Leave Your Spandex At The Door 5.17.04

Archive

Welcome to the 32nd instalment of Leave Your Spandex at the Door! I’m sorry if column updates have been a bit on the sparse side, but I’ve been busy preparing for a major online launch, that you will learn more about soon.

Before we move on to this month’s PreviewScope, I’d like to give a shout out to our U.K. readers. Dave Graham and I will be attending the Bristol Comics con, in two weeks, staying there for the full 3 days of festivities. If you’re a 411fan and are planning to be there, drop me a note through email.

This month, trusty ol’ Dave Graham is here, with Previews at hand, to help me stir through the dreaded Sea of Solicits â„¢. Dave Graham is a 411comics reviewer and an aberration of nature, so his words inexplicably appear in bold on your screen, while good old Manolis will uphold the long-standing regular font tradition.

So, Dave, what’s cool in July?

DARK HORSE

BMW FILMS’ THE HIRE #1 (OF 6) .
I can’t say that this idea of corporate sponsorship – or what is in actual fact a 32-page advert – in comics fills me with glee. But the concept behind this (a series of comics with a running theme produced by different creators) does sound intriguing. Matt Wagner is the man behind this first issue. That’s cool. Corporation-sponsored comics. That’s not so cool.

DC COMICS

DC UNIVERSE

JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE #1 (OF 12) .
I’ve got little interest in the JLA, even less in a spin-off. But it appears that this is one of DC’s big things this month, so I guess I better comment in some way. The idea of a less idealistic and more ruthless team in the DCU could be fun, and Mahnke & Nguyen are solid creators, so this may be an interesting little project. Not one for me though.

Hey it’s an un-boring Justice League line-up! They deserve a standing ovation just for that! I loathe the big-guns JLA approach that Morrison initiated, this is a turn to the right direction. Plus, it’s Mahnke, I just can’t get enough of his gritty style!

JLA #101-102.
Chuck Austen and Ron Garney begin their bi-weekly storyline on JLA musical chairs. From what I can tell, these will be self-contained over-arching stories featuring the JLA members dealing with the fact that they can’t save everyone. Superman fails to save another superhero and the Flash fails to save children from a fire. Sounds too depressing, actually, I don’t feel like picking this up at all…

BIRDS OF PREY #69-70.
Birds of Prey goes bi-weekly for the next 3 months, featuring a Huntress-centric storyline! This book has had the most consistently eye-popping covers the last few months, and the tradition continues with this stunning Texeira cover! But what goes on in that second one? Is Helena trapped inside a Harley?!?

Erm…yeah, could be. It certainly doesn’t look like a position that you’d want to be in.

DOOM PATROL #1.
A John Byrne series…Hmmm. Nope I’m not going to go for any Byrne bashing here, but I will say that the previews pages provided here don’t fill me with hope for this series. The artwork feels somehow dated (and not in a cool retro way), and the dialogue feels very forced.

Byrne has shown glimpses of return to greatness through his most recent work in JLA. Maybe there’s still hope. His 1st attempt of an ongoing series, Lab Rats was mercy-killed early on, after a complete lack of reader interest. I like the Claremont/Byrne pairing in JLA, but I don’t think I’m up for solo Byrne action right now. Especially not with the Doom Patrol. Mark this as “money best spent on Wonder Woman and Morrison Doom Patrol back issues”.

BATMAN: THE ORDER OF THE BEAST.
I love these Batman prestige format tales. And this one is fully painted by Eddie Campbell! This one sees the Batman investigating a mysterious Order looking to bring a ruler for England. And check out them previews pages. Cool.

CATWOMAN: THE MOVIE.
Given the general attitude towards this “Catwoman” movie it’s only fitting that Chuck Austen does the comic adaptation. I’m not one of those Austen bashers, I think he’s done some good X-Men stories (alongside some awful ones), but will he make us all want to rush out and see the movie?? Doubtful.

Although I have great love for the Catwoman comic and all of her previous TV and movie versions (helloooooo Michelle!), this movie (and by extension, this adaptation) leaves me indifferent. And I won’t comment on Chuck Austen’s writing as of late, I like him too much as a person… Maybe next month.

DC COMICS PRESENTS.
There’s no doubt that Julius Schwartz was a great man in the field of comics. Now after his passing DC is paying tribute to him by producing a series of comics in the style that he was involved with. There’s some great names involved, and all of these will be worth checking out.

The editors have chosen different covers from Julie Swartz’s past book, and they have the most popular cover artists of today reproduce them. Then two creative teams on each title use the cover as the stepping stone to spin their own story based on it. I’m especially looking forward to the GREEN LANTERN and BATMAN issues. The former features GL selling power rings as a street vendor, and has Brian Azzarello as the first writer. The latter features 60s camp Batman as a couch potato, and features art by comics legend Carmine Infantino!

