So, it's been forever since I posted, but I just caught up on a ton of summer reading.
I'm pretty happy with the summer comics seen this year. No huge crossover junk was a bonus. Some exciting new creative teams took floundering books and made something of them. And, some new books on the horizon are really getting me excited.
It seems like everyone wants to know what's bad first so I'll start off with the worst hits of the summer:
1. Thor: I'm sorry, but this book has taken a turn for the terrible. The beats are slow. The art is sub-par. Mephisto is boring. Thor trudging through hell is over-done. I hate this book now. Get Michael Avon Oeming back and do this character right.
2. Adventure Comics: Why is it that everyone that writes the Legion is a boring old 70's-80's writer? WTF is Paul Levitz? Stop. Just get rid of the Legion unless Geoff Johns or Abnett/Lanning want the book. I can't really see what the impulse is to make this book with people that you know can't sell comics. The one saving grace of this book is the short backups by Jeff Lemire (of Essex County and Sweet Tooth fame).
3. BPRD & the other non-Hellboy Mignola-esque books: I'm sorry. The 5 year experiment on expanding the Hellboy universe is not working without Mignola writing these books. Guy Davis's art pisses me off. The stories are dry and boring. I'm done with these books, forever.
4. JSA: This book is on the brink for me. I'm super close to just dropping it. I have every issue since it was re-started earlier this decade or I'd already have scrapped it. I just can't feel anything about any of the characters. The things that were great about the book when Johns wrote it are practically completely missing in the modern "Kingdom Come" link-up stories. I think if this book doesn't go back to basics, and soon, it will be done for within a year.
5. Straczynski: Over. Rated. I think both Superman and Wonder Woman (so far) have been aimlessly boring. I get it. What "real" challenge does Superman face? Why make him fight more villains instead of dealing with real human problems? And how does Wonder Woman make sense as an anachronistic medieval (pre?) warrior in the modern day? But, I also don't care. Fix the problem. Do it quickly. But don't make it the point of the entire storyline. Frankly, JMS work usually starts strong and ends stupidly (if at all). These books aren't even starting well, which is a really bad sign.
6. Claremont: I don't even know if he's writing a book, but I'd like to add that he sucks.
Ok, that's kind of a handful for badness, but it's really only the tip of the iceberg of the good books that were out this summer. And, I think some bad books got far better.
1. Avengers: Every Avengers title is awesome. Plain and simple. I don't care what you think about the Avengers characters, the concept, their over-exposure, their continuity problems, etc. The books are rad. They couldn't be more fun. I wish that there was a new one every week. Even Avengers Academy is really strong. The new kids are good and the training staff is just cool. I've been into Quicksilver since his old X-factor days and he's making some great impact here.
2. Action Comics: Paul Cornell is like a god. He's one of a crop of new creators from the last few years that just can't do any wrong. His Action Comics starring Luthor is priceless. No Boyscout is a bonus. But Cornell's penchant for good story-telling, a mix of dialog and action, some good intrigue thrown in there, produces a great book.
3. Brightest Day: I guess I said that there was no big crossover. I lied. I guess compared to Blackest Night and the Marvel industry-wide crossovers, this one was pretty mild. But, and I'm not reading most of the spin-offs (any, really, if you don't count Green Arrow -- and I'm not), this series is great. The art is strong. The story is complex and mysterious. It involves cool characters, even Aquaman, that I'd like to be able to care about and is giving me hope that I'll have a reason to.
4. Green Arrow: I'm feeling really positive about this book. The Brightest Day weirdness aside, I like the idea of making Queen into a Robin Hood, replete with Merry Men. Krul (reminds me of the movie with the Glave) seems to have a good hand on this book. Add to it the problems with Arsenal's Limbaugh-esque drug problems and Queen's off-again relationship with Black Canary and I'm excited to see where it will go.
5. Green Lantern books: Actually, all of these titles came out of Blackest Night as strong or stronger than before. I was worried that there would be a hangover where every issue was just some stupid lingering plot line, but they have resisted that temptation. Even the new Guy Gardner series seems to have some promise. I was not reading these books prior to Blackest Night and I'm now gladly continuing each series. Hopefully, they don't kill the books by pacing them for the summer movie.
6. Birds of Prey: Love Gail Simone on this book. It's what she was meant to write (since they won't let her have Deadpool anymore, which is beyond stupid). Ed Benes's art is odd here (it's actually very bad -- the detail he demonstrated on the 2005 Supergirl series is just...missing). But Simone's plots and dialog are awesome. I love the roster on the team and their banter is worldclass. I could deal with fewer ninja stories, but whatever.
That's it for now. I'll probably have a more complete rundown later when I'm bagging everything and more stuff comes to mind.
J
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Iron Man 2
I'm starting to freak out a little bit about it. I can't believe I won't be seeing the premier (I'm on call for work). I may have to completely disconnect from the internet until Monday. In fact, I may have to turn off the TV too because the BK commercials are getting to be too much. I can't believe that I'm relatively sure that this movie will be even better than the first after losing two Academy Award-winning actors. Don Cheadle and Mickey Rourke are going to rock though. And I'm sure I don't have to point out that Scarlett is awesome. This could be the best movie ever, basically.
I'm shocked that there is no Demon in the Bottle plot-line. After talking to friends, we'd surmised that The Avengers movie likely needs a sober Tony, which makes sense. But, let's be honest, telling good Iron Man stories without bringing up his history with the sauce is going to be tough. The human failings that define Marvel characters are as big a part of their success as their gadgets, their villains, and their heroic beats. Battling alcoholism has always been Stark's greatest weakness and his victories over his inner demons have largely defined his greatest successes. Marvel will squander this character if they never do anything but make him fight other guys in armor.
I'm shocked that there is no Demon in the Bottle plot-line. After talking to friends, we'd surmised that The Avengers movie likely needs a sober Tony, which makes sense. But, let's be honest, telling good Iron Man stories without bringing up his history with the sauce is going to be tough. The human failings that define Marvel characters are as big a part of their success as their gadgets, their villains, and their heroic beats. Battling alcoholism has always been Stark's greatest weakness and his victories over his inner demons have largely defined his greatest successes. Marvel will squander this character if they never do anything but make him fight other guys in armor.
Scalped
I finally read Jason Aaron's Indian Sopranos. The bad news: it's not changing the face of comic books like all of the industry blurbs say. It's not the best book on the shelves, but that's not because it's not good. In fact, it's largely because it's in line with a lot of very good things being published today, like Criminal, Powers, 100 Bullets (R.I.P.), and the rest of the modern noir (not to be confused with Marvel noir -- which is crap) books that are seemingly everywhere today. Hyperbolic drivel about the transformative nature of the book doesn't serve anyone. This isn't a particularly good single issue book; I'm a comic collector, I read everything in single issues, and I would have been bored if I'd gotten this book in any other format than the trades.
The good news: it's very good. The characters are well designed. Aaron gives them time to develop, makes them multi-dimensional and evolving, and breaks them. Much like The Wire or The Sopranos, there are no happy endings for the players in Scalped.
The plot is ok and getting better. I'll admit that after reading the first couple of books I thought "I'm already pretty familiar with Leonard Peltier and AIM; this is going to be derivative." But then the plot shifts and switches. The good guys start to seem bad; the bad guys seem variously worse and less bad. Motivations become murkier. I rarely find comics' plots twisty, but this one is.
The art grew on me over time. It was always appropriate to the mood, but the skill in the execution of facial structure and emotion improved greatly from book one to book five. It became one of those icing on the cake touches that really makes a book fun to read by the end. I expect good things in the future.
I suspect that this will be a long running book. It doesn't appear to be close to ending. There isn't any reason it would. I'm sure one day we'll see it on the big screen or TV. It would lend itself well to a "No Country for Old Men" treatment. It feels cinematic at points.
I've been in the mood for fewer capes/cowls books lately and this book filled a needed void for that. It was an enjoyable read. Would I trade Captain America for it? No, for sure not. Is any of it better than the first Irredeemable trade? No. Pax Romana? Not even close. I'm not even sure it's the best Jason Aaron book I've read (I like Ghost Rider and Punisher better), but it is good.
The good news: it's very good. The characters are well designed. Aaron gives them time to develop, makes them multi-dimensional and evolving, and breaks them. Much like The Wire or The Sopranos, there are no happy endings for the players in Scalped.
The plot is ok and getting better. I'll admit that after reading the first couple of books I thought "I'm already pretty familiar with Leonard Peltier and AIM; this is going to be derivative." But then the plot shifts and switches. The good guys start to seem bad; the bad guys seem variously worse and less bad. Motivations become murkier. I rarely find comics' plots twisty, but this one is.
The art grew on me over time. It was always appropriate to the mood, but the skill in the execution of facial structure and emotion improved greatly from book one to book five. It became one of those icing on the cake touches that really makes a book fun to read by the end. I expect good things in the future.
I suspect that this will be a long running book. It doesn't appear to be close to ending. There isn't any reason it would. I'm sure one day we'll see it on the big screen or TV. It would lend itself well to a "No Country for Old Men" treatment. It feels cinematic at points.
I've been in the mood for fewer capes/cowls books lately and this book filled a needed void for that. It was an enjoyable read. Would I trade Captain America for it? No, for sure not. Is any of it better than the first Irredeemable trade? No. Pax Romana? Not even close. I'm not even sure it's the best Jason Aaron book I've read (I like Ghost Rider and Punisher better), but it is good.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Human Target
I'm not going to push too hard here, because this isn't the greatest TV program, or even the greatest TV program based on a comic. BUT, Human Target is better than you might think. This series is loosely based on the Wein and later Milligan work on Christopher Chance: bodyguard, detective, and general badass. The character is cool. The concept is cool, but the books haven't exactly been gang busters. The heady Milligan run was cool; Chance is a master of disguise who loses his own identity. This exploration into the post-modern self was well-executed with a mix of intrigue, noir, and philosophy.
Enter the Mark Valley series on Fox. This Christopher Chance isn't a master of disguise. Valley is Valley all of the time (and who besides me is shocked he ISN'T playing Cap in the First Avenger movie?). His entourage is well done. Chi McBride plays Winston well, the level-headed jack-of-all-trades former cop who screens and preps Chance's assignments. And Jack Earle Haley is an excellent Guerrero, combination smug, effective, and batshit crazy intel guy for Chance Investigations ("Dude!").
