Comic Reviews – 15/9

Three reviews this week. two from DC and one form Marvel. Unintentionally, they’re all team books, so I guess that’s a theme for the week.

Thunderbolts 148

The Thunderbolts concept has been reinvented several times in the almost-fifteen years that the book has been around. Currently, the team consists of reformed villains acting as supervisors and wardens to a new team of supercriminals, some hoping to win their freedom, others indulging their passion for violence and mayhem.

Jeff Parker continues to cement his reputation as one of the best team-book writers in the business, with a good mix of interplay between the characters in combat and downtime. He’s given everyone very distinct voices and allowed their personalities to come through effectively. The art on this issue is from Declan Shalvey rather than Kev Walker who drew the previous few issues. Shalvey’s art isn’t as sharp and angular as Walker’s can be, and is inked quite heavily here, given a thicker look to everything.

I’m enjoying the current direction of the book but feel it is suffering from constant tie-ins. Last issue was a cross over with Avengers Academy, this issue is part one of a two part tie-in to the Daredevil-centric Shadowland event. While Parker avoids the tie-in from overpowering his story, and finds time to progress his subplot involving the Asgardian girl and also Crossbones’ mutation, it still rankles that the book is not being allowed to stand on it’s own two feet, this early into the run.

Luke Cage, the hero currently directing the Thunderbolts programme, sends the team into Ninja-held territory in Manhattan (No, I’m not making this up) in an effort to locate the kidnapped son of an old friend. Ninjas tend to get a mite prickly when their territory is invaded so, unsurpsingly, wacky hijinx ensue. The issue ends on a good cliffhanger, unforced and natural. While I am unhappy at the tie-in nature of this story, I’m looking forward to the next issue.

 

Birds of Prey 5

Well, the first storyarc ended last issue, but segued nicely into this initial half of a a two-parter. Following her capture of the White Canary, Black Canary travels to face her nemesis, the sociopathic killing machine Lady Shiva. Her colleagues ignore the Canary’s warning to stay away, and head to Singapore in hot pursuit of their friend.

After Gail Simone’s critically acclaimed run on the previous Birds of Prey series, the book tumbled through a rapidly changing creative line-up before finally being cancelled,  a shadow of its’ former glory. This re-launch has sold like gangbusters but somehow doesn’t have the same zing that her previous work on the book did.

The inclusion of Hawk and Dove still baffles me, but I am a firm believer of TIG (Trust in Gail) as she’s an excellent writer and writes arguably the definitive versions of the book’s three main heroines.

Much hoopla was made of Gail reuniting with her first BOP collaborator Ed Benes. Benes is a great artist for a female-centric book. He’s capable of fantastic cheesecake shots, but equally brutal fight sequences. The guy is GOOD. Here’s the problem though; he’s not the artist here. In fact he only did half of the previous issue and has handed the reins to Alvin Lee & Adriana Melo. They’re not terrible, but they seem torn between closely aping Benes’ style and drawing like a mid-90s Wildstorm book. In the same way that Joe Quinones’ noses are a distinctive part of his work, so too are eyes here. Take a look, you’ll see it too.

While I’m happy to see Gail steering the book again, I’ve not been as enthused by the story as her previous work. Maybe she’s written her best material for these girls already? Or maybe she’s doing a slow burn here and I need to just TIG.

 

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 2

Firstly, i should point out that the cover is a bit misleading. The event shown happens on the very last page. So the actual cliffhanger gets spoiled by a cover that doesn’t really reflect the issue’s content. Guy Gardner, Earth’s number one mean, green, ass-kicking machine is preparing to head into the depths of space on a mission for the Guardians. Two other Green Lanterns, the former drill sergeant Kilowog (I' can’t wait to see how they pronounce that in the movie) and Arisia volunteer to accompany him.

All three of them have personal demons they’re struggling with at the moment and this road trip might be just the way clear things up. Peter Tomasi’s one of the unsung heroes of DC’s writing corps these days. He’s solidly produced some cracking Green Lantern tales and his run on Nightwing was excellent, the best the book had been since Chuck Dixon left.

He continues his work here, showing us Arisia’s guilt-induced nightmares of her former partner Sodam Yat and Kilowog’s frustration at yet more rookie Lanterns destined for ignominious deaths. Guy is worried he’s experiencing a relapse following his possession by a Red Lantern rage-enhancing ring.

Fernando Pasarin came onto the book from Justice Society of America and he seems more comfortable here. The art has shades of Dave Gibbons, which is appropriate given the title, but still manages to be distinctive and individual. The design for the new big bad, Zardor, is nice. Very different to the usual hi-tech sci-fi that the Corps faces off against.

My one complaint on the issue would be this: The art is fantastic but there are two points where it is very graphic and not suitable for an all-ages book. I don’t want to see a “mature Readers Only” label slapped on here but maybe the editor needs to find a way to tone down some of the more disturbing and unsettling imagery. I’m a big fan of the belief that you can scare more by showing less.

CLiNT Magazine Review - Addendum

I’ve been told I came across a little harsh in my recent review of CLiNT. They’re right, I was harsh and possibly a little too angry at the finished product.

In an effort to take a step back, I thought I’d clarify a few things and my feelings on it.

I love the fact that someone has tried to launch a new modern comics periodical in the UK. It’s a laudable endeavour and vital in maintaining an interest in the medium. In an age of immersive video games, online or not, comics are losing ground rapidly in the UK, even faster the the US. Comics aren’t as readily available in the UK as in the States and so face an even steeper uphill struggle to gain market penetration.

Where I take issue, is the fact CLiNT feels like a sniggering boys-club product. It’s Mark Millar and his mates having a laugh. I suppose this is good, because you should enjoy what you do, but bad because they’re only setting out to entertain themselves, rather than their audience. If you want existing comic heads to buy it, put in mostly NEW material. If you want new readers to pick it up, put in BETTER material.

Reprinting lacklustre, facile and bland comic strips will not sustain this project. As I said in my initial review, Kick-Ass 2 is a draw, but not enough. Did I mention that there’s no “Previously"…” details for Kick-Ass? If you’ve not seen the film or initial comic, you won’t have clue one about what the hell is going on.

Ahhhh, maybe it’ll improve once the reviews are in, but I don’t hold out much hope. Sorry Mark!

Review – CLiNT Magazine #1

So yeah, Mark Millar’s new magazine CLiNT came out this week, via early release at Forbidden Planet courtesy of Titan Publishing. Bit of a lengthy review, this one, but I feel it’s warranted.

It’s a brave move from Millar/Titan; I can’t remember the last successful launch of an anthology comic in the UK. 2000AD’s continued existence shows that there IS a market for regular serialised comic books in this country but beyond the American format X-Men and Batman reprints currently on the shelves, there’s no real outlet for NEW material currently.

What’s really noticeable about CLiNT is that fact that most of,  the material is reprints. That and the fact it’s £3.99. :-/

Issue 1 gives us the following: 8 pages of Kick-Ass 2, before it gets printed in the US by Marvel. The entire first issue of Jonathan Ross' and Tommy Lee Edwards’ Turf clocking in at 26 pages, 11 pages of the Frankie Boyle-penned Rex Royd and 23 pages of Millar’s recent project Nemesis. Including covers, the magazine clocks in at 100 pages. Now I would imagine that they’re aiming this at people who don’t necessarily buy the American editions of the books reprinted within, so that’s a fair whack of funnybook for your hard earned 3.99. Ads are kept down to 10 pages total too, only appearing between strips, rather than in the midst of them. It's a nice touch and one which I really appreciated.

