Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Comics Out July 18, 2007

Greg Pak and John Romita, Jr. World War Hulk 2. This is OK. It has a simplicity I can respect. I am getting it because of Romita, Jr. He is good, but he looks a little rushed on things like faces. Also I think he is stuck with some bad designs -- Hulk's buddies look annoying. Also I do not really know who the Sentry is. I wish the guy they were all counting on was someone I knew better. The final page (a splash page) was great.

Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha's Justice League of America 11. This is an odd duck. A formally experimental high concept JLA issue: Red Arrow and Mari trapped in a tiny space at the bottom of a building that has been crushed and dumped in the river; Gene Ha communicates the claustrophobia in his panel design and page layout, and a bit where you have to rotate the book. Meltzer clearly did some research on coal miners being trapped. I don't really need this kind of dreary, realistic thing from a superhero book. I don't really like it. But I will give them points for trying something different in such a high profile action packed big-splash-color team book. Here at Geoff Klock's Blog you get points for trying.

Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson's The Order #1. It is a great concept -- government superheroes can be fired and replaced at any time; media savvy reigns. The anti-decadence thing in the book makes it an interesting companion to Millar's Authority. Kitson is great, especially with cute girls with red hair. And next issue promises a bear in a jet pack. A BEAR IN A JET PACK. I wish this as yet unnamed creature would go head to head with Gorilla Grodd in a five part epic not unlike World War Hulk.

Review, recommend, and discuss the week's comics and comics news.

11 comments:

Streeborama said...

"I don't really need this kind of dreary, realistic thing from a superhero book."

That's the problem I had with something that started with an I and ended with Identity Crisis. (To steal a line from Geoff!) The DC Golden Age heroes really feel out of their element in this kind of story.

Dying to pick up The Order. Fraction is the best kept secret of the comic universe right now. I'm sixty miles away from the comic store - so I'll have to wait until next week when Black Summer and Doktor Sleepless hit the stand as well.

:(

Thacher said...

My only nitpick with JLofA is that there's no real explanation of why they were in the building in the first place and how it got kicked into the river. Given that it's the Watergate and the Amazons are attacking, I'm assuming it's because of that, but it seems like that could be a one-line of dialog fix, and I hate when something like that is just left out.

ATOM-HOTEP said...

I think Gene Ha's artwork in JLA #11 looks the most interesting it has in ages, though I realize that it is purposely drab and gray in the Authority series, I prefer to see him trying new stuff like this.

Dante Kleinberg said...

I can recommend Ultimate Spider-Man #111 because it actually made me cry. Okay, not literally tears streaming down my cheeks, but I welled up a little. Any comic that can do that is aces in my book.

Paul said...

While I enjoyed the first issue of the Order, it didn't rock my world. It kept reminding me of other comic books like X-Statix and Strikeforce: Morituri and characters like Oracle and Jack Hawksmoor. I'm going to give it a few more issues.

Matt Jacobson said...

As usual, I reviewed the weeks purchases at my blog. Fraction is awesome.

Marc Caputo said...

Over at my blog, I reviewed some new books from this week. Ditto on Fraction - I'm doing a big post on Iron Fist. Also, next week is Casanova 8 and Iron Fist 7.

Geoff Klock said...

AH: agreed.

Marc: WOW. Next week is Iron Fist 7 Casanova 8 Morrison's Batman and All Star Batman. This is going to be cool.

pla said...

I definitely also thought The Order felt like Strikeforce Morituri. And didn't Morrison already do the Greek god archetypes in JLA? Still, I liked the mid-issue character change and, as you mention, bear in a jet pack.

Marc Caputo said...

Yeah, I just put in my list and it's 16 books + Wizard.

Streebo: I'm down for Doktor Sleepless and Black Summer, too. I'm actually going to give Ellis his own day of the week for blog posts - I'm catching up on Fell and all his Avatar work (Wolfskin, Blackgas, v.1 and v.2 just wrapped.) Check my blog starting next Thursday for an Ellis intro and kickoff with a look at one of them.

Elijah Fly said...

The Sentry's original series was pretty tight. I recommend it for at least just to see Paul Jenkins attempt something that sounds right out of a Grant Morrison concept. It's Flex Mentallo in reverse, with Hulk in the role of a post Crisis Psycho Pirate.

That said, I was more psyched to see General Thunderbolt Ross brandishing two pistols and ready for battle. I'm intrigued that they seem to be portraying him as character I enjoy seeing him as, Marvel's General Patton vs an act of God.