The cast has a good synergy. The banter plays well. It has a bit of an Indiana Jones feel to it (the old ones -- the good ones). Of course, Valley is stiff, which feels weird for Chance who isn't portrayed in this series as a robot who has lost his personality but as a man defined (haunted?) by a sordid past. But in spite of his Chance, you still feel like these guys are over-matched, but can win when the deck is stacked against them, as it always is.
The action is really well done. McG produces, so you know what you're getting there (if you've seen Alias, or any of the other handful of excellent McG action series). There's hang-gliding, plane rescues, train fights, and a variety of other strong action beats throughout the series.
The damsels in distress are hot and cool. These aren't your old Batman babes who can't defend themselves; they're largely butt-kickers in their own rights. They're typically genius professionals in trouble with bad elements for doing the right thing. The episodes have a stand-alone plot typically driven by the girls' stories, but unified by Chance's mysterious past, only partially revealed in the final couple of episodes of Season 1.
I expected Human Target to be a throw-away series. I didn't predict it'd last a season, much less that I'd watch and enjoy every episode. It did, I have, and it was good. I think most people would like it. It reminds me of the old action shows from the 80's: nothing that will blow your mind, but some good clean fun, like TJ Hooker, Magnum, or Airwolf. Check it out.
Enter the Mark Valley series on Fox. This Christopher Chance isn't a master of disguise. Valley is Valley all of the time (and who besides me is shocked he ISN'T playing Cap in the First Avenger movie?). His entourage is well done. Chi McBride plays Winston well, the level-headed jack-of-all-trades former cop who screens and preps Chance's assignments. And Jack Earle Haley is an excellent Guerrero, combination smug, effective, and batshit crazy intel guy for Chance Investigations ("Dude!").
The cast has a good synergy. The banter plays well. It has a bit of an Indiana Jones feel to it (the old ones -- the good ones). Of course, Valley is stiff, which feels weird for Chance who isn't portrayed in this series as a robot who has lost his personality but as a man defined (haunted?) by a sordid past. But in spite of his Chance, you still feel like these guys are over-matched, but can win when the deck is stacked against them, as it always is.
The action is really well done. McG produces, so you know what you're getting there (if you've seen Alias, or any of the other handful of excellent McG action series). There's hang-gliding, plane rescues, train fights, and a variety of other strong action beats throughout the series.
The damsels in distress are hot and cool. These aren't your old Batman babes who can't defend themselves; they're largely butt-kickers in their own rights. They're typically genius professionals in trouble with bad elements for doing the right thing. The episodes have a stand-alone plot typically driven by the girls' stories, but unified by Chance's mysterious past, only partially revealed in the final couple of episodes of Season 1.
I expected Human Target to be a throw-away series. I didn't predict it'd last a season, much less that I'd watch and enjoy every episode. It did, I have, and it was good. I think most people would like it. It reminds me of the old action shows from the 80's: nothing that will blow your mind, but some good clean fun, like TJ Hooker, Magnum, or Airwolf. Check it out.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Kick-Ass
Does indeed kick ass. From the beginning, I was pretty sure that this movie was better than the comic. The pacing felt right. The early changes in the story were good even when they were subtle. The dialogue was improved. The look and feel were appropriate. But everything about the comic I thought hadn't worked was initially touched up.
Then, Big Daddy and Hit Girl showed up. Movie magic begins. They're frankly awesome. Every action scene with the kid that plays Hit Girl is spot on. It recreates all of the best of JR Jr.'s art with cinematic flare. She's also hilarious. The action starts pretty late in the movie, but rocks your socks off. I can't imagine anyone complaining.
The interactions with Red Mist are repaired from the comic. I thought that his flip flopping in the book was just done poorly. All of the motivational questions make way more sense in the script. And McLovin is pretty funny, but doesn't try and steal the show. He's actually under-selling his regular schtick.
The end game of this film is a nergasm that the book was missing. I loved it. I refuse to spoil anything, but suffice it to say, if you thought the build was slow, the ending won't be. It's about 20 minutes of kicking ass and taking name. Cool stuff you've never seen before. Big payoffs you won't expect.
After a long streak of movies that have disappointed me, I've finally seen one that's exceeded my expectations in every way. Check out Kick-Ass. Love it.
J
Then, Big Daddy and Hit Girl showed up. Movie magic begins. They're frankly awesome. Every action scene with the kid that plays Hit Girl is spot on. It recreates all of the best of JR Jr.'s art with cinematic flare. She's also hilarious. The action starts pretty late in the movie, but rocks your socks off. I can't imagine anyone complaining.
The interactions with Red Mist are repaired from the comic. I thought that his flip flopping in the book was just done poorly. All of the motivational questions make way more sense in the script. And McLovin is pretty funny, but doesn't try and steal the show. He's actually under-selling his regular schtick.
The end game of this film is a nergasm that the book was missing. I loved it. I refuse to spoil anything, but suffice it to say, if you thought the build was slow, the ending won't be. It's about 20 minutes of kicking ass and taking name. Cool stuff you've never seen before. Big payoffs you won't expect.
After a long streak of movies that have disappointed me, I've finally seen one that's exceeded my expectations in every way. Check out Kick-Ass. Love it.
J
Recent Comics
I wanted to do a post that emphasized the best of new books. I've really liked some new series. Some of the highlights:
1. Jason Aaron on Punisher -- I've already got an entire post about how cool this book is. Just a reminder. The new issue about Bullseye is on the top of my stack and I'm anxiously awaiting some time to read it.
2. Hickman on S.H.I.E.L.D. -- Also already repped here. Get em while they're hot.
3. Daytripper -- Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon are top talents. While Casanova made no sense, I always got the sense that literally everyone on that book was destined for bigger things. Fraction was ahead of the curve, obvi, landing big critically acclaimed work on Iron Fist, Iron Man, and Uncanny X-Men. Ba was involved in one of the bigger projects of the last couple of year with Umbrella Academy. But this book seems to be a labor of love book that showcases what these two really have to offer: personal stories, told elegantly and passionately. There are no heroes. There's no real intrigue. It's just great writing and art with heart-warming content. I can't wait to see where these guys go next.
4. Chew -- Incredibly original story. Cartoony but functional art. Great dialogue. And a plot with twists and turns but a central controversy. It's really good. I remember panning it when it was plugged in previews only to intensely regret passing it up. I'm probably going to feel the pain of not ordering a number one for a very long time when this book continues to produce. I think it has legs. It's an easy read and would be enjoyed by most anyone.
5. Sandman: The Dream Hunters -- P. Craig Russell + Neil Gaiman = magic. It's so formulaic that it's probably not worth adding to this list because anyone that knows anything should have already read this unless they just missed it. It's one of the top 5 Sandman stories, imho. But, like I said, this book probably doesn't need my rec to move product.
6. Flash -- Oh man. I read the first issue of the new Geoff Johns series last night and had a literal nerdgasm. The Rogues are there. Barry's back and getting grief from the CSI. There's allusion to a grand, time traveling conspiracy. I hope it involves killing all them Flash babies of Wally's. They suck. This book is setting us up for a grand Flash x-over for 2011. Thank god. It's good to have a legit Flash book back. Long live Johns on the Flash.
7. Upcoming GN's -- Captain Long Ears & Red Tide -- These books are as close to opposites as you can get, but I'm anxiously awaiting both of them. Captain Long Ears concerns some heady material (facing up to the consequences of one's actions and reality in general) but with traditional indy "who gives a damn" art direction. It reminds me of Kochalka but trying a little harder. Looks good. Red Tide is serious Philip Marlowe noir done by one of the absolute best comic creators of all time -- Jim Steranko. His work on Nick Fury is priceless (http://forum.valinor.com.br/attachment.php?attachmentid=17796&stc=1&d=1210696579); his impact on future avante garde art in comics is MORE valuable. This piece of original work should blow all of our minds.
Stay away from:
Greek Street -- This book is aimless crap. It's an attempt at doing True Blood with Greek myth, but it just ends up as drivel and gore with no real impact (much like the aforementioned crap TV show -- I have no idea how anyone likes that show). I love myth, but this book is not getting the job done at all. I was simultaneously bored and annoyed.
Crossed -- I don't get why this book is being made into a movie. I mean, I guess horror movies do well even when they're junk, but why that is remains a mystery to me as well. Anyway, don't be seduced by Garth Ennis's name appearing on the title. It's trash. Try American Vampire or the upcoming iZombie instead. Or just re-read your Walking Dead trades. Or just look st Suidam pics on the web.
1. Jason Aaron on Punisher -- I've already got an entire post about how cool this book is. Just a reminder. The new issue about Bullseye is on the top of my stack and I'm anxiously awaiting some time to read it.
2. Hickman on S.H.I.E.L.D. -- Also already repped here. Get em while they're hot.
3. Daytripper -- Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon are top talents. While Casanova made no sense, I always got the sense that literally everyone on that book was destined for bigger things. Fraction was ahead of the curve, obvi, landing big critically acclaimed work on Iron Fist, Iron Man, and Uncanny X-Men. Ba was involved in one of the bigger projects of the last couple of year with Umbrella Academy. But this book seems to be a labor of love book that showcases what these two really have to offer: personal stories, told elegantly and passionately. There are no heroes. There's no real intrigue. It's just great writing and art with heart-warming content. I can't wait to see where these guys go next.
4. Chew -- Incredibly original story. Cartoony but functional art. Great dialogue. And a plot with twists and turns but a central controversy. It's really good. I remember panning it when it was plugged in previews only to intensely regret passing it up. I'm probably going to feel the pain of not ordering a number one for a very long time when this book continues to produce. I think it has legs. It's an easy read and would be enjoyed by most anyone.
5. Sandman: The Dream Hunters -- P. Craig Russell + Neil Gaiman = magic. It's so formulaic that it's probably not worth adding to this list because anyone that knows anything should have already read this unless they just missed it. It's one of the top 5 Sandman stories, imho. But, like I said, this book probably doesn't need my rec to move product.
6. Flash -- Oh man. I read the first issue of the new Geoff Johns series last night and had a literal nerdgasm. The Rogues are there. Barry's back and getting grief from the CSI. There's allusion to a grand, time traveling conspiracy. I hope it involves killing all them Flash babies of Wally's. They suck. This book is setting us up for a grand Flash x-over for 2011. Thank god. It's good to have a legit Flash book back. Long live Johns on the Flash.