The strips themselves are a mixed bag. The much touted Kick-Ass 2 is painfully short giving you two amusing but short scenes. John Romita Jr’s art is typically good, less crosshatching than he’s been using recently, so it looks a little cleaner. The colouring is muted, retaining the real world feel of the previous volume, but has gone a little overboard with the Photoshop textures. The story segues nicely from the end of the previous volume and could very easily have been a follow-on issue, rather than the new series. One criticism I would level at it, is that there is no “Previously, on Kick-Ass…” so if you haven’t read the first volume or seen the movie, you’re going to be pretty confused. The Kick-Ass 2 strip is clearly the big hook for the magazine, with the strip getting published here several months ahead of an American release.

I previously commented on Turf in one of my weekly review columns so here’s the Cliff Notes version: Nice art, but obscured by overly wordy & excessive amounts of dialogue. Nothing ground-breaking in the story but an ambitious mash-up of Prohibition-era period drama, horror and sci-fi. Without the famous writer attached, I doubt it would have done particularly well. As of now, only 2 issues of Turf have been published. If CLiNT is going to stick to it’s schedule of every 4 weeks, expect Turf to get a reduced page count, or skipped entirely while they wait for the material to get published in America.

Rex Royd reads very much like a 2000AD story. The art is similar to, but nowhere near as good as, John McCrea of DC’s The Demon & Hitman fame. A corporate heavy realizes he is in fact the real CEO and had asked to have his real identity concealed so he could enjoy being normal for a while. By the end of the strip, this has been turned on it’s head and did pique my curiosity enough to consider buying the next issue. Not bad Mr Boyle. I don’t like your comedy but your comic is better than Wossy’s so far.

The last major strip is Millar’s other movie-treatment cash cow Nemesis. Ugh, I really can’t describe how much I dislike this stuff. Steve McNiven turns in arguably his worst work  in years, Millar pumps another attempt to hit Hollywood gold with a few quips in an effort to make this seem like a comic, rather than a licensing bid. McNiven can produce crisper, art than this, look at Marvel's Civil War to see what I mean. Here's his work looks drab, maybe that's more down to the colorist, but I didn't get the dynamism form his art that I did when he drew Civil War. All in? A waste of pages. In case you’ve been lucky enough to miss any of Nemesis so far, here is the premise: What if Batman was a villain? Oh and wore white. How revolutionary, the bad guy is wearing white. See what he did there? Reversing your expectations? Spare me…

There’s a short strip featuring a redneck, desert dweller fighting a zombie ninja and struggling to have his friends believe him. By that point I think I was losing interest. Not sure if it was a one-off or to be continued.

The remainder of the magazine features an interview with Jimmy Carr (Good) and a short Q&A with Christopher Mintz-Plasse who played Red Mist in the Kick-Ass movie (Bad). There’s an article on Charles Manson’s Celebrity to-do list (Creepy) and the revelation that English Language films use voice actors when they’re dubbed in different languages (So?). The last two points I’ll cover are what made me feel this was really little more than a vanity project for Millar and his friends: Deeply Moral babes showed a rather overly made-up Oxfam worker in her civvies, while reading “Top Ten TV Mums” was like listening in on teenage boys sniggering on the bus. What age group is this aimed at? the comics are usually labelled mature readers while the features swing between the puerile and the informative, if irrelevant.

I’d love for the format to take off and be a success, but based on the content of the first issue, I don’t feel there’s anywhere near enough to get people hooked long-term. They can’t string Kick-Ass 2 out forever, surely?… By all means, give the first issue a try. As I said, there are a lot of story pages in there, a smattering of articles and you might enjoy the stories if you've not read comics in a while.

Movie Review – The A-Team or “It’s like the Losers, but not as smart”

Having languished in Development Hell for over a decade, arguably the most wanted 80’s revamp hits the big screen in the middle of the Summer Blockbuster season. Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley (District 9), Quinton Jackson (MMA fighter) and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) take the reins previously held by George Peppard, Dwight Schultz, Mr T and Dirk Benedict. They all certainly look the part, as you can see from the poster:

They’ve not reinvented the wheel here; at its’ heart The A-Team is a very daft, loud, brash bit of nonsense for two hours. While it’s true that the original show was pretty basic and unfeasible daft, I feel that  just aping that feeling is a bit of a waste of time. In this day and age viewers have come to expect more from even their most basic action flicks and, unfortunately, this is where I felt the film was a let-down.

The TV show always started  with a voiceover before the credits and iconic theme tune, explaining that the team had been convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. In this film, we see these events in detail and follow the team as they try to clear their names. The plot is accurate to the spirit of its’ TV predecessor in that it’s wafer-thin and doesn’t stand up to close examination. Framed by the obvious, moustache-twirling bad guys, Hannibal and co stage a pretty impressive series of escapes and try to unravel the conspiracy. Quite why it takes them so long, when the audience are likely to be facepalming at their stupidity, escapes me.

Cooper and Copley are the highlights of the film, ace-ing  the roles of Faceman and Murdock. Cooper’s Faceman is a smart-ass fixer and ladies man. He’d have been the guy dealing in black market chocolate and nylons for your grandma in WW2. He’s Hannibal’s second in command but he’s very much his own man, not just a yes-man. Sharlto Copley continues to impress in only his second starring role. His performance in District 9 was great and there’s more evidence here that he’s able to provide a wide variety of styles and personas on screen. Murdock’s mania is funny and unpredictable but never overdone. In fact I was never quite sure whether or not he actually was mad, or just acting like it for one reason or another. Damn good pilot too.

The other half of the team are less impressive. Jackson is stretched about as much here as Mr T was in the original. He stands around, looking mean and occasionally punching/kicking someone very hard. Liam Neeson seems to be part Qui-Gon Jinn, part Hannibal Smith. He certainly LOOKS like Hannibal, but the character has some very Jedi homily moments which don’t seem to fit with the breakneck action sequences. Neeson actually looks bored. When delivering Hannibal’s catch phrase “I love it when a plan comes together” I felt like he was going through his to-do list in his head, the delivery is that flat and lifeless.

In terms of pure action at least, the film does dazzle. The trailer has already spoiled the parachuting tank sequence, but it’s still one of the highlights. The jailbreaks and the initial heist are very clever. Shades of Ocean’s 11/12/13 in the imaginative methods used. the CGI effects are nice enough but suffer form the common problem nowadays of looking TOO good, and as a result, less believable, paradoxically. this is especially true during a sequence at a dockyard, late in the film. Crazy to find fault with effects being too perfect, but that perfection takes away the suspension of disbelief I had. The Spider-Man films are another good example of this.

Clocking in at roughly 2 hours, The A-Team could have done with some tighter editing to keep it shorter. Had it been 90-100 minutes, I think the film’s shortcomings might not have been exposed so glaringly.

Yes, the van is in the film. Yes, the old school theme is heard several times and yes, it is still cool. There are blink and you’ll miss them cameos form two of the original actors but my favourite in-joke is subtle enough that many will miss it, but those who clock it will smile: While in the hospital, Murdock watches a film with the other patients. The actors names that show on the screen during the film’s intro sequence are all characters from different shows played by the actors from the original TV series. Reginald Barclay represent!

It’s a no-brainer film, silly, funny in parts but unnecessarily long.  See it if you still have fond memories of the original but bear in mind that The Losers did the same thing much, much better earlier this summer.

Comic Reviews 1/7

Well, this week DC took us back to the future but also brought an unnecessary revamp to an icon, Marvel took us to Mars and Image started a war in space. Quiet week, then…

Justice Society of America 40

Wow, here’s a good lesson in how NOT to wrap up your previous year’s worth of stories. This issue sees the climax of the recent Fatherland arc and ties up a lot of the threads that Willingham has been working with for the past year. Unfortunately, this wrap-up involves a big ol’ continuity reset button, retroactively re-writing the past 12 issues. In 22 pages. Right…

Willingham writes Fables, arguably one of the best new books of the past decade and consistently engaging, yet his work on Justice Society of America has been remarkably underwhelming and lacklustre. The sheer fact that he’s used Nazis as the villains, (Nazis!) shows a real lack of ideas. That’s not the best start on what was one of DC’s biggest selling team books. These characters and this franchise are one of my favourite things about the DCU but under Willingham’s stewardship, they’ve seemed bland and uninteresting.

