'm curious to see how she gets involved in the whole thing. She is, in a way, the Hulk's daughter.
Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #2 of 5 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Kevin Walker. I'm sorry, some of you are probably getting tired of hearing this but I've got to say it anyway - this was written by Abnett&Lanning, ergo, it was awesome. Characterization, plot, dialog, pacing - all are top notch examples of how to create great comics. OK, plot - the remnants of the Starjammers have teamed up with members of the Imperial Guard to explore The Fault, a ginormous tear in space and time. So far, everything found in or that has come out of The Fault has been decidedly evil and/or bitey (with only 2 exceptions, seen in Nova, also by Abnett & Lanning), thus you know this mission isn't going to go well. Meanwhile, Gladiator is as thrilled with being in charge of the Shi'ar empire as he thought he would be, that is not at all. But he does a great job dealing with people that don't show respect.
Spider-Man & The Secret Wars #1 of 4 - Paul Tobin + Patrick Scherberger. Secret Wars was one of the biggest things to hit Marvel in the mid-eighties, and now 25 years later there's a series that takes place between the scenes of the classic crossover. I bet a decent number of today's readers weren't even born when the original series first came out, but hopefully that won't dissuade them from checking this out. This is good, very good, but that doesn't come as a surprise since these were the creators of the delightfully entertaining Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil miniseries. But I have to admit, as someone that's read Secret Wars numerous times, that it's impossible for me to tell if someone without a working knowledge of it would be able to follow this. I believe that there is enough background given, but it could be just enough to make a newbie reader feel even more lost. For me, though, this is a wonderful expansion upon the original work, and I'm looking forward to more.
S.W.O.R.D. #2 - Kieron Gillen + Steven Sanders. I know we're only at the second issue, but this series has been packed with so much great dialog and nerdrific awesome that I'd think it was written by Abnett & Lanning. While Director Brand and Beast are trying to rescue Brand's brother from Death's Head (a major source of my squee), the eternal douche known as Henry Peter Gyrich has staged a coup d'etat at the Sentient World Observation and Response Department in order to begin actively deporting all extraterrestrials from Earth. I've seen some complaints about the art, specifically the elongated face the Beast is drawn with, but it's working for me since it is all pretty consistently stylized and fairly detailed. Come on, look at Death's Head and the detail there, how can you complain about this art? (From issue #1)
A few people out there may remember that in the 90's, Death's Head's consciousness was absorbed into the Minion android, then subsequently took over its mind and became Death's Head II. In addition, they may only remember Death's Head as an only slightly larger than human sized robot, not the towering behemoth shown here. Two important points to keep in mind - 1) Death's Head has a history of time traveling and dimension hopping, so seeing the original him without some detailed explanation for why he's not Death's Head II simply means we're seeing him at a time where, for him, he hasn't yet become DHII. 2) When Death's Head first appeared, he was a guest star in Marvel UK's Transformers comics, and was the same size as the Transformers. Obviously, time travel again comes into play, and we're seeing the character before he got shrunk down to human proportions by Doctor Who. (That's right, there is only one step between Transformers and Doctor Who. Wrap your mind around that!)
What If? World War Hulk one shot - “What if the heroes lost WWH?” by Mike Raicht + Lucio Parrillo. The Skrulls take advantage of Hulk's beat down on the heroes to launch their assault upon the world and begin a systematic pogrom of human extermination. But Hulk gets the last laugh in an appropriately apocalyptical style. The painted art is pretty damn gorgeous, and reminds me a lot of Gabriele Dell'Otto's work on Secret War (the 2004 minseries, don't confuse it with the previously discussed Secret Wars from 1984).
“What if Thor entered WWH?” by Michael Gallagher + Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante. This short piece is a rarity amongst What If? stories, one that actually has a happy ending. Quick and fairly simple, with art to match, it seems a little more like a piece of fanfic than a full blooded story.
BOOM! Muppet Show Comic Book #0 - Roger Langridge + Shelli Paroline. In this kick-off for the new ongoing series, Rizzo and Fozzie pitch Pigs In Space: The Movie to a couple producers played by Statler and Waldorf. It's as riotous and entertaining as Langridge's two Muppet miniseries were, and the art captures the wild fun while not getting hampered down with being too representational.