7. Upcoming GN's -- Captain Long Ears & Red Tide -- These books are as close to opposites as you can get, but I'm anxiously awaiting both of them. Captain Long Ears concerns some heady material (facing up to the consequences of one's actions and reality in general) but with traditional indy "who gives a damn" art direction. It reminds me of Kochalka but trying a little harder. Looks good. Red Tide is serious Philip Marlowe noir done by one of the absolute best comic creators of all time -- Jim Steranko. His work on Nick Fury is priceless (http://forum.valinor.com.br/attachment.php?attachmentid=17796&stc=1&d=1210696579); his impact on future avante garde art in comics is MORE valuable. This piece of original work should blow all of our minds.
Stay away from:
Greek Street -- This book is aimless crap. It's an attempt at doing True Blood with Greek myth, but it just ends up as drivel and gore with no real impact (much like the aforementioned crap TV show -- I have no idea how anyone likes that show). I love myth, but this book is not getting the job done at all. I was simultaneously bored and annoyed.
Crossed -- I don't get why this book is being made into a movie. I mean, I guess horror movies do well even when they're junk, but why that is remains a mystery to me as well. Anyway, don't be seduced by Garth Ennis's name appearing on the title. It's trash. Try American Vampire or the upcoming iZombie instead. Or just re-read your Walking Dead trades. Or just look st Suidam pics on the web.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Controversial Decisions in Comics
I was thinking about doing a post about things I thought worked out well that sounded like awful ideas and things that seemed great on paper and worked out terribly in execution in comics for the last ten years. I have some pretty bold opinions on each of these topics and I won't mince words. Here goes:
Things that worked out well against the odds:
1. Bucky -- What else do I have to say? They brought Bucky back. It was one of the things you can't do and they did it. Only Joe Q and Brubaker could make this not the worst idea ever. I liked the Winter Soldier character. I still like the Bucky Cap with his pistol and bionic commando arm. It'll be interesting to see how the two caps issue pans out. They obvi can't permanently get rid of Steve; he's too important to leading the heroes. But I could see him acting as a master strategist, like the old Bruce in Batman Beyond. In the end, he's still got the super soldier serum in his veins and like 100 years of field experience, so it's hard to imagine him not fighting with his people. But, yeah, BUCKY. It's the third rail of comics deaths. It permanent. Except it's not now. And it was great. I love Captain America for the first time ever.
2. Iron Fist -- I've already gushed a lot about this book elsewhere recently. But c'mon. He's as much of an underdog as Morrison's Animal Man was. No one gives a flying fist about this noob. He's just so lame. Even his colors make you think he's working at Sbarro rather than superheroing. But this book was killer when Brubaker was running it. And it could be again if there was a great writer. The back story is all laid out. The roster of villains and associated heroes is set up. There's a lot of possibilities here. I think we'll here more from Iron Fist before it's all said and done. Dude, kung-fu is so cool.
3. Dark Reign -- This is the cross-over of the decade, for sure. The problem with everything else that Marvel did was that they couldn't define a big bad well enough. House of M it was Scarlet Witch. Well, they're not killing her. They'll just make her good again. Or blame it on Magneto. Or both. Civil War it's Iron Man. And they simultaneously made 896412764 billion dollars on his movie. Kill him? Unlikely. Keep him a villain? Not counting on it. Secret Invasion? Faceless, nameless noob Skrulls. Even the Queen was just a Spiderwoman lookalike. Don't want that fake hottie to die. Nope, ONLY Dark Reign features a big bad worthy of the entire Marvel U.'s attention. And they turned Osborn into Luthor, a world-threatening bad guy, not just Spiderman's loony archnemesis. It was a deft maneuver. It's effects on numerous books were overwhelmingly positive. It's still ongoing, so there could be big missteps in ending this story, but so far so good. They'd better let Spidey get the big swing in on him to finish it off or they'll have made a huge mistake.
4. DC Rebirths -- Ollie. Hal. Barry. If not for the first two, their namesakes would have drug down their mantles. Green Lantern and Green Arrow are only and always Hal and Ollie. Sorry Arsenal, Speedy, Guy, Black Dude, and Kyle. You guys are supporting cast to the greats. Barry wasn't needed really (I actually like Wally West and even liked the little kid from the future version of Flash), but he is cool and will bring more credibility to the character. I really liked the Kevin Smith Green Arrow; let's be honest -- everyone did. Even those of you now that will say you hated it or hated him and always thought his writing sucked enjoyed the series when it was on time and before Clerks 2 and the Bennifer movie. Geoff Johns Flash is the best work ever done on that character and it will be again (the first issue of his new series just released yesterday). I honestly think John GL was terrible until GL Corps, which I suspect he was in a holding pattern waiting for because of Infinite Crisis, which lasted about 35 years. Thank god it arrived when it did. It was awesome. Blackest Night was a bit of a limp around showy story without any real soul, but some of the minis and a lot of the smaller moments in the series were good. At any rate, bringing all these characters back could have been a disaster. It wasn't. It was pretty cool, actually.
5. Hellboy movies -- I love Hellboy. If you are a comic book fan and still haven't read this, you're missing an absolute masterpiece. Everything about Hellboy rules. It has levity and seriousness in perfect balance. It's a cooler, more well-researched Spiderman book. Man, it's great. But I was pretty worried about how they'd make the movies work. There's so much detail, so much high-minded material, in the books that it seemed virtually impossible to make an under two hour treatment that did the stories justice. They did it. Twice (four times if you count the animated shows -- and I do because they're really cool too). Dark Horse may be the fourth name in comics, but they have one of the absolute top properties with this franchise. Make Mine Mignola.
6. Wolverine's Son -- X-23 is lame. Dakken is cool. There, I said it. Wolverine Origins, overall, has been a pretty solid book. It has had its ups and downs, but it introduced this wicked awesome character who has a real story, real motivation, and real staying power. He's like the Joker with a healing factor and sweet claws. He's been a stand out in the Dark Avengers stories and since taking over the main Wolverine title has really provided some solid stories. I'd have guessed this to be a major flop, but it looks like a winner.
7. Watchmen movie -- You don't have to love it to like it. And I like it a lot. I watched it 4 times in the theater. I watched it twice on Blu Ray already. I'm going to watch it a lot more. They changed some things. Inevitable. Even the crucial alterations in the ending were sensible if imperfect. I don't even care about the blue dicks. Manhattan's soliloquy on the moon was awesome. The Comedian was awesome. The settings were awesome. Rorschach in the prison was awesome. It was as good a Watchmen movie as anyone could make. I had chills the whole time because I was watching a true to the material adaptation of one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written. And if you didn't like it you wanted it to be more than the book, which was entirely unrealistic. Get over it. Long live the Watchmen. But don't let anyone else write a sequel or spin-offs or anything of the sort. See this story for warnings: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/03/get-ready-for-watchmen-2/.
8. Straczynski's Spiderman -- Why Marvel can't create a Spiderman series worthy of the character is beyond me. This property has suffered more than the characters in the book, and that's really saying something. In the early part of the decade, Babylon 5 creator and sci-fi geekgasm-inducing writer reinvented the character in a productive way for a solid run, but then ran directly into Civil War and editorial demand to update the character. He unmasked. He got an Iron Man type suit with all types of gadgets. He got Aunt May killed. Everything got retconned. And now Spidey is in worse shape than ever creatively. They actually redid some clone saga era stories, thinking what could possibly get worse, I'd imagine. But the Straczynski run had some notable moments (WTC tribute issue, for instance) and some cool ideas (the spider totem and that huge bug monster that was practically invincible). The work was solid. For an unknown comic writer to just cut loose on a character so loved was nice to see. Hopefully we can get back there.
9. Marvel Zombies Series One -- Like any other successful thing at the House of Ideas, they took it too far and let Fred Van Lente write sequels, but the original Kirkman series was mega-cool. The Suidam covers alone make it worth checking out. But the stories are funny. The art is gore par excellance. And the characters are unhinged. They've made the zombie universe a part of the regular continuity, so be prepared for it to always be lurking around the corner, ready to sneak up and bite the brains of your favorite heroes and villains.
10. Plastic Man in the JLA -- Think about this character for a minute. He's basically invincible. He stealthy (except the color scheme, which, be honest, he could work around). I know that we never see he or Reed or even Ralph (R.I.P.) do much with their powers offensively, but they could. Elasticity has its advantages beyond defense (ever been shot by a rubber band?). I really liked this character as a Leaguer. He tied the team together. He kept them from taking themselves too seriously. And he was useful. Bring him back. Oh, and the Kyle Baker stories were great too. A really good series with strong art direction and fun plots.
Stuff that was crap:
1. Dark Knight 2: Electric Boogaloo -- The crappiest of the crap. Highly anticipated. Highly disappointing. I loved the original Dark Knight, but honestly it didn't age well. Since the comics industry has become more willing to take risks, there are Batman stories and stories about other mainstream heroes that stand up well to this dystopian investigation into the Bat. But the sequel has next to nothing going for it. The art looks just awful. The story is disjuncted, and not in a creative way. It's Frank Miller at his most pretentious. I wish he'd just stay away from comics from now on.
2. Stan Lee Presents... -- Oh man, what drivel. At least reading old Stan books you can see the creative juices flowing. Here you just get the worst of everything. Aimless stories. Jaw-droppingly bad dialogue. Terrible cliches. Marry it with awful art and you have books that more appropriately belong as kindling. I think Marvel has found a great job for Stan: appearing once in each of their movies and movie property commercials. It works. No more writing for you, but we still love ya. Excelsior.
3. Claremont on Exiles -- Do you remember the Exiles? I do. This book started off awesomely. And against all odds. It was a story doomed to failure. Universe-hopping and time traveling mutants that are kinda like ones you know, but aren't. Sounds like a Cross-time Caper could be kicking off. BUT Judd Winick did a great job on this book for a very long time. It was savvy. It had a mystery at its heart. The characters had feeling and the action was strong. It was a top 10 book for awhile imho. Along comes Chris "I made the X-Men cool" Claremont. He saddled up on the book, dropped his pants, and took a crap on everything that was great about it. He made the characters suck. He neutered the major story points. He did everything possible to ruin this book forever. In the decade, Claremont has worked on 4-5 different X-properties that I can remember; every one was awful. I can't believe he is STILL writing these books. Fans, stop supporting this terrible cretinous bastard. If you want to read Claremont, buy the Dark Phoenix trade. This category could just as well be "everything Claremont did."
4. Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin -- How do you make a Batman book drawn by Jim Lee terrible? Enlist the help of Frank Miller. He turned Batman into a brutish thug rather than the thinking man's fighter we've known him to be. He actually made the series more homoerotic than the classic "accidental porn" of the 50's. He paced the book like you were running backward on the cosmic treadmill. And, he delayed it to the point that only 7 issues have been released as of today (the series started 2 years ago). Suck it, Frank. You're the worst.
5. Infinite Crisis -- What happened in this series? I have no idea except that Batman died (post hoc spoiler alert). It seemed to last approximately 100 years. It had people riding dogs and Wonder Woman with fangs. I honestly just didn't get it. Morrison's DC work has been largely incomprehensible to me. Maybe it's because I don't know the source material as well (I've read far more Marvel comics), but I honestly think that the stories are simply poorly put together and terribly executed. I can't understand what was sensible about this story. I will say that the fallout from Bruce's death was cool. Dick as the Bat has worked. But the main story, its villain, and the effects on the universe were just not something I got. Huge investment for little pay off imho.
6. Ultimate X-Men -- I'm going to come out swinging at someone I really like here. I'm an Invincible fan. I'm a Walking Dead fan. Kirkman screwed the pooch on Ultimate X-Men. I don't know if he's exclusively to blame for the downward direction the book took, but he was at the helm when it took a huge dive. And it didn't have to. I think that the beginning of the book was well executed. It had all of the pieces put together to be as good as Ultimate Spider-Man, maybe better. It's the X-Men, damn it. But the push to tell an Apocalypse story so early. And the introduction of too many mutants too quickly just felt hurried. Pacing. Take your time. I know you had to have quick pay-offs in your creator-owned stuff at Image to get noticed, but you're on a big title now. Take. Your. Time. Tell good stories. Don't give in to fanboydem. Ultimate X-Men should still be going and good.
7. Astonishing X-Men -- Oh man, I'm going to get grief for this one. Joss Whedon. John Cassaday. Holy COW! How do I not like this? It is the one and only problem I have with Buffy: villains. Whedon can't write a bad guy or create a bad guy that doesn't suck. Danger? CMON! "I'm a robot who knows all of your moves and stuff." "What? No I'm not fucking AMAZO! Shut up dude." "I'm not Ultron either, dick." In spite of all of the things that this book did right, it remains a sore spot that Joss created such a n00bish foil to take on this uber version of the X-Men. And we had to trade Kitty for Colossus. That was lame too. I was as excited as anyone about this series when it was coming out. I was as disappointed as anyone when it ended like it did. That said, I'm loving Buffy. I'm psyched for Avengers. Calm down, Whedonites.
8. Jeph Loeb -- As a person. Jeph Loeb blows.
9. Marvel's 3rd installments -- I'm not going to belabor the point. Everyone knows that these movies are terrible. It's not worth making the best points about how shitty they are. I'll say this, if you can bone the Dark Phoenix story, you can bone anything. Of course, Brett Ratner and Bryan Singer are largely interchangeable. Spider-Man 3 was doomed the second that people included a Todd McFarlane creation in a real movie. Nuff said!
10. Eternals -- Swing and a miss. Gods and monsters stories have done well for Marvel in this decade, with notable runs on Thor and Hercules and even some strong work on Ares in several titles. With Neil "I can do no wrong" Gaiman and John "Living legend" Romita Jr. at the helm this book seemed destined for comic greatness. It was greeted with lackluster sales, a dragging story, and no real continuity impact. It went out with a whimper to say the least. A huge damned alien totem pole ship lands in San Francisco and hardly anyone cares only three years later (I guess the distraction of the X-Men moving in got every one's attention). It's shocking how poorly Gaiman's forays into Marvel comics have performed. My suggestion is to let the man tell HIS stories, not to play with your toys, and see what he can produce. Marvel seems to have a good relationship with Neil. They should certainly keep letting him write books, but maybe let him do something original or creator-owned. He's not a superhero comic book writer. Don't try and force him to be.
That's a long post. I'm done for now. Hope you're enjoying this as much as I am. And pass the word. I'd like to get people interested and involved in posting and commenting here as much as possible.
Things that worked out well against the odds:
1. Bucky -- What else do I have to say? They brought Bucky back. It was one of the things you can't do and they did it. Only Joe Q and Brubaker could make this not the worst idea ever. I liked the Winter Soldier character. I still like the Bucky Cap with his pistol and bionic commando arm. It'll be interesting to see how the two caps issue pans out. They obvi can't permanently get rid of Steve; he's too important to leading the heroes. But I could see him acting as a master strategist, like the old Bruce in Batman Beyond. In the end, he's still got the super soldier serum in his veins and like 100 years of field experience, so it's hard to imagine him not fighting with his people. But, yeah, BUCKY. It's the third rail of comics deaths. It permanent. Except it's not now. And it was great. I love Captain America for the first time ever.
2. Iron Fist -- I've already gushed a lot about this book elsewhere recently. But c'mon. He's as much of an underdog as Morrison's Animal Man was. No one gives a flying fist about this noob. He's just so lame. Even his colors make you think he's working at Sbarro rather than superheroing. But this book was killer when Brubaker was running it. And it could be again if there was a great writer. The back story is all laid out. The roster of villains and associated heroes is set up. There's a lot of possibilities here. I think we'll here more from Iron Fist before it's all said and done. Dude, kung-fu is so cool.
3. Dark Reign -- This is the cross-over of the decade, for sure. The problem with everything else that Marvel did was that they couldn't define a big bad well enough. House of M it was Scarlet Witch. Well, they're not killing her. They'll just make her good again. Or blame it on Magneto. Or both. Civil War it's Iron Man. And they simultaneously made 896412764 billion dollars on his movie. Kill him? Unlikely. Keep him a villain? Not counting on it. Secret Invasion? Faceless, nameless noob Skrulls. Even the Queen was just a Spiderwoman lookalike. Don't want that fake hottie to die. Nope, ONLY Dark Reign features a big bad worthy of the entire Marvel U.'s attention. And they turned Osborn into Luthor, a world-threatening bad guy, not just Spiderman's loony archnemesis. It was a deft maneuver. It's effects on numerous books were overwhelmingly positive. It's still ongoing, so there could be big missteps in ending this story, but so far so good. They'd better let Spidey get the big swing in on him to finish it off or they'll have made a huge mistake.
4. DC Rebirths -- Ollie. Hal. Barry. If not for the first two, their namesakes would have drug down their mantles. Green Lantern and Green Arrow are only and always Hal and Ollie. Sorry Arsenal, Speedy, Guy, Black Dude, and Kyle. You guys are supporting cast to the greats. Barry wasn't needed really (I actually like Wally West and even liked the little kid from the future version of Flash), but he is cool and will bring more credibility to the character. I really liked the Kevin Smith Green Arrow; let's be honest -- everyone did. Even those of you now that will say you hated it or hated him and always thought his writing sucked enjoyed the series when it was on time and before Clerks 2 and the Bennifer movie. Geoff Johns Flash is the best work ever done on that character and it will be again (the first issue of his new series just released yesterday). I honestly think John GL was terrible until GL Corps, which I suspect he was in a holding pattern waiting for because of Infinite Crisis, which lasted about 35 years. Thank god it arrived when it did. It was awesome. Blackest Night was a bit of a limp around showy story without any real soul, but some of the minis and a lot of the smaller moments in the series were good. At any rate, bringing all these characters back could have been a disaster. It wasn't. It was pretty cool, actually.
5. Hellboy movies -- I love Hellboy. If you are a comic book fan and still haven't read this, you're missing an absolute masterpiece. Everything about Hellboy rules. It has levity and seriousness in perfect balance. It's a cooler, more well-researched Spiderman book. Man, it's great. But I was pretty worried about how they'd make the movies work. There's so much detail, so much high-minded material, in the books that it seemed virtually impossible to make an under two hour treatment that did the stories justice. They did it. Twice (four times if you count the animated shows -- and I do because they're really cool too). Dark Horse may be the fourth name in comics, but they have one of the absolute top properties with this franchise. Make Mine Mignola.
6. Wolverine's Son -- X-23 is lame. Dakken is cool. There, I said it. Wolverine Origins, overall, has been a pretty solid book. It has had its ups and downs, but it introduced this wicked awesome character who has a real story, real motivation, and real staying power. He's like the Joker with a healing factor and sweet claws. He's been a stand out in the Dark Avengers stories and since taking over the main Wolverine title has really provided some solid stories. I'd have guessed this to be a major flop, but it looks like a winner.
7. Watchmen movie -- You don't have to love it to like it. And I like it a lot. I watched it 4 times in the theater. I watched it twice on Blu Ray already. I'm going to watch it a lot more. They changed some things. Inevitable. Even the crucial alterations in the ending were sensible if imperfect. I don't even care about the blue dicks. Manhattan's soliloquy on the moon was awesome. The Comedian was awesome. The settings were awesome. Rorschach in the prison was awesome. It was as good a Watchmen movie as anyone could make. I had chills the whole time because I was watching a true to the material adaptation of one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written. And if you didn't like it you wanted it to be more than the book, which was entirely unrealistic. Get over it. Long live the Watchmen. But don't let anyone else write a sequel or spin-offs or anything of the sort. See this story for warnings: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/03/get-ready-for-watchmen-2/.
8. Straczynski's Spiderman -- Why Marvel can't create a Spiderman series worthy of the character is beyond me. This property has suffered more than the characters in the book, and that's really saying something. In the early part of the decade, Babylon 5 creator and sci-fi geekgasm-inducing writer reinvented the character in a productive way for a solid run, but then ran directly into Civil War and editorial demand to update the character. He unmasked. He got an Iron Man type suit with all types of gadgets. He got Aunt May killed. Everything got retconned. And now Spidey is in worse shape than ever creatively. They actually redid some clone saga era stories, thinking what could possibly get worse, I'd imagine. But the Straczynski run had some notable moments (WTC tribute issue, for instance) and some cool ideas (the spider totem and that huge bug monster that was practically invincible). The work was solid. For an unknown comic writer to just cut loose on a character so loved was nice to see. Hopefully we can get back there.