Artwise, Jesus Merino continues to do a good job of detailing the action sequences and the quiet moments. He’s yet to develop a distinctive style of his own, showing glimpses of a lot of other artists. I think a year or two from now, he’s going to be a great artist, but right now, he’s functional without being exceptional. I hope he takes the step up.

It’s a good issue to jump off the title, written as if Willingham isn’t coming back after the two month crossover with Justice League of America. As I said above, that’s probably not a bad thing.

Batman Beyond 1 (of 6)

Wooooo! A new mini-series continuing the adventures of Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future in Warner Bros “Batman Beyond” cartoon from 1999-2001. As part of the animated DC universe, Batman Beyond shows a futuristic Gotham that, for all its’ progress, still suffers from the same kind of urban crime that plagues it during Bruce Wayne’s tenure as the Dark Knight. Now an elderly recluse, Bruce provides Terry with the high-tech suit and Batmobile he uses to great effect i protecting Gotham from an ever-present number of wackos and supervillains.

This mini-series is set after the end of the animated series, but before the revelatory Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue”. Adam Beechen, who has experience of teenage heroes and Gotham from his tenures on Teen Titans and Robin, gives a great first issue. We’re shown the city, the relationship between Bruce and Terry and a mystery villain starts making his presence felt. Ryan Benjamin’s art is very fluid, but his faces are a little too manga for my tastes. The colour palette used here is interesting too, a lot of glowing greens and blues from the neon metropolis, or areas bathed in a red glow from emergency lights.

The pacing works extremely well here, giving us a good cliffhanger that makes me eager for the next issue.

Secret Avengers 2

Ed Brubaker continues to write Steve Rogers, former Captain America, in as many books as possible (this is his third currently ongoing series featuring the character). Leading the equivalent of the Avengers’ black-ops team, Steve and co go to Mars to investigate why contact has been lost with a research dig on the planet. Leading light of Marvel’s cosmic characters, Nova, has previously been dispatched and also gone radio silent.

It’s strange reading Brubaker write such and out of this world tale, involving alien planets, alien artifacts and mystical mind control. I’ve enjoyed his urban tales such as Criminal, his superhero work on Captain America and the grey area between on Sleeper (nothing to do with the lovely Louise Wener, sadly). Seeing him write and plot this story is a real sea-change for his usual content.

While I'm a big fan of Brubaker’s work, I really find it hard to read a book with Mike Deodato on art chores. His style is very dark, faces  seem to only have two expressions, deep consternation or wide-eyed surprise, and everyone stands like they’re posing for a statue. Seriously, It may sound like I’m being excessively harsh here but, in my opinion, his art REALLY doesn’t suit Brubaker’s writing or these characters. His design for the group’s aircraft is clearly the bastard lovechild of an Imperial Shuttle from Star Wars and the SDF-1 from Robotech. Yay for originality, huh?

It’s nice to see him use Nova, Beast and the current Ant-Man. They’re all interesting choices for an Avengers team, especially Nova. I’m indifferent towards Valkyrie and War-Machine right now. Actually I’m struggling to understand why an Asgardian warrior maiden with an attitude problem is even on the team. Unless she’s supposed to the team “Wolverine” what with him being unavailable due to already being on 4(!) different teams. Black Widow fits the team’s mission statement and Brubaker’s written her extremely well in Captain America for the past 5 years.

I’m looking forward to reading the end of the first arc before I decide if I'm sticking with the title. If I do continue reading, i sincerely hope there’s a new (read: better) artist in the wings.

Invincible 73

This issue continues the “Viltrumite War” storyarc and begins the actual war proper. the issue takes place over several months, with the scene shifting back and forth between Invincible’s convalescence on an alien world, watched over by his father and half-brother, and Allen and Tech-Jacket’s efforts with the Coalition of Planets to defeat the Viltrumite Empire. It’s not quite a filler issue, as there are some plot developments of note here. It does however suffer form the same faults that blighted issue 60 of this series: Lots of stuff happens off-panel, or in only one or two panels, and it deserves way more page time.

We get some nice bonding between Omni-Man and his son Oliver, now kid Omni-Man back on Earth. Having not seen him since he was a baby, Nolan’s reactions to him ring true and sound like a father eager to make up for missing out on his son’s childhood.

Allen and Tech-Jacket borrow a leaf out of the “Han Solo Guide to Avoiding Lasery Death in Space” (Good book, I recommend it, perfect for a scruffy looking nerf-herder like me) before leading the effort against the Viltrumites. A lot of battles and campaigns seem to take place out of the readers view, which is a shame as there’s plenty of scope for good stories there. A mini-series please, Mr Kirkman?

Ryan Ottley’s art is awesome as usual. Crisp, expressive, characterful and conveys motion and impact extremely well. I would love to see him on a book at DC or Marvel, but would hate to see him leave this book. :-S

Oh and Battle Beast returns. Roar, I say! Roar!

Movie Review – The Losers or “What if Shoot ‘Em Up and The A-Team had a kid together?”

The Losers is a bit of a weird one, based on the comic of the same name, it is nowhere near as dark as its’ source but manages to be fun, snappy and highly enjoyable nonetheless. Starring a solid array of actors, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba and Chris Evans, the movie is a 90 minute action flick that it’s hard not to love. Even in the scenes where no-one’s shooting or blowing anything up, it keeps its’ momentum and moves on with no sections dragging.

Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) leads a US Special Forces team consisting of Roque (Idris Elba from TV’s The Wire) his second in command, Pooch (Columbus Short) the team’s transport specialist, Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) the taciturn Hispanic sniper and Jensen (Chris Evans) the wisecracking wannabe ladies man who serves as tech and comms officer.

When we first see them, the team are in Bolivia to laser designate a drug baron’s villa for a bombing run. Just as they call in the airstrike, the team spot a bus-load of schoolkids being unloaded at the villa to serve as human shields. Clay aborts the airstrike only to be told by a mystery voice that operational control were aware of the kids and don’t care. Clay smashes the designator to force the incoming jet to target by sight and buy the team enough time to rescue the kids. This choice doesn’t go over well with the mystery man so as a result the team are framed for an atrocity and marked for death. That’s the first ten minutes or so. They cram in a lot of action in this movie.

While the comic did feature some great interplay between the characters, the dialogue here is equally sharp and quick-fire but can be more light-hearted at times. While not ostensibly played for laughs, there are some genuinely laugh out loud lines and moments, often provided by the film’s villain; Max.

Arguably the biggest departure from the comic, Max is literally a white cat short of being a Bond villain here. From the locations we see him in, to his master plan (heavily modified from the original), he is ironically enough, perhaps not quite as sinister, evil and calculating as his two-dimensional inspiration. Jason Patric makes him a great villain and delivers some of the film’s most killer lines with a flair that almost makes you like him for his dark sense of humour. Personally I find there’s two ways to make a screen villain memorable, either: Make him sympathetic to the audience to a degree by justifying his actions so that the viewer can understand their actions even if they don’t agree with them OR make him wholly immoral, cruel and intelligently wicked. Look at Alan Rickman’s turn in Die-Hard or Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Chris Evans, as the team’s tech expert Jensen, steals the movie. While less combat focused compared to the rest of the team, Jensen’s moment in the sun comes when he infiltrates an evil corporation (Aren’t they always) to get a cipher the Losers need. The rest of the team are almost entirely absent from this sequence with the exception of Clay’s voice in Jensen’s earpiece and Cougar’s welcome cameo at the very end.

If there is a weak point in the film, it’s that Zoe Saldana is functional without being exceptional as the film’s sole significant female. I get that this has been packaged as a very macho, testosterone driven action film, but the Aisha we get here is not the dangerous stone-cold killer from the comic book. Maybe the director thought she’d threaten the guys or undermine them.