Gotta love a camp 60s couch potato Batman.

Y THE LAST MAN #24.
New storyline in Vertigo’s best ongoing in the last few years! In “Tongues of flame”, Brian K. Vaughan addresses what happens to organised religion in the wake of the great man-eating plague. Considering that the vast majority of the priests in most religions are men, I’m very intrigued by the angle Brian decides to go with this.

WILDSTORM

SLEEPER: SEASON TWO #2.
Speaking as 411’s #1 SLEEPER fan (in fact SLEEPER #1 was my very first 411 review), I urge everyone in the world to go out and buy this comic. Buy the trades of Volume one as well. SLEEPER really is one of the most well-crafted noir tales ever to grace comicdom. Want to know more??? Check out my reviews of nearly every issue in the 411 archives.

Nothing left to be said here, we should start making personal threats to all readers who are not picking up this gem.

VERTIGO

THE BOOKS OF MAGIC: LIFE DURING WARTIME #1.
Neil Gaiman writing Tim Hunter in a continuing series. What more do you need to know? Well, the fact that Gaiman isn’t in fact writing he’s “plotting” the first arc, then he’s acting as a “consultant” from then on. That isn’t to imply that the series will be any less good (I personally think it’ll be great – hopefully), but we’re going to see a lot of DC ads plugging Neil Gaiman. Just something to remember.

I was a huge Books of Magic fan back in the day, before the whole Nmes of Magic and Hunter business, but (in all honesty) I consider the opening mini-series as the weakest link of the original series. I don’t think Neil ever had a real grasp on Tim, not like Ney Rieber and Pete Gross did. And the premise here is so iffy. Great war of mystics? Adult Tim? No Molly either, I gather… Pass.

HUMANOIDS

THE TECHNOPRIESTS VOL.1 TPB.
Hopefully this collaboration between Humanoids and DC will be long-lived, as this stuff needs to be available to a wide audience. This series is a sci-fi sage dealing with a young guy trying to become a video-game designer. But it’s so much more than that. This is a great universe.

METAL HURLANT #12.
An anthology title – much like the recently moved to DC comic 2000AD – bringing some great work to the US audience. This issue sees a story from the team behind the great TEENAGERS FROM MARS, as well as some wide-ranging stuff from other less well known creators.

IMAGE.
FIREBREATHER VOL.1 TPB.
I make no bones about it – FIREBREATHER is one of my favourite minis of all time. The tale is about a young dragon half-breed trying to fit in the human world. It’s filled with humour and action, and bears a striking similarity to Brian Michael Bendis’ ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN both in content
and quality. Look for the next mini coming soon as well.

. FLIGHT GN.
I know next to nothing about this – other than the fact it’s a collection of short comic stories relating to flight in some way. But when I saw the solicit it made me take notice. There’s the beautiful cover, the four sample pages, and the impressive claim that it has stories inspired by the God that is Hayao Miyazaki and the man that is Moebius.

NOBLE CAUSES #1.
WOO! NOBLE CAUSES is back in all-colour and has got itself an ongoing series. The superhero soap-opera is one of the most wildly original comics currently produced, taking inspiration from nearly all super-hero books as well as daytime TV.

MARVEL

AVENGER DISASSEMBLED.
I’ve been a fan of the idea of the Avengers ever since I started reading comics. The idea of a team made up of individual superheroes was just so cool (and being a Marvelite, the JLA didn’t figure on my radar). But I haven’t bought an Avenger comic for the longest time – several years at least. No doubt it’s had good periods in that time, but that last time I read it regularly it had descended into boring drawn out stories that were too heavily centred on Captain America. So when I heard that a major shake-up was in the works I thought it was a good idea. Maybe now I could get back into the Avengers as a comic. And Marvel putting Bendis and Finch on point for this story was a great idea. Then I heard it was a crossover with the individual titles and I shuddered. I’m not against crossovers, and I see that these characters can’t exist as Avengers without their own comics as well, but can’t in all be told in one series with repercussion coming later in the in the individual books? Perhaps not. Speaking of which…why does Spectacular Spider-Man get included in the crossover? Ah, the Spider-Man 2 movie is coming out and Spidey needs to be in every comics. Or an I just being cynical?

AVENGERS #500.
Any comic reaching issue #500 deserves an event (even if the numbering policy of the company needs to be changed in order for the number to come up), and Avengers fans are getting an event – an event that may destroy the Avengers forever, or at least until the next retcon. But Bendis and Finch are creating so at least the comic will be readable whatever the outcome.