9. Marvel Zombies Series One -- Like any other successful thing at the House of Ideas, they took it too far and let Fred Van Lente write sequels, but the original Kirkman series was mega-cool. The Suidam covers alone make it worth checking out. But the stories are funny. The art is gore par excellance. And the characters are unhinged. They've made the zombie universe a part of the regular continuity, so be prepared for it to always be lurking around the corner, ready to sneak up and bite the brains of your favorite heroes and villains.
10. Plastic Man in the JLA -- Think about this character for a minute. He's basically invincible. He stealthy (except the color scheme, which, be honest, he could work around). I know that we never see he or Reed or even Ralph (R.I.P.) do much with their powers offensively, but they could. Elasticity has its advantages beyond defense (ever been shot by a rubber band?). I really liked this character as a Leaguer. He tied the team together. He kept them from taking themselves too seriously. And he was useful. Bring him back. Oh, and the Kyle Baker stories were great too. A really good series with strong art direction and fun plots.
Stuff that was crap:
1. Dark Knight 2: Electric Boogaloo -- The crappiest of the crap. Highly anticipated. Highly disappointing. I loved the original Dark Knight, but honestly it didn't age well. Since the comics industry has become more willing to take risks, there are Batman stories and stories about other mainstream heroes that stand up well to this dystopian investigation into the Bat. But the sequel has next to nothing going for it. The art looks just awful. The story is disjuncted, and not in a creative way. It's Frank Miller at his most pretentious. I wish he'd just stay away from comics from now on.
2. Stan Lee Presents... -- Oh man, what drivel. At least reading old Stan books you can see the creative juices flowing. Here you just get the worst of everything. Aimless stories. Jaw-droppingly bad dialogue. Terrible cliches. Marry it with awful art and you have books that more appropriately belong as kindling. I think Marvel has found a great job for Stan: appearing once in each of their movies and movie property commercials. It works. No more writing for you, but we still love ya. Excelsior.
3. Claremont on Exiles -- Do you remember the Exiles? I do. This book started off awesomely. And against all odds. It was a story doomed to failure. Universe-hopping and time traveling mutants that are kinda like ones you know, but aren't. Sounds like a Cross-time Caper could be kicking off. BUT Judd Winick did a great job on this book for a very long time. It was savvy. It had a mystery at its heart. The characters had feeling and the action was strong. It was a top 10 book for awhile imho. Along comes Chris "I made the X-Men cool" Claremont. He saddled up on the book, dropped his pants, and took a crap on everything that was great about it. He made the characters suck. He neutered the major story points. He did everything possible to ruin this book forever. In the decade, Claremont has worked on 4-5 different X-properties that I can remember; every one was awful. I can't believe he is STILL writing these books. Fans, stop supporting this terrible cretinous bastard. If you want to read Claremont, buy the Dark Phoenix trade. This category could just as well be "everything Claremont did."
4. Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin -- How do you make a Batman book drawn by Jim Lee terrible? Enlist the help of Frank Miller. He turned Batman into a brutish thug rather than the thinking man's fighter we've known him to be. He actually made the series more homoerotic than the classic "accidental porn" of the 50's. He paced the book like you were running backward on the cosmic treadmill. And, he delayed it to the point that only 7 issues have been released as of today (the series started 2 years ago). Suck it, Frank. You're the worst.
5. Infinite Crisis -- What happened in this series? I have no idea except that Batman died (post hoc spoiler alert). It seemed to last approximately 100 years. It had people riding dogs and Wonder Woman with fangs. I honestly just didn't get it. Morrison's DC work has been largely incomprehensible to me. Maybe it's because I don't know the source material as well (I've read far more Marvel comics), but I honestly think that the stories are simply poorly put together and terribly executed. I can't understand what was sensible about this story. I will say that the fallout from Bruce's death was cool. Dick as the Bat has worked. But the main story, its villain, and the effects on the universe were just not something I got. Huge investment for little pay off imho.
6. Ultimate X-Men -- I'm going to come out swinging at someone I really like here. I'm an Invincible fan. I'm a Walking Dead fan. Kirkman screwed the pooch on Ultimate X-Men. I don't know if he's exclusively to blame for the downward direction the book took, but he was at the helm when it took a huge dive. And it didn't have to. I think that the beginning of the book was well executed. It had all of the pieces put together to be as good as Ultimate Spider-Man, maybe better. It's the X-Men, damn it. But the push to tell an Apocalypse story so early. And the introduction of too many mutants too quickly just felt hurried. Pacing. Take your time. I know you had to have quick pay-offs in your creator-owned stuff at Image to get noticed, but you're on a big title now. Take. Your. Time. Tell good stories. Don't give in to fanboydem. Ultimate X-Men should still be going and good.
7. Astonishing X-Men -- Oh man, I'm going to get grief for this one. Joss Whedon. John Cassaday. Holy COW! How do I not like this? It is the one and only problem I have with Buffy: villains. Whedon can't write a bad guy or create a bad guy that doesn't suck. Danger? CMON! "I'm a robot who knows all of your moves and stuff." "What? No I'm not fucking AMAZO! Shut up dude." "I'm not Ultron either, dick." In spite of all of the things that this book did right, it remains a sore spot that Joss created such a n00bish foil to take on this uber version of the X-Men. And we had to trade Kitty for Colossus. That was lame too. I was as excited as anyone about this series when it was coming out. I was as disappointed as anyone when it ended like it did. That said, I'm loving Buffy. I'm psyched for Avengers. Calm down, Whedonites.
8. Jeph Loeb -- As a person. Jeph Loeb blows.
9. Marvel's 3rd installments -- I'm not going to belabor the point. Everyone knows that these movies are terrible. It's not worth making the best points about how shitty they are. I'll say this, if you can bone the Dark Phoenix story, you can bone anything. Of course, Brett Ratner and Bryan Singer are largely interchangeable. Spider-Man 3 was doomed the second that people included a Todd McFarlane creation in a real movie. Nuff said!
10. Eternals -- Swing and a miss. Gods and monsters stories have done well for Marvel in this decade, with notable runs on Thor and Hercules and even some strong work on Ares in several titles. With Neil "I can do no wrong" Gaiman and John "Living legend" Romita Jr. at the helm this book seemed destined for comic greatness. It was greeted with lackluster sales, a dragging story, and no real continuity impact. It went out with a whimper to say the least. A huge damned alien totem pole ship lands in San Francisco and hardly anyone cares only three years later (I guess the distraction of the X-Men moving in got every one's attention). It's shocking how poorly Gaiman's forays into Marvel comics have performed. My suggestion is to let the man tell HIS stories, not to play with your toys, and see what he can produce. Marvel seems to have a good relationship with Neil. They should certainly keep letting him write books, but maybe let him do something original or creator-owned. He's not a superhero comic book writer. Don't try and force him to be.
That's a long post. I'm done for now. Hope you're enjoying this as much as I am. And pass the word. I'd like to get people interested and involved in posting and commenting here as much as possible.
Funky Idea -- Comic Soundtracks
So I'm sitting around reading comics and listening to my iTunes shuffling and I end up with The XX playing while I'm reading Captain Britain and MI: 13 and I'm thinking, "waaaait a sec...this is a little too good." It should be the soundtrack. It's haunting and melancholy and perfectly fits this moody British romp.
I don't think it's entirely coincidence that this happened during a Paul Cornell book given that his theme for his run on Dark X-Men was to use the intro blurbs creatively, inserting song titles or song lyrics after the name and powers "Wolverine, Healing Factor, Adamantium Skeleton, Head Like a Hole," for example (mine, not Cornell's). I love this idea and am going to consciously pay attention to more books that have fitting existing soundtracks out there. Let me know if you come up with any.
By the way, listen to The XX. Don't be an idiot.
I don't think it's entirely coincidence that this happened during a Paul Cornell book given that his theme for his run on Dark X-Men was to use the intro blurbs creatively, inserting song titles or song lyrics after the name and powers "Wolverine, Healing Factor, Adamantium Skeleton, Head Like a Hole," for example (mine, not Cornell's). I love this idea and am going to consciously pay attention to more books that have fitting existing soundtracks out there. Let me know if you come up with any.
By the way, listen to The XX. Don't be an idiot.
Best Comic Runs and Mini-Series of the Decade
Continuing my series on the decade's best, the following are what I consider the best runs/mini-series of the decade. This was a tough category; there were some great ones. I consider the rise of the mini-series to be one of the unheralded strong points of the comics industry this decade. Obviously, some of the historic best work has been done in mini-series format, notably The Watchmen. But this decade saw creators drawn to the mini as a way to work with all-star talent without the downside of being hitched to one or the other side of the publisher wars. Some excellent work was produced.
Here's the list:
Bendis Alias -- This isn't actually a mini; I'm cheating again. But it is a short series because Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were drawn into the Avengers, another Bendis book. It is REALLY good. For a time in the early part of the decade, it was my absolute favorite book. I recently re-read every issue and they stand the test of time. Don't worry about continuity or knowing the characters. Jessica is new and she's the focus of the book and Luke is updated and reinvented. The villains are largely reimagined or reinvented for this gritty PI book.
That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the lists. Feel free to comment and argue about them. I'd love to hear others' opinions.
Here's the list:
Bendis Alias -- This isn't actually a mini; I'm cheating again. But it is a short series because Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were drawn into the Avengers, another Bendis book. It is REALLY good. For a time in the early part of the decade, it was my absolute favorite book. I recently re-read every issue and they stand the test of time. Don't worry about continuity or knowing the characters. Jessica is new and she's the focus of the book and Luke is updated and reinvented. The villains are largely reimagined or reinvented for this gritty PI book.
Remender Fear Agent -- This book blew me away because it was a combination of familiar and wholly new concepts. If you're a Preacher fan (and I am -- big time) it's "Jesse Custer in space". If you're a sci-fi fan, you'll love it. If you're a western fan, you'll love it. If you love big action and plot twists, ditto. The art is excellent, the writing is top-notch, and it never takes itself too seriously, which, in a world of hot shot writers, is at a premium these days. LOVE this book.