There’s some nice visual flourishes in The Losers, whenever the location changes we get a sweeping vista with the location name layered on top, in a manner reminiscent of the way Zombieland showed you the post-zombie apocalypse rules. Certain scenes will shift to slow-mo when there’s a particularly difficult jump, or a long-range sniper shot. I think this is what Michael Bay could be like if he wasn’t quite so over the top.

The film still works well, but I did find myself wondering what a more faithful adaptation would have been like. The possibility of a sequel exists, not least because one of Max’s plans is briefly mentioned but never explained during the film, although The Losers didn’t do great guns at the US Box Office and that more than likely hurts its’ chances. Go see The Losers, it’s 90 minutes of fun dialogue, great action sequences and you’ll be hard-pressed to find another film so unrelentingly kick-ass this summer.

Comic Reviews 13/5

Apologies, I know these are late, both last week and this were big weeks for comics in terms of quantity and quality, happily enough.

And… Here… We… Go! (Comic Movie Reference, kudos to the first reader to email the film title to me)

Birds Of Prey 1

Gail Simone and Ed Benes re-launch the title they collaborated on several years ago. After Gail’s unfortunate departure from Wonder Woman (Bringing an end to arguably one of the the best runs on the character, up there with Rucka, Jiminez and Perez) she’s come home. BOP traditionally features an all female main cast, operating like Charlie’s Angels under the direction of Oracle, the now paralyzed former Batgirl.

Gail’s given each of the main three women a very distinct voice: Oracle’s the controlled one who still struggles with being removed form the front-lines. Black Canary’s fierce but with the wisdom her experience has given her, not as headstrong as other heroines. Huntress is still angry, still impulsive and still more likely to aim her crossbow at something vital than the other two would like.

Over the years, under Gail’s stewardship, the ladies of the BOP have developed and grown very credibly. Huntress has calmed a little, Oracle’s opened up a little and Canary has accepted her role as one of the senior heroines and role-models of the DC universe.

The rest of the cast is the gloriously wild Lady Blackhawk, a time-lost WW2 pilot who looks like she should be on a cheesecake pin-up shot, albeit with a pair of nickel-plated automatics in her hands and the returning duo of Hawk & Dove. The last two are a curious addition, not least because Hawk is a guy. Hey, who let a dude in the clubhouse?! Hawk and Dove are avatars of War and Peace, respectively and have both come back from the dead. Quiet where these characters are going to fit in the BOP, I’m not sure and I’m curious as to how Gail’s going to make me care about them. I’ve always been apathetic about them, bordering on dislike.

Looking at the art now, Ed Benes work is light years better here than his turn on Justice League of America where it was over-inked into oblivion. The lines here are thinner and while not as clean as his earlier BOP work, still retain the fluidity, sense of motion and cheesecake-without-excessive-exploitation that made him such a big name to begin with.

This first issue sees Oracle put the band back together to track a mystery villain who’s threatening to expose the superhero community’s secrets unless the Birds stop him. That’s it. We have no further information on the mystery villain, or even if it IS a he. The issue ends with the Birds trying to prevent the Penguin’s murder at the hands of the White Canary (Who I’m guessing is Lady Shiva…), a new villainess wearing a negative version of Black Canary’s outfit but with the lower half of her face masked.

It’s a good start, it feels like Gail never left the book which, given the less than stellar nature of the previous volume after her departure, is no bad thing. These are characters that existed for decades before Gail wrote them, but who she has made into her own creations. Birds of Prey looks set to be another success for the creative team, bravo!

Booster Gold 32/Justice League: Generation Lost 1

I’m reviewing these together as A) They both feature Keith Giffen co-writing, B) They both feature Booster Gold “The Greatest Hero You’ve Never Heard Of!” and C) They cross-over at the end of Booster Gold 32.

Giffen & DeMatteis return to write Booster’s adventures in his ongoing title, having previously written him in the Justice League titles of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the critically acclaimed Formerly Known As The Justice League and I Can’t Believe It’s Still Not The Justice League a few years ago. While they’re famed for what many see as an irreverent take on superheroes, the pair have written some extremely strong tales with a lot more maturity than their critics might admit.

Taking the reins after Booster’s creator, writer & artist Dan Jurgens, finished his recent run on the title, Giffen & DeMatteis give us a neat “done-in-one” story that continues the premise of Booster being a time-cop, a la Sam Beckett from TV’s Quantum Leap, diving into the past and future to ensure events play out the way the universe needs them to. During this issue’s mission: Booster fights a classic Legion of Super-Heroes villain, saves a young girl, brings her back to his base of operations to save her life and discovers that Max Lord the man who murdered his best friend, is alive. Hold on tight, it’s going to be a wild ride…

I was pleased to see Chris Batista on pencils here, I never read the Steel series he worked on but I really liked his style on 52. I find it to be clean, crisp and is just as good at portraying widescreen action sequences as it as facial expressions and close-ups. I’m hoping that the writers will bring back some of the more notable JLI-era opponents for Booster to tackle as I’d love to see Batista handle Despero or the Extremists.

Justice League Generation Lost is a bi-weekly title featuring the surviving heroes and heroines who joined the Justice League during the Giffen/DeMatteis era: Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and in the next issue or two; Rocket Red and Blue Beetle. Following on from the return of Max Lord, all the heroes of the DCU are searching for him. Max’s last plan involved mind-controlling Superman, so they’re understandably worried at the thought of Max being loose. Captain Atom, Fire and Ice track a nuclear weapon in Yemen while Booster is sidelined by the League as they question his objectivity should he find Max first.

Following up a lead, Booster does find Max but is bushwhacked and left for dead while Max executes his Keyser Soze moment, in  a bathtub full of ice with a lot of IV blood on standby. Booster manages to call for help and is found by the other three, battered and bleeding. As other heroes arrive, the four heroes are worried to realise no-one else knows who Max is. He’s used his telepathy on a global level to force everyone to forget he exists. Quiet why the former-leaguers are immune hasn’t been revealed yet, this is only part 1 of 26!

Aaron Lopresti brings the same art skills he showed to great effect on Wonder Woman here to a team book. Similar in style to Batista’s work on Booster Gold (deliberate move by DC Editorial?) it’s clean, fluid and great at conveying expression and feeling.

The issue is solid, a good introduction to the characters and the plot, each character gets a page or two dedicated to themselves showing who they are and why they’re relevant here, before the story proper takes over. I’m a sucker for this era of the Justice League. From the characters to the dialogue, I loved it. To now have the same characters together again and being co-scripted by Keith Giffen, this is a book I’ve been excited about ever since it was first announced months ago.

 

Super-Short Reviews

So much came out last week, I’ve had to bump some books from full reviews to shorter ones:

Siege 4

The endgame of Bendis’ masterplan for the Marvel Universe over the past 5 years reaches it’s climax. There are no surprises here, everything had either already been spoiled or was obviously coming. Pretty pictures and some typically snappy Bendis dialogue. At least you didn’t have to read the tie-ins to understand it all.

Sentry: Fallen Sun

SPOILER WARNING – The Sentry dies in Siege 4, he gets hit in the face with the HAMMER Helicarrier, then Thor drops Mjolnir on him and fries his ass with lightning and just for good measure throws him into the sun. His funeral shown here is weird, Rogue reveals she had an affair with him(!) and the Fantastic Four wax lyrical about the Sentry’s finer points, glossing over the fact he was a drug-addled, wife-beating crook with a split personality. Glad to see the back of the Sentry but depressed that the foundations for his return are seemingly laid here.

New Avengers Finale 1

This book reads like an epilogue to Siege and the New Avengers series that closes here. Standing amidst the wreckage of Asgard, the Avengers round up those villains who took part in the assault and attempt to track down the Hood who commanded them. Pretty pictures from Bryan Hitch, much better than the scratchy stuff he turned in for Captain America: Reborn last year. Cheeky price point for a book with so many splash pages but worth a read.