DC COMICS
Booster Gold #27 - Dan Jurgens + Jurgens/Mike Norton. Booster having to fight the evil resurrected Black Lantern version of his best friend, Blue Beetle Ted Kord, isn't as heartbreaking as seeing the New Mutants fighting the evil resurrected Cypher Doug Ramsey, but it's still well done. Considering how the effect on Booster of Ted's death has been felt since issue #1, this is the most organic of all the Blackest Night tie-ins that I've read.
FUN PUBLICATIONS
G.I.Joe vs. Cobra #2 - Greg Sepelak/S. Trent Troop/David S Lane + Sheldon Goh. It's a reprint of the JoeCon '09 exclusive comic. The story is pretty straightforward, and is essentially there to introduce some new characters and give them some time to shine. The art is... not great. The penciling, inking, and coloring all have a ways to go before they're at a professional level. This could have passed through without notice twenty years ago, but today you've got to be better than that to stay afloat.
Transformers Timelines volume 2 #4 - Forest Lee/Rik Alvarez + Guido Guidi/Dan Khanna. Reprints the BotCon '09 exclusive comic, which was done to introduce the exclusive characters offered at the convention. There's a strange mixture of character models from different sources, but that's only going to be recognized by someone as familiar with the Transformers as I am. Overall, the comic is at a decidedly professional level, employing some people that have been doing Transformers comics for more than a few years now. And it was also nice to see an adventure of Kup from when he was all young and eager, as opposed to the cranky old war horse we all know him as today.
IDW PUBLISHING
Transformers #2 - Mike Costa + Don Figueroa. Another gorgeously illustrated comic with nice surprises that all make sense based on characters' personalities and histories. It's quickly building into something brilliant. Am I gushing?
MARVEL
Deadpool #18 - Daniel Way + Paco Medina. Deadpool's plan for the X-Men comes full circle. Is he a hero? A masochist? Or just somebody that really, REALLY hates Norman Osborn? Considering how crazy DP is, it's near impossible to tell. But it's fun seeing how he works it all out.
Deathlok #2 of 7 - Charlie Huston + Lan Medina. The updated retelling of the original Deathlok's origin continues into the dark corners of science fiction, horror, the military/industrial/entertainment complex, and the inner workings of a soldier's mind. It's got a nice bow to Rich Buckler's original stories with the appropriate amounts of trippyness and social commentary mixed into the blend.
Incredible Hulk #605 - Greg Pak + Ariel Olivetti/Paul Pelletier. The Fantastic Four guest star as both the Mole Man and Tyrannus have giant monsters attack Manhattan. Fortunately, Banner brought the most monstrous of all monsters, Skaar, son of Hulk, to do some clean up. Then again, Skaar has a soft spot for monsters so all may not go as planned.
The Savage She-Hulk back up by Fred Van Lente + Michael Ryan/Sergio Arino sees Lyra doing batle with the last of the three women that have attacked, unfortunately this one not only has the power of Zzzax, but also has hostages. The stories are still pretty good, but wouldn't really hold my interest as a series of its own. This leads directly in Fall of Hulks: Gamma, so I'm curious to see how she gets involved in the whole thing. She is, in a way, the Hulk's daughter.
Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #2 of 5 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Kevin Walker. I'm sorry, some of you are probably getting tired of hearing this but I've got to say it anyway - this was written by Abnett&Lanning, ergo, it was awesome. Characterization, plot, dialog, pacing - all are top notch examples of how to create great comics. OK, plot - the remnants of the Starjammers have teamed up with members of the Imperial Guard to explore The Fault, a ginormous tear in space and time. So far, everything found in or that has come out of The Fault has been decidedly evil and/or bitey (with only 2 exceptions, seen in Nova, also by Abnett & Lanning), thus you know this mission isn't going to go well. Meanwhile, Gladiator is as thrilled with being in charge of the Shi'ar empire as he thought he would be, that is not at all. But he does a great job dealing with people that don't show respect.
Spider-Man & The Secret Wars #1 of 4 - Paul Tobin + Patrick Scherberger. Secret Wars was one of the biggest things to hit Marvel in the mid-eighties, and now 25 years later there's a series that takes place between the scenes of the classic crossover. I bet a decent number of today's readers weren't even born when the original series first came out, but hopefully that won't dissuade them from checking this out. This is good, very good, but that doesn't come as a surprise since these were the creators of the delightfully entertaining Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil miniseries. But I have to admit, as someone that's read Secret Wars numerous times, that it's impossible for me to tell if someone without a working knowledge of it would be able to follow this. I believe that there is enough background given, but it could be just enough to make a newbie reader feel even more lost. For me, though, this is a wonderful expansion upon the original work, and I'm looking forward to more.