This is Marvel exploitation at its finest. Changing the numbering so that they can sell their big 500 issue, and then 2 months later, they will release (as already announced) the new Avengers (vol.4) #1, so they can cash in on another #1… I dislike this new “Marvel’s best-selling characters” vision of the Avengers, where Wolverine and Spider-Man are confirmed line-up members. An rumours of old favourites dying to make a splash don’t make me any more cosy.

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #17.
The best Spider-Man comic currently being produced (in the 616 Universe at least). Jenkins really gets inside the head of Peter Parker and crafts well thought out tales. But why on earth is this part of the AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED story? Apparently Spidey starts to mutate and it’s all related. Huh?!?

As noted, Spider-man is gonna join the Avengers in the coming months. This is probably set-up for that. Bah humbug.

Oh yeah. I forgot that Spidey was becoming an Avenger (blocked it out is more like). But why mess with what is the most grounded Spider-Man book? Surely AMAZING would be the best book to fold the Avengers stuff into. Anyways, hopefully Jenkins will work his magic and come up with a coherent explanation.

THOR #82.
Michael Avon Oeming is a creator that I keep and eye out for. After reading PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE from Image (a great tale dissecting the superhero/sidekick relationship) I became a follower, add to that his POWERS work and you know that he’s got style. Thor is another comic that I always enjoyed but dropped a long time ago, so here’s my chance to come aboard again. Just a shame it’s a crossover.

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE: AVENGERS 2004.
Mentioning this for one reason, the way that the solicitation text refers to the comic. You just know that a comic with the acronym of OHOTMUA04 has got style! Won’t get me to buy it though, I don’t need to read prose about the history of a character, that’s what the comics are for.

Something to note, from the solicit: “Over 20 character bios”. Huh? Who will make the cut? There’s been more than 20 members in the last 12 months alone! Last week’s X-Men handbook showed that Marvel is on to a good thing, providing detailed bios that actually introduce characters’ history to the reader and don’t just recap the last year. But they were strangely inclusive, ignoring characters like Angel and Banshee who have been around for decades now!

MAN-THING #1.
I was wondering when Marvel would tap back into their swamp monster property, with the feature film so close to release. The story is familiar: Ted Sallis is betrayed by his wife and falls victim to a freak accident involving the super-soldier serum. As Ted enters the swamp, the grotesque Man-Thing exits, and “Whatever knows fear, burns at its touch”. I’m still pissed at Marvel for axing the previous Man-Thing series two issues before its climax, leaving all those burning cliffhangers dangling, even though they had (and still have) the issues completed in their back-issue collection.. This new volume features new name writer Hans Rodionoff and horror comics veteran Kyle Hotz. This new series is lauded as a “prequel” to the movie, so I fear it will be an ultimatized version of the Man-Thing. I hope Marvel at least has the sense to reprint the classic Steve Gerber and Chris Claremont runs in time for the movie, and not rely solely on this new series…

Ah yes, a classic comics origin story. It’s odd though that this was picked as a movie property. I never read the originals, but I’m eager to read the Gerber run. As you say, hopefully Marvel will see fit to reprint them in time for the movie.

MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-MAN #4.
The first issue of this new Spider-Man series seemed to polarise the comics reading community. Some people thought it was great, other hated what Millar did with Spidey. Personally I thought the comic had potential, even though it wasn’t quite realised in the issue. Hopefully by this fourth issue Millar will have found his stride and he’ll be walking down Jenkins’ route with PP. On a side note – where did this comic come from? Did anyone ask for a Millar/Dodson Spider-Man comic? Was there a fan outcry demanding it? It seems a bit of a waste. But…movie soon…need more Spidey books!!!

Millar is going through his diva period, and who can blame him? Marvel will happily publish anything he or Kevin Smith or Bendis propose. Who can hold a grudge to Marvel though? The way Spidey sells through the roof right now he could potentially support even more ongoing series! 90s déjà vu!

VENOM VS CARNAGE #2 (of 4) .
What could be worse that a Venom/Carnage mini? Well, this issue sees Carnage having a baby! Nineties Marvel is back ladies and gentlemen. OR maybe not, as the writing chores are being handled by Peter Milligan. I hope he’s telling a tongue-in-cheek mick-take here

Didn’t Carnage have lots of symbiote babies during the 90s? There was even a video game about it. Have they been retconned along with baby May?

VENOM #17.
How is this comic still being produced???

Ignore it and it will eventually go away!