Comic Reviews 6/5

As promised a week or two back, I’m reviewing some books that are outside the usual super-hero titles from the Big Two I normally stick to.

First up from DC’s Vertigo imprint is I, Zombie…

I, Zombie 1

Roberson and Allred launch a new ongoing series, hoping to be the next big hit. Vertigo have the evergreen Hellblazer and the frankly fantastic Fables, but have been short on significantly successful ongoing series since the finales of 100 Bullets and Y: The Last Man.

This series is set in Eugene, Oregon, where the supernatural and the extraordinary are a lot more common than the general population think. Gwen, our protagonist, is the titular zombie and works as a gravedigger. To keep her undead hunger at bay, and retain her personality, Gwen has to consume a human brain once a month. Fortunately, her job gives her illicit access to (relatively) fresh human brains whose owners won’t notice them missing. Gwen’s circle of friends includes Ellie, the ghost of a young woman who died during the 1960’s and Spot, who is a were-terrier(!). Gwen seems to have little to no memory of her life before her death and runs whenever she sees anyone she recognises but can’t remember why.

Also in the first issue, we meet two mysterious agents for “The Corporation” who appear to be on a mission to eradicate any undead they find and we find out that the local paintball venue is staffed by a femme fatale vampire. As Gwen eats this month’s grey matter, she gets flashes of the dead man’s life. His memories overlay on top of her own and she feels driven to solve the mystery of his death, so that he’ll find peace.

Allred’s art is a good fit for the book. He’s got a real knack for facial expressions with a frugal style. There’s no wasted lines, but it never feels spares or simplistic. As an intro to the characters and concept, this is a great issue. There’s a good balance of introductory exposition and plot development. The cliffhanger is good enough to make me want to buy the next issue, which is the idea really.

GI Joe: Cobra II 4

IDW Publishing re-launched the GI Joe franchise a little under eighteen months ago, choosing to ignore the long-standing Marvel continuity and the Devil’s Due continuity that followed on from it. By starting from the ground up, IDW have added some new twists to what could otherwise have been a very formulaic and clichéd concept. The core book of GI Joe was joined by GI Joe: Origins, spotlighting individual members of the team, and GI Joe: Cobra, which was arguably the biggest surprise and most satisfying read.

GI Joe: Cobra (Hereafter GIJC for brevity’s sake) starred a Joe agent codenamed “Chuckles” who was dispatched by his commander to infiltrate a terrorist group and try to discover who was bankrolling them, if the urban myth of Cobra was true. Chuckles differs from the rest of the Joes shown in the franchise as he’s not squeaky clean, not even close. He’s picked for the mission due to his being able to see the grey areas that others within the group might not.

Christos Gage’s plotting is extremely good and light years away from the gung-ho style of storytelling that Chuck Dixon is pursuing in the main GI Joe title. If you tell someone that the villains of the piece are a terrorist group whose footsoldiers are all named after various ophidian creatures, they’re going to laugh at you. Somehow, Gage has made Cobra into a credible terrorist threat. He shows you the financing side, the subtle destabilising efforts they apply to nation-states, not just the paramilitary action sequences. He makes the characters more than just moustache twirling pantomime villains, giving them more depth than they’ve ever been given previously.

The art is similarly a world away from the more traditional style on the main book. Here, everything is very stark, almost minimalist by comparison. Facial expressions are very effective and clear but never over-stated. The use of shadows and close-ups work is also very well done.

This issue was supposed to be the end of the second mini-series exploring Cobra from Chuckles’ point of view, but the series has proven to be such a success that it is being made into an ongoing. This issue ends with a helluva a cliffhanger, leaving our “hero”, such as he is, face to face with the most notable absentee from the current Joe series. While I’ve long since stopped reading the Origins series and am losing patience with the main book, GIJC has still got me hooked and eagerly awaiting the next issue every month. Plus, Howard Chaykin covers! Wooo!

Movie Review – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or “Why are films based on video games so bad?”

I was lucky enough to get to attend a press screening of Disney’s new film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Mark Kermode was 4 seats away from me. Total geek out.

Coming from Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, this is hoped to be the start of a new franchise to follow up on Pirates of the Caribbean. Now I’m not a big fan of the Pirates trilogy, but I can’t argue with the massive amount of cash they took at the box office and later at retail.

Based on the more recent Prince of Persia video games, rather than the old school originals, this film follows the adventures of Jake Gyllenhal as Dastan, 3rd in line to the Persian throne. Unwittingly taking a magic dagger as a trophy, Dastan is forced to go on the run for a crime he didn’t commit. A bit like the A-Team, but with baggy silk trousers and no guns. Accompanying him is the Princess Tamina, charged with guarding the macguffin. Gemma Arterton performs a very similar role here as she did in Leterrier’s recent remake of Clash of The Titans.

The film suffers badly from an atrocious script with some very clunky dialogue, needless exposition that treats the audience like idiots and direction that seems deliberately geared toward making the film feel wooden.

The pace is pretty solid, moving from scene to scene fluidly with only minor drag points but some effects let the film down by appearing a bit TOO perfect and therefore seem less real. The sequences when Dastan uses the sands of time are nicely realised, but the face of the time-shifting character looks too obviously CGI. I was pleased that the soundtrack stayed suitably relevant and appropriate to the setting, as opposed to going down the nu-metal road.

One of my biggest issues with the film is that while it’s based on a video game, it shouldn’t feel like I’m watching the video game being played. If it does, then what’s the point? By all means, dramatise the story from the game and recreate one or two iconic action sequences from the game but don’t make it the same. Game these days have so much attention paid to their storylines and cut-scenes, they’re almost interactive films as it is. Making a game into a film can seem like reinventing the wheel.

Still, it’s comforting to see Hollywood continue with the proud tradition of “We need an evil duplicitous villain, get me a British actor” In this case, Sir Ben Kingsley, who puts in a suitable if unspectacular performance as Nizam, the Persian king’s Vizier and brother. Alfred Molina also appears in a semi-Jack Sparrow role as a roguish bandit. He gets some funny lines but they feel out of place in what is otherwise a fairly po’faced film.

I’ll be very surprised if this film does well at the box-office after the reviews I’d expect to see in the press. The story is facile and lacking in surprises, the direction has resulted in some wooden performances from the two leads. It’s going to go over well with kids and those seeking an undemanding bit of fluff, but when you’ve got films like Iron Man 2 coming out, A-Team et al, and you’re hoping to kick-start a franchise, you’ve got to be a bit better than this.

Comic Reviews 29/4

Due to Mother Nature’s Icelandic Indigestion, the weekly comic shipments went right up the spout. Obviously a week without comics was the most significant and traumatic impact of the ash-cloud-induced flight ban.

This week’s trip to the store resulted in a rather bumper haul but I’m not going to review all of them, don’t worry. :)

Siege: Secret Warriors

This one-shot, tying in to Marvel’s current blockbuster event book Siege, focuses on Alex/Phobos and his reaction to the death of his father Ares in Siege. Written by Jonathan Hickman, the writer of the ongoing Secret Warriors book and Fantastic Four.

Yes, that’s Ares as in the God Of War. One of the better additions to Bendis’ Avengers team, Ares was killed by the Sentry during the battle for Asgard. His adolescent son Alex has recently accepted his powers as Phobos, God of Fear and joined a group of underground heroes fighting a black-ops style war against various organisations trying to control the world. With me so far?

Alex sees his father’s death via a news report and decides he needs to have a quiet word with POTUS over his handling of things. The rest of the issue is split between Alex making the entire Secret Service look like the keystone cops, and Nick Fury and Captain America catching up water-cooler style while they fight the villains attacking Asgard.

