Leave Your Spandex At The Door 2.13.03: Rants & Reviews

Has it really been a month? Well, to be frank, it’s been quite over a month, as this column was mysteriously absent from last week’s inventory, since health problems and pending exams at university had eaten away my previous free time. I’m back this week though, in full strength and with a new pile of comics! I picked these babies from my comics shop earlier this week and I’ll give you my views and rants:

Pick of the week: Y the last man #7: part 2 of the new “cycles” storyline. Consistently the best read from Vertigo every month! Unless you don’t know to read there’s no excuse for not picking this title! The arc continues with a fast rate, adding new characters to the cast and pitting the main protagonists in a new locale that seems ripe with mystery. Yorick, Agent 355 and Dr Mann find themselves in the suburban heaven known as Marrisville. Although the town may at first glance seem idyllic, there are hints aplenty that the townswomen are harbouring a dark secret I can’t begin to guess at. The clues to the puzzle are laid out before us, and there’s a great time to be had exploring possible scenarios. On the art front, Pia Guerra continues to develop as an artist, and it’s intriguing to watch her progress through this series. In this issue she is experimenting more with shadows and her facial structures seem more bold and edgy. An interesting detail: in the sequence where Yorick meets the women of the town we see several shots of gathered women from different angles, and it’s obvious that Pia has gone through the pain of creating separate looks for each one of them and placing them in specific positions in relation to each other, making for very consistent storytelling. Her best strength though seems to be, oddly enough, the portrayal of bleeding women. This issue’s opening splash page is every bit as bloody and haunting as the corresponding page of #5. Bloody kudos!
Story: 9
Art: 9
Overall: 9

Lucifer #34: part 1 of “Come to Judgement”. After the full-year storyline of Lucifer’s version of “Dante’s Inferno” with three interlocking storylines, this issue marks an ideal jumping-on point for new readers. Most of the issue is spent introducing a new member to the rich cast of Lucifer: detective Solomon, sent from Above to investigate the death of Elaine Belloc. I found his personality and concept intriguing and I think it won’t be long before he branches out on his own. The rest of the issue is spent catching-up with the rest of the title’s cast and their current endeavours, so the issue doesn’t provide a solid story, but a collage of scenes. The true pull for me was the art as Peter Gross is once more at the top of his game. I had become a fan of his work during his early issues of Books of Magic, but I felt disenchanted with how his style had evolved during the last two years of his run. Since coming on board Lucifer his style has continued to evolve and has gained an impressive level of detail and depth. Most notable are the opening scene at the cemetery (with the chilling portrayal of Elaine in her coffin and then the mournful backdrop of the surrounding gravestones) and Gaudium’s airplane ride over the ocean.
Story: 7
Art: 9
Overall: 7

Wildcats #3.6: an issue in-between arcs, closing up the mediocre opening arc and setting the ground for the following storyline. We get a look at how the impact of the Halo Brand in the media, we check up on Dolby and Garfield as they settle in their new positions while the three blonds (Jack, Cole and Wax) talk incessantly about left over baggage from the previous issues. The only scenes of interest to me were the “Halo Effect” documentary and Jack’s interview with a poorly-disguised Larry King. Still the whole set-up is stretching my suspension of disbelief since I would have expected the introduction of “everlasting” batteries to the mass market would cause more ruckus than this. I expected Wall Street company stock plummeting, industries closing, their workers on protest, etc. So far we have seen some lukewarm reactions from congress and the media, but nothing more.
Story: 6
Art: 6
Overall: 6

Catwoman #15: part 4 of 5 of “Relentless”. Relentless is shaping up as my favourite storyline in this title. The concept is classic and often-tried. The Black Mask, East-End’s crime boss, has discovered Catwoman’s secret identity and has slowly and methodically taken his revenge on her for stealing his diamonds, by attacking those nearest to her. As of this issue, he has either captured or hospitalised all of her loved ones, but Selina has finally caught on to his plans and is preparing for a counter-attack. Cameron Stewart continues to impress with his cinematic storytelling abilities and the clever camera angles he uses. Catwoman has been a very panel-heavy title since its relaunch and Cameron has proven he can handle the reins of this title, relying on the style set by Darwyn Cooke in the first issues. The only problem seems to be when the scene calls for a dark setting, like in this issue’s torture scene, where I couldn’t clearly make out what was going on through the art. Can someone email me and tell me what exactly did the Black Mask force-feed Maggie? (if it was indeed what I thought it was, I don’t understand how this book managed to get Code Approval)
Story: 8
Art: 8
Overall: 8

Agent-X #7: This is Gail Simone’s last Agent-X issue, although you couldn’t really tell by reading this issue, since there’s no clear indication except for a witty play of words in the issue credits. This run has been a mixed bag for me. Although Gail Simone is one of my favourite writers, UDON’s art was never to my liking and I don’t think the two ever blended together properly. In a small way I’m glad this run ended so Gail is free to take up new projects with different art teams. This issue is a stand-alone story introducing Shameful William, who may very well be the most original new character of the year. What makes him stick out from the rest is his tendency to get aroused by everything around him. The concept of the character in itself is hilarious, but the execution on page blunts it and the related gags, with the bathtub scene being a prime example. The script and dialogue imply that William is aroused sexually when he eats Alex’s candy, but the setting of the camera in the scene provides no nuances to it, and the gag goes unnoticed. I wasn’t expecting a marvel comic to feature frontal nudity, but there were surely ways to hint at the going-ons under the belt through the art…
Story: 7
Art: 3
Overall: 5

X-StatiX #7: part 2 of Moons of Venus. The Milligan/Allred X-Force relaunch was in my opinion the best title of 2002. After the relaunch into X-Statix I felt that the title lost a lot of its edge and had swamped a bit. Thankfully, the last few issues have been a return to greatness, with Mike Allred providing his best work to date (including some breath-taking splash pages) and Peter Milligan once more refocusing his energies on character interaction, biting media satire and injecting a hefty dose of unpredictability into the story. This new storyline focuses on Venus and Guy. Venus is pretty much on every page of the book, as she has taken Edie’s place as the leading female protagonist of the comic, just as she is also slowly taking Edie’s place in the team and in Guy’s heart inside the story. On the other hand, Guy himself hasn’t appeared for more than 4 pages total in the last two issues, but his presence is felt throughout, mainly through “Bad Guy”, a masked villain who claims to be Guy turned “bad”. The mystery of who is behind the Bad Guy mask is the driving force of this issue as Milligan once again toys with our perceptions throwing clues and red herrings at every turn. The last three pages turned all my assumptions around and the cliffhanger makes the 30-day wait ‘til the nex
t issue truly unbearable…
Story: 9
Art: 10
Overall: 9

Since I don’t have enough space to review all of this week’s titles, I’ll give you a quick run-through with a few words for each one:

Ultimates #8: The opening action scene is a true marvel to read, and it feels like it’s taken straight out of a summer blockbuster (or Matrix Reloaded, as many have noted!). Definitely worth the looooong wait between issues.
Grade: 8/10

Uncanny Xmen #418: The issue is split between the X-men’s inane fight with mutant werewolfes (yawn) and the soap opera theatrics that take place in the Institute’s most frequented room: the infirmary. Kia Asamiya has yet to convince me he’s “all that”, but he at least deserves credit for some of the most stylistic xmen costumes in years.
Grade: 7/10