Brubaker and Fraction Iron Fist -- Another instant classic. I suspect that this book will form the basis for many future Marvel editorial meetings, "Let's give Nighthawk the Iron Fist treatment." (which sounds vaguely dirty) I love Ed Brubaker. While Bendis is the most significant creator of the decade, Brubaker may be the best. Literally everything he touches is gold. Iron Fist is a loser. That's a certainty. This book gave him a backstory, a stable of friends and villains, and a purpose in the Marvel U. I haven't read much of the old Power Man/Iron Fist stuff, but that's because terrible comics aren't really my thing. But I will tell you if you like kung-fu, ninjas, intrigue, and awesome comics, you HAVE to read this. Oh yeah, this also got the both of them on Uncanny X-Men, so I'm not the only one that noticed.
Brubaker Criminal -- Shockingly, more Bru. This book is the sine quo non of high-minded comics today, imho. It's classic noir, The Wire style. If you thought Sin City was something you were into, read a real writer doing similar things at the next level. Frank Miller is a turd, and I make no apologies about that. He peaked with Robocop. Bru writes crime fiction like Picasso paints, skillfully, creatively, and always excitingly. I would read one million of these stories. I hope he never, ever quits doing this book.
Brubaker Sleeper -- My favorite book of the decade, for sure. Sleeper is loosely based on some n00bs from one of those terrible 90's Image series, but Bru doesn't seem to care much about that. He starts there, basically, and then creates what is a way better story by ignoring everything about the known image universe and writing a really good combo crime/spy/superhero story. It's really everything Powers wants to be in 24 issues. It's hilarious. It's evil. It's awesome. I was shocked like every issue by something that happened and honestly, never saw a way for the protagonist to win. The conflict is so tightly wound in this book that you seriously feel the tension the characters experience. Other books today are still stealing from this concept (see Incorruptible, Irredeemable -- although I do enjoy these Mark Waid romps).
Millar Red Son -- Spasibo, Mark Millar. Superman crashes in Soviet Russia. He's a commie. Do I actually have to say more about this book? The few major DC heroes that are featured in this book are changed in ways that are relevant to the plot, but true to the characters. Few Elseworlds characters have the same "real" feel to them that this book does. And, man, how cool of an idea is this? So cool. I like this book for the geek factor, mostly. I've read it like a million times.
Morrison X-Men -- Seminal is the only way to describe this run on the X-Men. None of these changes has been retconned yet (although we're dangerously close to returning Jean or at least the Phoenix, I'd guess). Frank Quitely's art is simply gorgeous, and Silvestri is no slouch either. I won't spoil this runs secrets for those of you that haven't read it, but secondary mutations, the big secret of Weapon X, Professor X's sordid past, and a whole lot of Cyclops, Wolvie, Jean, and Emma make this stuff must-read material for any X-Men fan, casual or otherwise. And, don't worry -- it's far more digestible than anything else Morrison has ever done (because Marvel has editors unlike DC).
Morrison We3 -- Watership Down. The Incredible Journey. Bunnicula (siiiccckkk). All rolled into one. This is a really good, really short, heart-wrenching book. The military is training animals to be cyborg killers but they haven't quite gotten the program down. The animals remain sentient. It's hard to explain what the story does and says that makes it so good, but after reading it I felt like I'd been through something really significant. Highly enjoyable despite its tragedy. I give Morrison a hard time, but only because I suspect he would do the same to others when there work isn't up to snuff, and some of his work has been ill-conceived (Sea Guy, The Filth, Final Crisis). This is not one of those pieces. It's excellent in every way.
Millar Ultimates -- Series II is better than Series I (although the payoff of Series I is great -- Ultimate Hulk going ultimately batshit crazy), but I like both. It's possible the reveal at the heart of Ultimates Series II was my favorite single comic of the decade. I was stunned. I didn't at all see it coming, and it's rare that a capes and cowls comic gets one over on me like that. This one did. Hurrah for Millar because he often does so much right. I wish his writing was a little tighter. His story-telling just misses out character motivations in big ways at times. But he's otherwise adept with great dialogue and huge ideas. I very much enjoyed the early parts of this series (then Jeph Loeb cut a hole in it and made sex to it; fu Jeph Loeb).
Ellis Planetary -- Prolly my second favorite book of the decade in spite of averaging only a whopping 2.5 books a year. It's fine. It's worth it. Warren Ellis is an enormous pain in the ass. Maybe he racked up some credit card debt or something, but he will sell a book to anyone. And he doesn't seem to care if most of them are worth a shit. Most of them it would be an insult to your ass to wipe with. But, BECAUSE of Planetary, I buy every.single.one. That's how sick this book is. It doesn't hurt that the world's greatest artists, John Cassaday is the series artist. I can't even describe how perfectly this man illustrates a book to someone who has never seen his art. Just check it out http://www.johncassaday.com/. I've bought entire books because he did the covers (hello, Lone Ranger re-launch). This book is extraterrestrial goodness at its best. Every issue is like an episode of the X-Files wrapped up in 1970's Dr. Who with Jack Kirby, on acid, drawing the pictures. I am going to drop the approximately one million dollars that the ultimate slipcase edition of this book costs even though I own every issue because I want more, scripts, sketches, back story, everything. It's one part commentary on classic comics, one part classic fiction tropes, one part classic tv, one part Fantastic Four, and 100% bad ass.
Cornell Captain Britain and MI:13 -- I wrote this list yesterday and had to go back and add this title. It fits here even more appropriately than many of the others because it is truly a tiny series, a mere 15 issues and an annual (probably collected into two or three trades and a maxi-edition). I really like Paul Cornell. His Wisdom mini-series earlier in the decade paid homage to the perpetually mismanaged but permanently etched in my memory Excalibur series from the 90's, but didn't let that whacked out continuity determine where it could go. Cornell did his best to recreate and envision a functioning UK in the Marvel U., something most of us on this side of the pond had no idea was conceivable. Every serious Marvel fan knows about Captain Britain because of the significant work Alan Moore did on the book (collected and in-print finally for Marvel in this decade), but most of the rest of these folks are all new to us. The characters are fresh but well-defined, the stories are clearly written but expansive, the art is excellent, and the action is big. The vampire war is a classic marvel story. Hopefully Cornell and Kirk bring this series back and soon. It wasn't worth it to do Dark X-Men and end this book. If you know someone at Marvel, beg and plead for this one to relaunch soon.That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the lists. Feel free to comment and argue about them. I'd love to hear others' opinions.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Comic Movies
I remember distinctly when I heard that there would be an X-Men movie. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Uncanny X-Men was the first comic I purchased with my own money. It was a great period of time to be reading: Claremont was still writing, Silvestri was doing the art. Jim Lee's first issue was one of the first ten I bought. And back issues were still affordable. I went to see the new movie with those adolescent memories in mind and found something very special: a true to the characters I loved portrayal of the central themes of the book. The chess game between Erik and Charles at the end of the film was iconic. It was everything I'd hoped for. My nerdiest friend and I left talking about sequels and planning the next few movies. Oddly, Marvel never consulted with us and the franchise went down the toilet (although X-Men 2: Electric Boogaloo was still good -- always told people Magneto could congeal the iron in someone's blood and kill them with it but no one in 4th grade believed me).
Now, every 3rd movie is a comic book adaptation. It's cool, because aspiring talent wants to get involved with comics. We've been lucky to have a lot of great folks get involved in writing books because they think it'll launch their careers in other media. And to a large degree, they're right. That dude who wrote Young Avengers got to write for the OC and Grey's Anatomy. Jeph Loeb did work on Smallville and Heroes. And Brian K Vaughn got up in the middle of Lost. There has been some downside: Kevin Smith's aborted and delayed series, the rise and fall of J. Michael Straczynski, and stories that are clearly pandering for movie treatment rather than taking full advantage of the medium they're utilizing.
This brings me to summer movie season. Kick-Ass starts this Friday. I'm going to see it. I love Mark Millar. I support comics movies (I even saw Ghost Rider and Hellblazer, although not in theaters). But I won't mince words. This book was only ok. Parts of it were hilarious. But a lot of it was explicitly lifted from or at least indebted to Wanted. The best part of the book, JR Jr.'s art, won't be in the film. I don't have huge expectations. I'm hoping McLovin and Nick Cage will provide some comic relief. But, and a friend asked me today if I was, I'm not excited about this movie. I doubt it's going to live up to the hype, much like the comic failed to do. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised like I was with Fantastic Four (not the naked silver guy one, the first one).
Iron Man II. Oh my god. If ever a movie defied expectations, it was Iron Man. I knew that the casting choice was brilliant. RDJr is the 3rd best actor to be in a comic book film ever, behind Adam West and the dude from That 70's Show (juuuuust kiddin -- Patrick Stewart and Raiden are the best, obvi). Even Gwyneth Paltrow didn't feel like an enormous bitch like she usually does. She was an incredibly likable Pepper. And until Jeff Bridges voiced the cgi suit, he was a good, though not great, villain. The new movie has Mickey "everyone loves me now" Rourke, Scarlett "owwwww" Johannson, and Mike Epps -- juuuuust kiddin, Don Cheadle -- expanding the talent of the cast and adding new, exciting, nerd-love characters. Some rivalry between Rhodey and Tony should be brewing over the War Machine armor. And, even though this film won't delve into Tony's alcoholism, it has to be coming to a head in the near future, perhaps as a set up for the Avengers film in 2012. I'm thrilled. Two weeks is too long. Bring on IMII.
Other movies I'm excited about: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Michael Cera fights for his love against ex-boyfriends in a superheroic spoof) and The Losers. Both could flop and I'd still like to see them because they're smaller-scale properties making it because of their cinematic qualities. It's good to see some good writers rewarded for their hard work. I still need to read Scott Pilgrim (I peeped an issues-worth online, but saved the rest for a real read).
Avengers, obvi. If you haven't heard, Joss Whedon is on it. Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk. Samuel L. as Nick Fury. Bring it on. Get excited now. You only have two plus years to get your fake Mjolnir and eye-patches ready.