The issue would have been better served, in my opinion, by focusing wholly on Alex. This issue was unlikely to be bought by those not already reading Secret Warriors and they’re familiar with Alex’s relationship with his father, his acceptance of his godhood and the struggle he has with being a human boy AND a god. the banter between Fury and Cap feels out of place. Too jokey and relaxed given the circumstances of their reunion and current situation.

Alesandro Vitti’s art has echoes of Jim Calafiore, but avoids the very square, “blocky” feel that Calafiore’s art sometimes has. While his style is very different to the art in the ongoing Secret Warriors book, he suits the tone of the story well and conveys a great sense of motion and energy in the action sequences.

All in all, not an essential tie-in to Siege, and not as involved as I’d have liked, but maybe Hickman’s going to follow up on Alex’s grief and anger in the regular title.

Victorian Undead 6

As the title subtly states above, this is Wildstorm’s “Sherlock Holmes Vs Zombies!” book, and also the last part of the mini-series.

Fairly sound premise really: Take Holmes and Watson, mix in Zombies and a touch of Happy Shopper League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and you get Victorian Undead. A book that never matched its’ potential despite the core idea being intriguing.

Ian Edington has recently been working with Dan Abnett on Wildstorm’s main superhero line, but here he flew solo. Maybe I’m being too harsh; the book is fun, although the plotting in the last couple of issues has been pretty loose and a bit questionable at times, with some revelations and explanations seeming to come out of left-field.

David Fabbri’s art is a tad cartoony at times, but if you remember the early issues of The Walking Dead with Tony Moore on art, you know that zombie comics can work perfectly well without the art being  gritty and realistic. Carrie Strachan’s colours are great here and a key component in setting the tone and atmosphere of the scenes. While Fabbri inks his own work, he is sparing with the blakc and this, coupled with Strachan’s colours, gives the book a very soft look which works well.

As a denouement to the series, it’s an unsatisfying conclusion stealing parts from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and leaving a very clear “To be continued” cliffhanger that doesn’t make sense. A nice idea for a series but one where the premise’s potential was never quite matched by it’s execution.

Transformers: The Last Stand of The Wreckers 4

Ok, you probably know that Transformers involves the Autobots, aka the good guys, versus the Decepticons, aka the bad guys. The Wreckers are the Autobots’ black-ops/special forces unit. All the hardest and most badass characters wash up here. Except Grimlock, but that’s because he’s actually too awesome, enough for the Wreckers. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly wrong. Clear? Good…

Anyway, this mini-series has one more issue to go and the pacing has been spot on so far. The Wreckers have been dispatched to a formerly Autobot-controlled penal colony to quell a riot led by one of the Decepticons’ primary chaos-bringing, hell-raising, ass-kickers; Overlord. Overlord has turned the planet into one massive sadistic gladiatorial combat. offering escape form the globe to anyone who kills their way to the top of the pile. The Wreckers go to this planet to retrieve any surviving Autobots (None found so far) and something called “Aequitas”.

Things, predictably, went pear-shaped early on in the series; they were forced to crash-land and split into three groups running for their lives, trying to complete the mission before they are hunted down and killed. This issue finds the team leaders being tortured while one group tries to find and rescue them and the other group locates Aequitas. We’re given the “revelation” of what Aequitas actually is but it’s a bit vague and not quite the game-changer it had been hinted at. There’s the suggestion that there are more secrets to be revealed in the next, final, issue.

As is usual for any Wreckers story, there are casualties. Normally you expect the no-mark redshirts to die, but there are one or two deaths here that came as quite a shock given how long the characters have been around.

Nick Roche’s art is supported by the gigolo-named Guido Guidi (Honestly, how is he not working his way through Miami, leeching off rich older women and working in porn? With a name like that it must be a legal requirement!") and they both put in a fantastic job of giving the angular, metallic protagonists a large amount of character, expression and emotion. Don Figuerora, artists on the regular Transformers ongoing series, could learn a  LOT from these guys.

Green Lantern 53/Green Lantern Corps 47

Normally I’d avoid combining reviews but these two issues serve as coda to the Blackest Night crossover within the context of the respective series. Dust settles, wounds bandaged, life returns to normal and new storylines are set-up.

The Green Lantern issue focuses almost entirely on Hal Jordan and his relationship with his ex-long term beau Carol Ferris. While Hal’s powers derive from willpower and expressions thereof; Carol’s come form her love for Hal and allows her similar abilities to him as a member of the Star Sapphires. They have a heart to heart during a jet fighter race and are interrupted by Sinestro, currently observing a truce by the letter of the agreement, if not quite the spirit. As Hal, Carol and Sinny (as I like to call him) head off to look at a White Lantern, Atrocitus, leader of the rage-fuelled Red Lanterns meets with two Green Lanterns. The GL’s in question are Guy Gardner, another human GL and Ganthet, previously one of the ancient Guardians of The Universe but now a GL. They want Atrocitus to go with them on a mission of some import that Guy feels will destroy his friendship with Hal.

The Green Lantern Corps issue features a wider cast and reads as an issue, rather than an extended conversation like Green Lantern did. Tomasi is great at managing his large cast, giving everyone some page time and adding some nice character flourishes. Following Blackest Night, several of the senior GL’s have decided that the Guardians need to be held to account for their behaviour in recent months. Their inaction, secrecy and arrogance has cost untold lives. As Kyle, Guy and Arisia confront the Guardians; Kilowog the GL Drill Instructor, makes a decsion on his future and a GL makes a big sacrifice for his partner.

A much better issue than Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps covered a lot of ground, aligning the various cast members with the next step for them and the Corps. Tomasi’s leaving this book shortly to write the spin-off Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors starring Guy and Kilowog. It’ll be a shame to see him go, as he’s got a great handle on the group dynamic, the characters’ voices and a knack for pacing. Thankfully, although Tomasi is leaving, Pat Gleason is staying on as penciller. Gleason’s been consistently one of the best artists in DC’s creative but has never achieved the superstar status of his less prolific and tardy colleagues.

Blackest Night Director’s Cut 1

Blackest Night Director’s Cut is a bit like a DVD bonus disc for the recently finished crossover. With pages and panels of the series highlighted here by writer Geoff Johns and penciller Ivan Reis, it’s reminiscent (intentionally I would imagine_) of Wizard magazine’s Kingdom Come commentary of about, ooh, ten years back.

It’s pretty good reading, showing little details you might have missed, or elaborating on points that never got the page time they would have liked. There’s some script pages for an unused sequence or two.

The back half of the book is a collection of the character concept sketches for all the resurrected Black Lantern versions of heroes and villains seen throughout the main Blackest Night series and the ancillary tie-ins. Some nice pictures but a bit “meh” once you’ve seen them.

The content here is likely to be included in the series hardcover so unless you’re desperate for it, I’d skip this for the time being, especially seeing as it’s a $5.99 book! I really must check the prices on things before I get to the till…

Also in the bag this week were two hardcovers: Flash Rebirth and Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol 5. Will comment on them later.

Movie Review – Hot Tub Time Machine

Last night I caught a screening of Hot Tub Time Machine, the forthcoming comedy starring John Cusack and Rob Cordry. I’d seen the trailer a few months ago and thought it looked amusing enough, Cusack’s generally reliable and Cordry’s very funny on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”. When someone describes a film to you as Back to The Future meets The Hangover, then it’s got to be worth a viewing.

I was sold on the movie from the title alone. You’ve got to be either insane, or have amazing faith in your film to give it such a blatant and unsubtle name. But in the spirit of Ronseal, it does what it says on the tin: It features a hot tub which is in turn also a time machine. Set the macguffin up early and let things roll.

Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robinson) are called to the hospital after one of their old friends, Lou (Rob Cordry), is admitted following a suspected suicide attempt. (He’s drunk, and starts mashing the gas in his car as if it’s a drum pedal, while in his garage and fumes ensue) All three of the guys are a far cry from where they felt they would be at this point in their lives. The big four-oh has come, gone and none of them are happy. Adam has been dumped by a woman so evil, so unutterably terrible, that she even takes his TV when she moves out. Nick is working in a dog grooming parlour, and longs for a day-job that doesn’t involve canine proctology. Lou is a fading party animal; divorced and looking for the next big night out.

At the hospital’s suggestion Adam and Nick take Lou, along with Adam’s nephew Jacob, back to the ski resort they used to visit when they were teenagers for a weekend of beer, babes and (in Lou’s case) barbiturates. Upon arrival though they find that the resort has suffered just as badly, if not worse, than their lives have. Crispin Glover, who you should remember as George McFly from Back to The Future, gets a nice cameo turn as the hotel concierge. After the first night bemoaning their situations, the guys wake up in the eponymous hot tub and head to the slopes.

Jacob starts fading in and out of reality as the moment of his conception seems to become less and less likely. His mother was a young lady of, well, “flexible morals” at this point in the past (I think that’s a polite way of saying she was a bit of a slut, don’t you?) and had never been able to tell him who his father was. Given that the time travellers are: her brother, a large African American and Lou, I don’t think the revelation of his parentage is exactly a massive twist, although exactly how and where is pretty funny.

As the truth of their situation dawns on them, that they’ve come back in time into their younger bodies, the friends decide they can’t change anything and must do everything the way it originally happened in case they change the present. Only one problem; this is the weekend that everything began to fall apart for them and they made the choices that led to their unhappy future. As they friends start trying to relive their past choices, knowing that they’re to blame for their present-day unhappiness, they each decide to make a change.

So not the most surprising of films, few comedies are anyway, but one that delivers some good laughs. A nice balance of gross-out humour and more wryly observed deadpan material (Mostly delivered by Cusack) keeps the film out of Farrelly Brothers territory and much nearer to Kevin Smith’s later films such as Clerks 2.

There’s a pretty cool 80’s throwback cameo that I won’t spoil for you here, but seeing them again is fun and they look like they enjoy the small but important role they get. The soundtrack is also nicely retro, featuring Poison and a host of either mid 80’s rock. No really huge tracks, but they’ve picked songs that are representative of the era. Cusack gives his usual performance of a man seemingly laconic about things but simmering under the surface, about to boil over. He’s a less lethal Martin Blank here. Craig Robinson plays a similar role to the one in Zack & Miri Make a Porno and Rob Cordry channels Will Ferrell’s Frank the Tank, with a slightly darker core.

I think Hot Tub Time Machine is very much this year’s Old School; a fun movie that while not exactly serious, does have a bit of heart to it under the laugh out loud jokes. It’s not going to change your life, but it’s worth your time. A bit daft, a bit silly and a lot of fun. Unless you’re a squirrel.

An Insight Into My All-Time Greats

As some of you may, or may not, know; I’m often a bit of a heretic when it comes to epic comics and graphic novels.

Traditionally there are four or five big ones that get quoted by the mainstream media and comic “experts” of both the down-the-pub and actually-in-the-industry variety. Watchmen, Maus, Killing Joke… They always crop up and everyone nods sagely, agreeing that these mighty tomes exemplify all that is great and good and wonderful about the funnybook industry.

While I fully agree that such opinions are entirely subjective, I find that the books I feel are the best examples of comic books, are sometimes those slightly off the beaten track.

So, in the first of a series of blogs about over-looked and hidden gems, I present DC Elseworlds – The Golden Age… (Currently in print as JSA: The Golden Age)

Written by James Robinson (Before he wrote Starman, the greatest series of all time, no arguments please) and drawn by the massively talented and now rarely seen Paul Smith, this 4 issue mini-series explored what happened to the heroes and heroines of the DC Universe in the aftermath of the Second World War. Many retire, some carry on the fight, some marry, some divorce but through it all, the feeling of where American society was at that time, shines through. While many heroes choose to give up the life behind a mask, a little known hero by the name of Mr America returns from the war and becomes a national hero, having assassinated Hitler. As he gains the government’s trust, he avoids the HUAC hearings that force his contemporaries to walk away into obscurity and starts to build his own team of super-powered heroes.

There are several plot strands that weave through the series, ultimately linking together and revealing quite the conspiracy.

Taking the insignificant sidekick Dan The Dyna-Mite of a the almost equally insignificant hero TNT, Mr America harnesses the new atomic age to remake the young man into Dyna-Man. The new hero, shown on the cover above represents the new future for America; bright, colourful, powered by atomic energy but as with all tales, there’s a price to be paid and a dark heart.

While the second half of the story does delve into some very over the top scenarios, bear in mind that those kinds of tales were de rigueur in the pulp novels and comics of the time.

As the conspiracy gathers pace, lines are drawn and the retired heroes choose sides and a final confrontation looms.

Whilst ostensibly labelled as an Elseworlds (DC’s alternate realities line) there is little to correct in order for this book to fit into their established continuity. In fact, there are a lot of elements in this book that are carried over to Starman and the characters there. He gives the heroes and heroines of the 30’s and 40’s very modern issues and problems, from marriage troubles to exploiting their abilities for personal gain. He also captures the social tone, with it still very much being a world where men were men and women were in second-place. As the series progresses over a period of months/years, things do change, attitudes soften and eyes are opened, not just to the conspiracy but society’s progress.

Paul Smith’s art is perfect for the book too. He captures the sense of hope in the post-war America, but manages to convey the dark underside equally effectively. The colours used pop off the page, with heroes as bright primary coloured beacons of hope and villains and their deeds suitably shady and grimy-looking.

There was originally supposed to be a sequel by the same creative team, called, unsurprisingly, The Silver Age. This however never came to fruition, but I feel Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier serves as an excellent companion piece.

Go take a read, let me know what you think.

Comic Reviews – 15/4

Apologies in advance for the rather DC-centric feel this week. I didn’t pick up many books and the few that I did bring home were all from DC. I’ll make it up to you with an all-Marvel or all-Image week soon…

The Flash 1

This re-launch of the Flash title, the third such attempt in the last 5 years, has the returning Barry Allen in the driver’s seat. Barry was arguably comicdom’s first saint, having willingly sacrificed his life to save the universe in DC’s 1985 mega-crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. DC have seen fit to resurrect a character who, to me at least, was far more interesting as an icon and legend for others to live up to than as a character in his own right. To me, Barry Allen holds no lure and the DC editorial attitude towards the other characters who populated the Flash universe in the 25 years since Barry’s death is a rather dismissive “Barry is the Flash, if you want to read about the Flash, you’ll be reading Barry Allen”

ANYWAY, my personal annoyance aside, what did I think of the issue? I liked the art from Francis Manapul but it’s quite different to the style he used on Legion of Super-Heroes a year or two back. He’s done the art entirely himself so there’s a very soft, pencilled feel to everything, not a lot of heavy inking. Colouring has always been key to the Flash title and this still needs some work. it’s a little too soft and washed out, almost. Shame as there’s potential for some really great pages from Manapul on this title.

Geoff Johns, DC’s go-to guy for re-launches and sales figures, is hoping he can emulate the critical success his previous Flash work garnered and outstrip it in terms of sales by quite some way. I do get the feeling of “Seen it all before” with the book. Not really due to the plotting itself, more the manner of Barry’s return and the way ahead for him. I suspect this will follow the Green Lantern formula that Johns pulled off so well; main title, supporting book for the 2nd tier characters in the franchise, eventual crossover for the two books as part of a franchise-centric event…

As an introductory issue, this doesn’t work. There’s no re-cap of Barry’s origin or background, no mention of the other speedsters of the DCU and no real explanation of why he does what he does. Assuming your readers are up to speed, pardon the pun, is lazy especially with a first issue. Bad form, DC, Bad form.