S.W.O.R.D. #2 - Kieron Gillen + Steven Sanders. I know we're only at the second issue, but this series has been packed with so much great dialog and nerdrific awesome that I'd think it was written by Abnett & Lanning. While Director Brand and Beast are trying to rescue Brand's brother from Death's Head (a major source of my squee), the eternal douche known as Henry Peter Gyrich has staged a coup d'etat at the Sentient World Observation and Response Department in order to begin actively deporting all extraterrestrials from Earth. I've seen some complaints about the art, specifically the elongated face the Beast is drawn with, but it's working for me since it is all pretty consistently stylized and fairly detailed. Come on, look at Death's Head and the detail there, how can you complain about this art? (From issue #1)
A few people out there may remember that in the 90's, Death's Head's consciousness was absorbed into the Minion android, then subsequently took over its mind and became Death's Head II. In addition, they may only remember Death's Head as an only slightly larger than human sized robot, not the towering behemoth shown here. Two important points to keep in mind - 1) Death's Head has a history of time traveling and dimension hopping, so seeing the original him without some detailed explanation for why he's not Death's Head II simply means we're seeing him at a time where, for him, he hasn't yet become DHII. 2) When Death's Head first appeared, he was a guest star in Marvel UK's Transformers comics, and was the same size as the Transformers. Obviously, time travel again comes into play, and we're seeing the character before he got shrunk down to human proportions by Doctor Who. (That's right, there is only one step between Transformers and Doctor Who. Wrap your mind around that!)
What If? World War Hulk one shot - “What if the heroes lost WWH?” by Mike Raicht + Lucio Parrillo. The Skrulls take advantage of Hulk's beat down on the heroes to launch their assault upon the world and begin a systematic pogrom of human extermination. But Hulk gets the last laugh in an appropriately apocalyptical style. The painted art is pretty damn gorgeous, and reminds me a lot of Gabriele Dell'Otto's work on Secret War (the 2004 minseries, don't confuse it with the previously discussed Secret Wars from 1984).
“What if Thor entered WWH?” by Michael Gallagher + Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante. This short piece is a rarity amongst What If? stories, one that actually has a happy ending. Quick and fairly simple, with art to match, it seems a little more like a piece of fanfic than a full blooded story.
BOOM! Muppet Show Comic Book #0 - Roger Langridge + Shelli Paroline. In this kick-off for the new ongoing series, Rizzo and Fozzie pitch Pigs In Space: The Movie to a couple producers played by Statler and Waldorf. It's as riotous and entertaining as Langridge's two Muppet miniseries were, and the art captures the wild fun while not getting hampered down with being too representational.
DC COMICS
Booster Gold #27 - Dan Jurgens + Jurgens/Mike Norton. Booster having to fight the evil resurrected Black Lantern version of his best friend, Blue Beetle Ted Kord, isn't as heartbreaking as seeing the New Mutants fighting the evil resurrected Cypher Doug Ramsey, but it's still well done. Considering how the effect on Booster of Ted's death has been felt since issue #1, this is the most organic of all the Blackest Night tie-ins that I've read.
FUN PUBLICATIONS
G.I.Joe vs. Cobra #2 - Greg Sepelak/S. Trent Troop/David S Lane + Sheldon Goh. It's a reprint of the JoeCon '09 exclusive comic. The story is pretty straightforward, and is essentially there to introduce some new characters and give them some time to shine. The art is... not great. The penciling, inking, and coloring all have a ways to go before they're at a professional level. This could have passed through without notice twenty years ago, but today you've got to be better than that to stay afloat.
Transformers Timelines volume 2 #4 - Forest Lee/Rik Alvarez + Guido Guidi/Dan Khanna. Reprints the BotCon '09 exclusive comic, which was done to introduce the exclusive characters offered at the convention. There's a strange mixture of character models from different sources, but that's only going to be recognized by someone as familiar with the Transformers as I am. Overall, the comic is at a decidedly professional level, employing some people that have been doing Transformers comics for more than a few years now. And it was also nice to see an adventure of Kup from when he was all young and eager, as opposed to the cranky old war horse we all know him as today.
IDW PUBLISHING
Transformers #2 - Mike Costa + Don Figueroa. Another gorgeously illustrated comic with nice surprises that all make sense based on characters' personalities and histories. It's quickly building into something brilliant. Am I gushing?