Now, every 3rd movie is a comic book adaptation. It's cool, because aspiring talent wants to get involved with comics. We've been lucky to have a lot of great folks get involved in writing books because they think it'll launch their careers in other media. And to a large degree, they're right. That dude who wrote Young Avengers got to write for the OC and Grey's Anatomy. Jeph Loeb did work on Smallville and Heroes. And Brian K Vaughn got up in the middle of Lost. There has been some downside: Kevin Smith's aborted and delayed series, the rise and fall of J. Michael Straczynski, and stories that are clearly pandering for movie treatment rather than taking full advantage of the medium they're utilizing.
This brings me to summer movie season. Kick-Ass starts this Friday. I'm going to see it. I love Mark Millar. I support comics movies (I even saw Ghost Rider and Hellblazer, although not in theaters). But I won't mince words. This book was only ok. Parts of it were hilarious. But a lot of it was explicitly lifted from or at least indebted to Wanted. The best part of the book, JR Jr.'s art, won't be in the film. I don't have huge expectations. I'm hoping McLovin and Nick Cage will provide some comic relief. But, and a friend asked me today if I was, I'm not excited about this movie. I doubt it's going to live up to the hype, much like the comic failed to do. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised like I was with Fantastic Four (not the naked silver guy one, the first one).
Iron Man II. Oh my god. If ever a movie defied expectations, it was Iron Man. I knew that the casting choice was brilliant. RDJr is the 3rd best actor to be in a comic book film ever, behind Adam West and the dude from That 70's Show (juuuuust kiddin -- Patrick Stewart and Raiden are the best, obvi). Even Gwyneth Paltrow didn't feel like an enormous bitch like she usually does. She was an incredibly likable Pepper. And until Jeff Bridges voiced the cgi suit, he was a good, though not great, villain. The new movie has Mickey "everyone loves me now" Rourke, Scarlett "owwwww" Johannson, and Mike Epps -- juuuuust kiddin, Don Cheadle -- expanding the talent of the cast and adding new, exciting, nerd-love characters. Some rivalry between Rhodey and Tony should be brewing over the War Machine armor. And, even though this film won't delve into Tony's alcoholism, it has to be coming to a head in the near future, perhaps as a set up for the Avengers film in 2012. I'm thrilled. Two weeks is too long. Bring on IMII.
Other movies I'm excited about: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Michael Cera fights for his love against ex-boyfriends in a superheroic spoof) and The Losers. Both could flop and I'd still like to see them because they're smaller-scale properties making it because of their cinematic qualities. It's good to see some good writers rewarded for their hard work. I still need to read Scott Pilgrim (I peeped an issues-worth online, but saved the rest for a real read).
Avengers, obvi. If you haven't heard, Joss Whedon is on it. Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk. Samuel L. as Nick Fury. Bring it on. Get excited now. You only have two plus years to get your fake Mjolnir and eye-patches ready.
Best Comics of the Decade
I've read some best of the decade lists that made my head spin because they put such lame books on their lists and left out some truly great work. It seems like every one of those lists is some fancy English grad student's homage to French nerds or someone you've never heard of. I like comics, ones with superheroes and crime and spandex. I also like smart books. This list isn't biased against either group nor does it suffer from underdog syndrome or the "overexposure paradox" where comic fans hate everything that's popular and well-known. It's a dork out of the best stuff for the last ten years in comics. Enjoy. Oh and they aren't in order, but they're pretty close. Fables is the best series of the decade, Sleeper the best short series, and Ultimate Sandman (which is cheating, I know) is the best graphic novel (the Fables novel is second, so get that if you already have Sandman, nerd).
Up first, the best on-going series of the decade:
100 Bullets -- One of the few books on this list that features art that surpasses the writing, and Azarello's writing is good. Eduardo Risso is a virtuoso. I just got the shivers thinking back to my favorite images from this series. He's going to be a well-known storyboarding and advertising artist one day, mark my word. This book features a tangled conspiracy, gritty crime stories, and universally morally troublesome characters. I honestly don't entirely understand what happened in the series but I know that I enjoyed every instant of it.
Up first, the best on-going series of the decade:
100 Bullets -- One of the few books on this list that features art that surpasses the writing, and Azarello's writing is good. Eduardo Risso is a virtuoso. I just got the shivers thinking back to my favorite images from this series. He's going to be a well-known storyboarding and advertising artist one day, mark my word. This book features a tangled conspiracy, gritty crime stories, and universally morally troublesome characters. I honestly don't entirely understand what happened in the series but I know that I enjoyed every instant of it.
Fables -- The best, period. Bill Willingham must have planned this series for at least a decade and probably conceptualized it for 25 years. It's exceptional. The knowledge of the associated stories combined with the wit, humor, emotion, and intelligence displayed by his characters has truly combined for the most consistently exceptional book of the decade. I want everyone to read this book. It will be looked back at as something as significant as Sandman and the Watchmen. It's extraordinary. Pay extra close attention to how awesome Pinocchio is from the minute he appears. God I love this book.
Walking Dead -- Made zombies cool again. Launched the career of an industry-leading creator. And has outlasted nearly any original indie publication in existence. Walking Dead has refused to go for the big payoff and reveal the meaning behind its disaster. It's stuck to the essence of what drives the book: characters. There are a few zombies every issue, but they're only one of the many struggles for survivors after the apocalypse. Dealing with one another and their selves seems to be the defining problem for most of this odd bunch. I hope I'm still reading Walking Dead ten years from now.
Daredevil -- An unbelievable stroke of good luck drove this book for the decade. Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. I could make the Animal Avengers book a best seller with that writing staff. But, unlike some other top creators looking to salvage marginal books, this one worked. Smith went back to the basics, Bendis did the unthinkable, dragging Matt Murdock through hell, and Brubaker took him to the next level. As much as the Ben Affleck film tried to ruin Daredevil, these writers saved him for real comics fans who follow the stories. David Mack and Sean Philips also do some epically good work on runs in this series.
Flash -- I never cared much for DC books, save Batman, until I read this series. Johns reinvented the characters, starting with the Rogues and his supporting cast, in a way that only intense planning can account for. And Scott Kolins was his perfect complement. This book would be closer to the top if not for the Flash babies interlude. Blech. Johns is primarily known for his team books, but it's The Flash where he cut his teeth. He made the Rogues a team that seemed to have a chance against the Flash. The Captain Cold stand-alone issue is a tour de force that marks his signature on the series.
Powers -- Bendis is the creator of the decade, bar none. This creator owned series that migrated from Image to Marvel's creator imprint is a superhero crime book with a twist. It's not Bendis's finest writing (in fact, lots of issues are short on Bendis talk and long on splash pages), but it's a great collaboration. Oeming can capture a lot of what Bendis is thinking and saying better than most of his other co-conspirators. The book's delays and idiosyncracies are far outweighed by the positives -- a strong plot, great writing, excellent synergy, and the finest letters and rec's page in the history of the business (I started watching The Wire on Bendis's recommendation).
Avengers/New Avengers -- The mainstream book of the decade, for sure. Bendis, again, doing it live. This book brought a franchise back from beyond the dead. I can honestly say that I never had any interest in reading the Avengers, even when I was a kid. The heroes were lame. The villains were worse. The stories were beyond disjuncted. Enter Avengers Disassembled. Jack of Hearts? Who the hell is that? You blow up. Everyone gets put through the ringer. And we bring it back together in the toughest way possible. Part of the problem is of course how you test a group of heroes so powerful. But DC has done a better job with their uber-team, the JLA (especially with the Morrison relaunch, fresh on the minds of Marvel at the time). This series put the Avengers back at the center of the Marvel universe, driving the major cross-overs that defined the decade. A series of great artists. Plot twists and turns. Interesting first-time character interactions. And the return of some old team-up favorites seen only a few times. Great book. Geek fest.
Y: The Last Man -- What's there to say that hasn't already been said? Great concept. Skillfully executed. A beautiful ending. Everyone loves Y. I will say this: the book is very good. It meanders at points around issue 50. It was matched up in time for me with Fables, which overshadowed it in my mind rather consistently. And it ended a bit abruptly, even if well. We're all going to hear a lot more from BK Vaughn, even though it will probably not be in comic form very often. Just like the Rock left WWE for the big screen, Vaughn seems destined to do the same. But we'll always have this great series, one of the very best Vertigo's done.
All-Star Superman -- This should be in the short series, but I am so hopeful it's not really over that I'm listing it here. Anyone who doesn't love Quietly and Morrison's work together isn't a comic fan. There, I said it. You can fault Morrison for doing too much acid. You can say that Quietly makes everyone look like Betty White. But you can't try and argue that they aren't magical when they get together. This series is an homage to every major Superman character and story ever told. The action is big. The concept is huge. The detail is aplenty. Please, for the love of god, more Frank Quietly. Morrison can stay too.
Gotham Central -- My underdog series. Canceled by DC because of low sales, this series was the only good Batman book being written at its time. Let's be honest: we all loved Hush not because Loeb can write (he can't), but because Jim Lee was doing pages again. But this book was a Batman book without being dominated by the cape and cowl. It was all of the grit and grime of Gotham City, all of the villains and intrigue, but without gadgetry and superheroism to overshadow the people on the streets. It was Marvels in an on-going, in-continuity series (and the coolest comic book background ever). And it was Ed Brubaker getting us ready for the stories he loves and would tell for the rest of the decade: crime noir. Greg Rucka doesn't get nearly enough credit either. Love that guy.
Up next: runs/short series: highlighting the best of the decades individual story arcs and limited series.
Jason Aaron's Punisher
Oh man I have to go back and read Scalped. Jason Aaron killed that Ghost Rider series (yes, you heard me -- he made GHOST RIDER readable and not because he looked cool with a flaming head in a leather jacket you wish you weren't too big of a n00b to wear). He's doing well on a 3rd Wolverine series (Whhhyyy?). And he looks like he enjoys adult beverages and video games (as opposed to all the euro-hipsters who are writing comics these days -- BK Vaughn, you heard me). Now he's writing the Punisher. It's an open question why Ennis isn't still doing the book he was on and, frankly, I'm shocked anyone wanted to touch Punisher after that seminal treatment for the better part of the decade. But Jason Aaron has it figured out that what will make a Punisher series that can exceed those expectations created by Ennis will be a. big, gruesome villains b. integrated into the main Marvel U. and c. overcome by the brute unstoppable force of Marvel avenging bad boy. The first arc, without spoiling anything, concerns the Kingpin. Read it, but be prepared for Preacher-style brutality and moral ambiguity. The Steve Dillon art helps. But Aaron has a taste for blood and he is delivering it monthly in this relaunched Marvel Max title.