Brightest Day 0

Spinning straight out of the recently concluded Blackest Night mini, Brightest Day is a fortnightly book looking at the 12 characters resurrected, seemingly at random, at the end of Blackest Night. While the Un-deadly Dozen don’t interact much with each other, one of the returning heroes, Deadman (Got to think of a new name for him now) finds himself visiting each of the others, observing them in a ghostly form. It’s a nice issue, with Fernando Pasarin’s art being similar enough to Ivan Reis, that it does feel like a continuation of Blackest Night.

The issue is pure set-up, showing us what the returnees are doing, where they are, physically and mentally, and giving us hints of stories to come. Because there’re so many threads in the book, some are more interesting than others. I can’t say I care for Firestorm, Captain Boomerang, Hawk or Aquaman’s stories so far. Wait and see, I guess.

The segment I found the most intriguing was the part with Maxwell Lord, a mind controlling sociopath who wants to save us all from superpowered beings, whether we want him to or not. He tries to use his mental powers on a huge scale, seeking to erase the world’s memories of him and the things he did in the years prior to his death. As Max comes from the hallowed period of justice League history that featured Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner et al, I’m in this for the long haul.

Booster Gold 31

Dan Jurgens signs off on his most recent turn at steering the adventures of his signature character. Booster Gold is the timecop of the DC Universe. Using his initial demeanour of being a purely financially motivated bozo to his advantage, Booster patrols time and prevents anyone attempting to change the past or even try to create particular futures.

Jurgens came onto the book after a run by Geoff Johns (Yes, him again…) and never really matched the same pace. No slight to Dan, his arcs have been functional, if a little unspectacular. His art is still the same Jurgens style that made him such a hit on Superman back in the 90s, great for splash pages and covers but somehow high velocity motion isn’t communicated as effectively as it could be.

This issue serves as a coda to Jurgens’ run and wraps up most of the loose ends, giving Booster some detente with his sister and reaching an understanding with Rip Hunter, his time travelling boss. These character moments come against the backdrop of Booster stopping a gang of heavily armed robbers and an unexpected casualty of the fight. By the end of the issue, Rip has helped Booster prevent the death, giving the issue a neat “happy” ending of sorts.

One moment that does stand out is a brief mention by Booster of a plot point in the (Bloody fantastic) Formerly Known As The Justice League mini-series. In that series, Booster was married to an older woman called Gladys in order to have a comfortable life, albeit one where he had to wear his costume while performing his duties, as it were. Now, in the context of that series, that moment was funny, a little wrong and what you’d expect from Giffen & DeMatteis. Jurgens carries some pent-up anger at them for the way they handled his creation and that he’s being taken off the current book so they can take over. Booster mentions Gladys and writes it off as a prank he played on Blue Beetle. Really? That’s what you do? belittle another writer’s work by pretending it didn’t happen? For shame…

Secret Six 20

I love this book. Really love it. Gail Simone’s dysfunctional band of anti-heroes have a bit of internal strife as Catman’s infant son is threatened and he goes off the reservation to get him back.

The dialogue in this book and interplay between the members of the Six is the reason why this book is always top of my reading pile. Deadshot and Catman have a great relationship. They act like they don’t care for one another but continue to watch each other’s back and keep them out of trouble. Bane, no longer the ’roid-raging Bat-spine surgeon, has a protective father/daughter relationship with Scandal who can’t believe A) how he talks to her or B) that she lets him get away with it. Ragdoll still manages to get the best lines though. As a surgically tidied-up (I’m being polite…) contortionist with severe deviancy issues, he shouldn’t be funny. He really shouldn’t, but he continues to lighten the mood with inappropriate comments at the worst time. I can relate to that.

As Catman goes on his rescue/revenge mission, Bane insists that the team continue to fulfil their contracts. Scandal, Deadshot and Ragdoll refuse, saying that Catman needs them more than their clients. With the team split in two, Deadshot admits that the reason he wants to help Catman is that while he has done bad things before, Catman has never crossed that last line of deliberately and wilfully killing someone, just to see them suffer. Deadshot wants to save his friend from that.

While the uber-awesome (look her up, she was a supermodel AND draws comics, it’s like Weird Science and someone made the ideal woman!) Nicola Scott was the artist on the book originally, her shoes are being filled by Jim Calafiore at the moment. Catman is starting to look more and more like Josh Holloway, maybe it’s just Calafiore’s art but I swear I can almost hear him saying “son of a bitch…”

Read this book, it’s a guilty pleasure of sorts, seeing as how the “heroes” are all extremely violent people who’ve killed before and probably will again, yet the fact remains that this book has more characterisation, better dialogue and more action than most books currently out there. It’s a mask’n’capes version of Andy Diggle’s excellent The Losers.

How’s Who, or “How I learned to stop missing David Tennant and give the new guy a chance”

Well, we’re now 3 episodes into the new series of Doctor Who. We’ve had a present day episode (ish… more on that later) a far future episode and one set during the Second World War. The first episode appeared to be set on Earth during the present or recent years and featured a lot of seemingly innocuous details that will prove to be relevant later on. The second episode took us into space in the far future where England had escaped Earth’s destruction by way of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, carried around atop the back of a giant space whale. I love how this is a show where characters have to say lines like “It’s a giant space whale!” with a straight face. This week’s episode was the new Doctor’s first clash with his old nemesis, the Daleks. They had infiltrated the Second World War as automatons for the British Army, but as always, things started to go pear-shaped and the Doctor had to stop them. Again. More set-up during this episode and a very obvious “This isn’t over” ending suggests that the overall arc of the season is pretty tight.

I have to admit, I’m rather impressed. Matt Smith’s appointment as David Tennant’s replacement was not greeted with universal cheers. If anything there was a lot of nay saying and anger from fans that he got the role in the first place. Many felt the rumoured Patterson Joseph (Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere and Johnson in the ridiculously funny Peep Show) should have snagged the role.

I had doubts as to his suitability, I’m not going to deny that at all, but having now seen him in action, I think he was a good choice and I was wrong. He’s aped Tennant successfully in a number of scenes but still managed to be his own man. Two things need to go: the outfit and the catchphrase. Seriously, he dresses like a maths teacher from the 1940’s, bad form… The “Geronimo!” catchphrase is equally cringe-inducing. Goes to show that if the only real issues I have with him are his sartorial choices and a naff catchphrase, then he must be doing something right.

Now, the new companion, Amy Pond played by Karen Gillan. Yum.

Let me get this straight, new companion is early-20s, long red hair, legs that go for miles, totally unable to wear trousers and the first time we see her, she’s dressed as a policewoman stripper? Hah! Suck it, Rose Tyler! Amy Pond FTW! Is this what is was like for my dad when Leela joined Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor in her skivvies?

There’s something not entirely right about Amy, it’s looking like she’s going to be key to the overall season arc and finale. Mysterious, and identical, cracks are appearing in reality wherever she goes, she has no memory of the Daleks’ various shenanigans in her alleged era of origin and the Doctor can’t work out why. Not yet anyway. Young Miss Gillan HAS signed on for the next season so at least we’re relatively confident that she’ll survive.

Moffat has set his showrunner stall up early and well. He’s given us three distinct settings in three episodes, made the new Doctor every bit as entertaining and unbalanced as his predecessors and started a nice little mystery. Coming up we’ve got the return of the Weeping Angels, the Doctor’s future wife River Song, Cybermen, Silurians, Vampires and doubtless the return of the new Daleks.

On that note, the new Daleks are now colour-coded for your convenience. Honestly it’s like a Power Rangers cruet set… They are larger, meaner looking and altogether more imposing. I have to say the slightly Beyonce/J-Lo rear end is a bit odd, I keep imagining one of them going on X-Factor and barking it’s way through “My Humps”…

Right, must dash, need to compile my feelings on Leterrier’s recent Clash of The Titans remake.