Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All Star Superman #7. This was my least favorite issue of this series, but that does not mean it is less than great, or that the series is not the best comic book being published right now. There was just nothing in it that jumped out at me in the same way that, say, Jimmy Olson stood out in issue 4, or the two page prison spread stood out in five, or the elegant plotting stood out in 6. Only five issues to go, if you can believe it. If you have not been getting this fantastic comic book today is the day -- issues one through six are collected in hardcover today; pick the seventh one up at the same time and you will be all caught up.
Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti's Punisher War Journal #6. This thing has an "initiative" banner on the top, so it is still under the shadow of Civil War and its aftermath. "I'm going to Mexico and I'm going to shoot that guy in the face" is a great line, as is microchip calling Punisher "ya spooky asshat," but the Punisher is just not a character for me. I don't even know what to do with the ending and the cover to the next issue. No offence to Matt Fraction, who is a genius, but I just want to get the hell away from all things Civil War.
In comics news this week Frank Quitely has a nice interview up at Newsarama, in which he mentions something we were talking about in terms of "Riot at Xavier's": like me, Quitely does not like to see someone else inking his work. Also great for me in this interview was that the interviewer lists off all of his Morrison collaborations -- Flex Mentallo, The Invisibles, Earth-2, New X-Men and WE3 -- and Quitely reminds him of one more, a nine page story in the 1997 Vertigo anthology Weird War Tales #3 of 4 called "New Toys". Couldn't believe my luck when my little local store in Queens had it; I assumed I would have to hit e-bay or at least visit all the major Manhattan stores. The story is great and you should track it down -- it is a kind of sick fusion of Toy Story and the Invisibles.
Also in the news: someone other than Grant Morrison and Gene Ha will be writing and drawing The Authority 5-10. I do not know what that means for this series -- I do not know if their run will be interrupted, or is only supposed to be four issues long, but that sucks, because I really enjoyed The Authority 1-2, and didn't mind the ridiculously slow pace screwing up the bigger picture Wildstorm relaunch.
Also in the news: Morrison is also writing the film script for the adaptation of the video game Area 51, but I do not have high hopes for that being much better than Frank Miller's Robocop 2 and 3.
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Quitely reminds him of one more, a nine page story in the 1997 Vertigo anthology Weird War Tales #3 of 4 called "New Toys"
Ah, cool. What is that anthology anyway? I've never heard of it before.
I don't know, but I read that one issue just for "New Toys." I wholeheartedly second Geoff's recommendation of it. Well worth seeking out.
I have mixed feelings about Auhtority 5-10 (that's six issues, not four). Have not read much of Gage's work, but Darick Robertson is drawing it, so maybe ... Still, Gage does seem inspired by the possibilities of the Wildstorm Universe. The story will take place after Brubaker's run and explain the current absence of Rose Tattoo, as if that's very important.
I suppose that Morrison is busy with his film work. There's a review of Morrison's screenplay for WE3 online. The link can be found at Comicbookresources.com site, in the April 11 "Comic Reel Wrap".
Stephen: I have not had a chance to look at it but it is four issues of three or four short stories per issue telling skewed versions of war stories. Quitely and Morrison were the only reason I got it an no one else jumped out at me. Azzerello -- that is not spelled correctly -- has a story in it.
Craig: I know it is six and not four issues; the problem is not my counting it is my grammar: I wrote "I do not know if their run will be interrupted, or is only supposed to be four issues long" -- when I said "their" I meant I do not know if the Morrison-Ha issues (issues 1-4) are being interupted by Gage-Robertson, to continue in 11 or if the four issues of Morrison-Ha was the whole thing. Sorry about that. My bad.
I did not even read the Brubaker and have no idea who Rose Tattoo is.
Geoff: Rose Tattoo was Henry Bendix's crazy red assassin lady that showed up in Ellis's Stormwatch run. I guess Brubaker brought her into the Authority.
Superhero movie news: Ain't It Cool News has the first image of Tony Stark's first Iron Man armour; the prototype he makes while a P.O.W.
Oh, yeah, I remember her. Thanks.
And thanks for the link. I am going to see Iron Man as soon as it opens, but mostly because my friend brad -- of Satacracy 88 fame --will be in the credits.
Jim Lee reports today that Morrison has not given him the script for Wildcats 2 yet. Wow that relaunch is dead in the water after 22 pages.
I love the Iron Man armor. It looks great.
Vertigo used to put out anthology-style miniseries with shared themes, usually containing three or four short stories per issue. There was Weird War Tales, Weird Western Tales, Gangland (crime stories), Heart Throbs (romance, usually with a weird twist), and Flinch (an ongoing series, with a horror theme). And maybe one or two others (Strange Adventures?); I'm not sure. They featured collaborations by the usual Vertigo writers and artists (sometimes in some interesting combinations), like Brian Azzarello, Mike Carey, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Eduardo Risso, Frank Quitely, Richard Corben, Tim Bradstreet, Philip Bond and many others. I enjoy these quite a bit, and I've picked up as many as I've been able to find. I'll try to do a roundup on my blog someday.
As for comics this week, I recommend Fell #8. Warren Ellis is writing a really good crime book here, and Ben Templesmith's art is really cool. There's a collection of the first 8 issues coming out soon.
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