First Post -- Jonathon Hickman
So, some of my friends who share an interest in comics, and even some of those who don't -- probably people interested in giving me an outlet, other than themselves, to yap about comics -- have been encouraging me to do this for some time now. I've decided to give in and start sharing some of my opinions on comics here to consolidate the info I often share with others in disparate settings.
I think for most big comic book fans "in the know", the move to mega-writers has defined the last decade of comics. Guys like Bendis, Millar, Morrison, Johns, Staczynski, Smith, and Brubaker have driven the comics market of late, demanding huge contracts, uniting various books, and rewriting comics history. Marvel for sure has had better luck landing these scripting darlings, featuring significant work from everyone on this list except Geoff Johns (and, to be clear, Johns will, one day, write for the House of Ideas, but it won't be for awhile). Marvel has another soon-to-be star on its hands with Jonathon Hickman.
I'll be honest: I got lucky on reading Hickman. I'd read his pretty good work on Secret Warriors, a title I got not because of his name, but because my mom found some Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos comics at a garage sale in 1985 and I've been a fan of that character ever since. The work on this book has been good. A largely entirely new roster of heroes and villains, well-characterized, diverse and mostly new powers, and Nick and Dum-Dum. What's not to like? Of course, the enormity of Civil War and Dark Reign also drove my interest in this book. It fortunately introduced me to Hickman's work as well.
I had just started reading Hickman's Fantastic Four, which is very good so far, when I picked up Pax Romana. After several aborted attempts at reading this book, I finally had a plane flight I couldn't sleep on and really got going on it...and was blown away. Pax Romana is easily one of the top 5 original graphic novels of the decade. Without too much spoiling, the books concerns what happens to us all when the Catholic church succeeds in controlling time travel. The book is conceptual genius, uniquely executed, beautifully illustrated, and skillfully completed. I honestly could have read two or three hundred additional pages of this book. It receives my highest possible recommendation. I wouldn't trade in my copies of Sleeper Seasons 1 or 2, but maybe basically anything else from this decade. It's that good.
I went back and grabbed up Nightly News, Hickman's homage to the Weathermen and a vitriolic rampage on American society. I get it. I liked the book because of his style, but honestly political books basically always let me down because it's hard to make politics more over-the-top than I already know it is. I'd still recommend it because of the feel for the book. I always get the sense that Hickman is really about to do something immensely different with the comic book format than anyone I've ever seen. The smooth mixing of digital-esque form with the basic comic layout we've all come to expect is his signature move, but when he blends multiple text forms it feels like he's really on to something. I am gushing, I know, but I like what he's up to a lot.
Hickman is now writing S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't care if you're a Marvel fan, I don't care if you know anything about S.H.I.E.L.D., I don't even care if you couldn't care less about comics, after reading the first issue of this book, I assure you, you won't want to miss this. It appears that Marvel has given Hickman the reigns over rewriting their secret prehistory. Unlike DC, who has done plenty of playing with its past over the years, Marvel has never been really big on alluding to an unwritten back story behind their universe. No longer. S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently goes all of the way back -- to the beginnings of human history. The book feels like it will attempt to bottle some of the lightning that was Pax Romana, playing with powerful historical symbolism and a conspiratorial past that drives current events. I am excited. I'm excited for Marvel, for Hickman, and for Fury, Dum-Dum, Hill, and all of our other S.H.I.E.L.D. (I'm going to have to macro that because typing all of those periods is worthless) favorites.
As an aside, wtf is the deal with the big two comics publishers emulating one another's big storylines? I haven't heard anything official on this, and to be fair I don't read a lot of other blogs like this or follow internet gossip much, but the parallels are uncanny. Necrosha and Blackest Night is probably the worst example of obvious pandering to undercut the competition's storyline based market share, and it seems clear that this was Marvel's doing, not DC's. But the dissolution of the Avengers and the JLA took place right around the same time. Captain America and Batman died around the same time. Both their "wards" took the mantle at roughly the same time. General Lane and General Ross are both back and wrecking shop in Superman and Hulk respectively. I wonder if this doesn't date back to the Identity Crisis/Identity Disc fiasco, where DC's huge crossover was evidently humped by Marvel. I'd be interested in hearing some real insider news on this business if anyone has it.
The reason I ask is that both Marvel and DC appear to be digging into their back stories, with the recently released First Wave book from DC focusing on classic characters like Doc Savage and The Spirit, and Marvel playing off of its classical history in the Brubaker opus the Marvels Project while Hickman builds a new prehistory in S.H.I.E.L.D. I've liked all three books so far, although First Wave is slightly better than the Marvels Project and S.H.I.E.L.D. has me far more interested than either. Honestly, I know very little about any of the Golden Age characters in spite of my 25 years of collecting comics and 10 years of really seriously paying attention to them. I relish the chance to catch up to some of these characters.
But seriously, who's zooming who here? Is there a leak at the two big publishers? Do they have some kind of gentleman's agreement to disclose their big moves and compete one similar concepts? Are there just no new ideas? I just refuse to believe that there isn't something fishy about so many huge stories having so many similarities. It's weird.
This is it for now. I'm going to do some decade's best posting soon. Feel free to comment and converse. I'm glad to be putting this out there. I'll try and be regular about it.
I think for most big comic book fans "in the know", the move to mega-writers has defined the last decade of comics. Guys like Bendis, Millar, Morrison, Johns, Staczynski, Smith, and Brubaker have driven the comics market of late, demanding huge contracts, uniting various books, and rewriting comics history. Marvel for sure has had better luck landing these scripting darlings, featuring significant work from everyone on this list except Geoff Johns (and, to be clear, Johns will, one day, write for the House of Ideas, but it won't be for awhile). Marvel has another soon-to-be star on its hands with Jonathon Hickman.
I'll be honest: I got lucky on reading Hickman. I'd read his pretty good work on Secret Warriors, a title I got not because of his name, but because my mom found some Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos comics at a garage sale in 1985 and I've been a fan of that character ever since. The work on this book has been good. A largely entirely new roster of heroes and villains, well-characterized, diverse and mostly new powers, and Nick and Dum-Dum. What's not to like? Of course, the enormity of Civil War and Dark Reign also drove my interest in this book. It fortunately introduced me to Hickman's work as well.
I had just started reading Hickman's Fantastic Four, which is very good so far, when I picked up Pax Romana. After several aborted attempts at reading this book, I finally had a plane flight I couldn't sleep on and really got going on it...and was blown away. Pax Romana is easily one of the top 5 original graphic novels of the decade. Without too much spoiling, the books concerns what happens to us all when the Catholic church succeeds in controlling time travel. The book is conceptual genius, uniquely executed, beautifully illustrated, and skillfully completed. I honestly could have read two or three hundred additional pages of this book. It receives my highest possible recommendation. I wouldn't trade in my copies of Sleeper Seasons 1 or 2, but maybe basically anything else from this decade. It's that good.
I went back and grabbed up Nightly News, Hickman's homage to the Weathermen and a vitriolic rampage on American society. I get it. I liked the book because of his style, but honestly political books basically always let me down because it's hard to make politics more over-the-top than I already know it is. I'd still recommend it because of the feel for the book. I always get the sense that Hickman is really about to do something immensely different with the comic book format than anyone I've ever seen. The smooth mixing of digital-esque form with the basic comic layout we've all come to expect is his signature move, but when he blends multiple text forms it feels like he's really on to something. I am gushing, I know, but I like what he's up to a lot.
Hickman is now writing S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't care if you're a Marvel fan, I don't care if you know anything about S.H.I.E.L.D., I don't even care if you couldn't care less about comics, after reading the first issue of this book, I assure you, you won't want to miss this. It appears that Marvel has given Hickman the reigns over rewriting their secret prehistory. Unlike DC, who has done plenty of playing with its past over the years, Marvel has never been really big on alluding to an unwritten back story behind their universe. No longer. S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently goes all of the way back -- to the beginnings of human history. The book feels like it will attempt to bottle some of the lightning that was Pax Romana, playing with powerful historical symbolism and a conspiratorial past that drives current events. I am excited. I'm excited for Marvel, for Hickman, and for Fury, Dum-Dum, Hill, and all of our other S.H.I.E.L.D. (I'm going to have to macro that because typing all of those periods is worthless) favorites.
As an aside, wtf is the deal with the big two comics publishers emulating one another's big storylines? I haven't heard anything official on this, and to be fair I don't read a lot of other blogs like this or follow internet gossip much, but the parallels are uncanny. Necrosha and Blackest Night is probably the worst example of obvious pandering to undercut the competition's storyline based market share, and it seems clear that this was Marvel's doing, not DC's. But the dissolution of the Avengers and the JLA took place right around the same time. Captain America and Batman died around the same time. Both their "wards" took the mantle at roughly the same time. General Lane and General Ross are both back and wrecking shop in Superman and Hulk respectively. I wonder if this doesn't date back to the Identity Crisis/Identity Disc fiasco, where DC's huge crossover was evidently humped by Marvel. I'd be interested in hearing some real insider news on this business if anyone has it.
The reason I ask is that both Marvel and DC appear to be digging into their back stories, with the recently released First Wave book from DC focusing on classic characters like Doc Savage and The Spirit, and Marvel playing off of its classical history in the Brubaker opus the Marvels Project while Hickman builds a new prehistory in S.H.I.E.L.D. I've liked all three books so far, although First Wave is slightly better than the Marvels Project and S.H.I.E.L.D. has me far more interested than either. Honestly, I know very little about any of the Golden Age characters in spite of my 25 years of collecting comics and 10 years of really seriously paying attention to them. I relish the chance to catch up to some of these characters.
But seriously, who's zooming who here? Is there a leak at the two big publishers? Do they have some kind of gentleman's agreement to disclose their big moves and compete one similar concepts? Are there just no new ideas? I just refuse to believe that there isn't something fishy about so many huge stories having so many similarities. It's weird.
This is it for now. I'm going to do some decade's best posting soon. Feel free to comment and converse. I'm glad to be putting this out there. I'll try and be regular about it.
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