Review, recommend, and discuss the week in comics.
1 (What I got).
Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #1 (of 5) by John Layman and Fabiano Neves. The artwork is clean and bright -- not so good for a horror book, and the writing is dull. Layman makes a point to go through a host of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness lines to try to charm the reader who knows those movies, and it feels forced. Also every single member of the Avengers responds when Ash shoots the intercom at the front of the mansion. Not good. All the life -- pardon the irony here -- has been sucked out of the original series.
Justice League of America #6 by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes. The conclusion to the Red Torrnado story, and a very strong conclusion at that. This book has really surprised me, no moreso than in the ending. Endings are very hard, but Meltzer comes up with a powerful one that both affirms the status quo while also being quite dark. This has been a great six issues, which I never expected.
The Authority #2 by Grant Morrison and Gene Ha. Remember that about three quarters into last year Morrison launched his new vision of The Authority? Well one quarter into this year, you can now read the next 22 pages. There is an obligatory "meta" scene that bugs me but also HAS to be there -- and Morrison is smart to deal with it right off the bat -- but overall this is a great comic book. Morrison's challenge was to make the team, designed to feel HUGE, feel HUGE again. His "realistic" idea for them is crazy, but he has done it -- in the last page of this issue you FEEL how HUGE one character is. Again, surprising.
2.
In comic book news CNN covered Captain America #25, in which Captain America dies post-Civil War. The complaints one could make about that are many but let's start with one from the standpoint of good storytelling -- if that was what you wanted to do that needed to be in the Civil War core series. Or stop the company line about how the story is in that series, and the tie-ins are just part of the bigger picture. I did not buy it. I am very tired of events now.
3.
New Satacracy 88 up at itsallinyourhands.com.
Mark Millar repeatedly said he wouldn't kill any major characters in Civil War because everyone would see through it as a cheap stunt that would be reversed in a year. It's weird to have such a disconnect between Marvel's editorial policy and the guy they had write their big tentpole event. That's why I have such a hard time hating Civil War - however it turned out, I honestly believe it started as a guy wanting to tell a good story.
ReplyDeleteI'm over events as well. The stupid thing about events is how easily they colonize discussion about "comics." I felt the need to speak about it on my blog despite the fact that I don't read Captain America and cared little for Civil War.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that Ed Brubaker got to tell the story instead of Mark Millar.
James: I agree with your comments re Civil War. I remember, early on, Millar gave an interview discussing the story and saying something along the lines of it being more than "Whose side are you on?", which is how Marvel ended up marketing Civil War as.
ReplyDeleteStill, Ed Brubaker's career will probably get a boost from this. All the best to him. Hope he writes a good Captain America #26.
Honestly I'd be a lot more worried about this, you know, sucking horribly, if they hadn't tossed it to Ed Brubaker to write.
ReplyDeleteThough I also pity Brubaker a bit since this is probably one of those things he wasn't involved with ("Hey, you know that one book you're writing that's been damn good? Captain America? Yeah? We're killing him off. You have to do it."). Ah well.
Though, as has been stated elsewhere, this is pretty obviously not going to be a 'dead for real' situation. So I'm not that up-in-arms about it.
James: that's really interesting.
ReplyDeleteRoger: yeah, I almost got Cap 25 but then remembered to stop being stupid. I am not getting sucked into CW aftermath land.
Craig, ZC: I just don't get this Brubaker thing -- I don't get why people like him so much. I don't think he is bad, I just do see why all the love.
Geoff: A couple of things. Brubaker is tremendous; he can truly do any type of comic you'd care to read. From his indie/autobio stuff in the early '90s to his DD/Cap runs of late, the guy's a true talent. Cap 25 may be part of the same crap that sank the field 10 yrs ago, but it was a truly well-written book.
ReplyDeleteNo one mentioned BMB' The Mighty Avengers #1, which was a really good read. Over at my blog (on Geoff's blog roll under "Marc Caputo" - thanks, man!) I've got a new post that I think makes some interesting connections. Geoff (and anyone else, of course), if you have the time, I'd like for you to check it out: Am I in the same neighborhood as some of the other examples of the anxiety of influence your book deals with?
Marc: dead on, yeah. Nice catch.
ReplyDeleteI have no fanboy love for Brubaker's work, I just wished him all the best. I've tried to read him, but I'm not a fan of his neo-noir style (although I did like his two issue 'Tom Strong' story couple years back). I picked his first issue of Cap, but it bored me. As did his 'Sleeper'.
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I don't think Steve Rogers will be brought back from the dead too soon. I reckon Marvel will experiment with whoever will be the new Captain America. If only for some attention.
I can remember doing some research last year toward an assignment, and I found Michael Medved's (the right wing-ish media commentator) home page. He had an op-ed on their about Captain America, questioning the character's patriotism. For me, it will be more interesting to read the commentary than the comics, to see how it stirs the culture.
I read Sleeper and just hated it, and I hated something else by him as well but don't remember what. After that I put him on my "ignore" list.
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