MARVEL AGE: SPIDER-MAN #7.
MARVEL AGE: SPIDER-MAN #8.
MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN VOL. 2 DIGEST.
MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN VOL. 3 DIGEST.
I picked up the first issue of MA:SM and the first digest. Needless to say the digest is the way to go here. It’s a great format with a great price point. I know that’s there a fan contingent that sees re-writing the classic Lee/Ditko stories as sacrilidge, but that’s not my point of view. Those comic were great, the stories are still great, and they should be told to each coming generation. But they are not relevant, dialogue and content wise. T
hey need updating for a modern audience in order to keep their attention. If Lee and Ditko’s plotting can live on, then it should. And as comics fans we should be pushing these MA books to every youngster we know.

I’m getting my cousin all the marvel age trades, I’m sure it’s the way to go. Isn’t it peculiar though, how the third digest will reprint issues 9-12, on sale next month?
And on another note, the third digest lists Patrick Scherberger, winner of CBR’s “Comic Book Idol” contest, as one of the pencillers! This is Patrick’s first stint with one of the Big Publishers, I believe. Good luck, Patrick!

MARVEL AGE: FANTASTIC FOUR #4.
MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 1 DIGEST.
Just like with MA:SM, I picked up the first issue of MA:FF and I’m now going to switch to the digest. This time it’s not just the plotting of Lee and Kirby, but the re-writing of Sean McKeever that is the pull. McKeever is a great storyteller, as witnessed by his excellent work on SENTINEL and INHUMANS (well, issues 1 and 2 of it at least). .

I enjoyed Inhumans till the last drop, man! MA:FF is my only McKeever fix now, till MJ is released next month. I like the writing here, but I’m a bit put off by the art. Still, it is light-hearted enough to compliment the surprisingly oddball early adventures of the team. Can’t wait till they travel in the past and the Thing becomes a pirate!!

X-STATIX #25.
It’s the penultimate issue of the X-Statix, as the questions fans have been asking for years is finally answered! Doop goes head to head against Thor, and only one will fly away unscathed! I dare not think how much I will miss this title after the next issue. L.

RUNAWAYS #17.
I said in a recent review if RUNAWAYS that there needed to be a major shake-up in the comic in order for it to survive. It had become slightly stale and had lost its edge. Well, it seems that I’m getting my wish as this issue sees a battle between the youngsters and their evil parents. RUNAWAYS is one of those modern comics that we need to see continuing to surprise and to stay fresh. Hopefully Vaiughan can pull it off – this comic has been too good to lose.

This is the first time I’ve heard anyone complain about Vaughan’s plotting being stale. We’ve been served with cliffhanger after cliffhanger since issue 1! And things seem to be fast approaching a roaring climax! How much more back-stabbing and betrayal does it take to satisfy your tastes, mate? sheesh! :-p

That’s the problem though, each issue is essentially the same. Cliffhangers work best when they’re unexpected. In RUNAWAYS we know that there’ll be one at the end of each issue, so there’s no surprise. It’s still a fun read, but I’ve got no connection to the characters or the story any more, like I had in the early issues.

ROGUE #1.
Didn’t Marvel try to get individual X-Men titles launched not so long ago? And didn’t they bomb? I wonder what’s changed.

90s déjà vu, remember? Still, Rodi is writing it, and his intentions seem sincere. Rogue’s previous two series had nothing to do with her. The first one was simply the sequel to Gambit’s mini. The second (by Fiona Avery, pre-Strazynski) featured a weird Nu Marvel amalgam of Evolution, movieverse and 616 Rogue that defied interest and continuity. Rodi promises to reveal rogue’s past here, and her real name. I’m quite fond of Anna Raven, to be frank (hehe), though. I hope they build from what Claremont had been doing with the character in the last year. It would be a shame to have it all go down the drain.

STARJAMMERS #1.
STARJAMMERS #2.
Can’t say I’ve ever read any Starjammers, but I love a good space-opera. And the pull of Kevin J Anderson (of ‘Dune’ novel fame) and Ale Garza is mighty strong.

Scratch that last part. Ale Garza is no longer attached to the project. Typical, I guess. Corsair is noticeably absent from the line-up, which is essentially an Ultimate Starjammers kinda thing. The new characters don’t seem promising, but at least old favourites Ch’Od, Razaa and Hepziba are still around and kicking!

GUARDIANS #1 & #2.
Here’s a comic that has an interesting concept. A group of kids help out an alien, convincing him in the process that they are the ‘Guardians’ of Earth. Then years later when they are in their twenties, the alien returns looking for their help in order to save the universe. That’s old-school pulp comics storytelling. That’s what I love. Marc Sumerak and Casey Jones create.

Isn’t this the announced relaunch of Guardians of the Galaxy? The premise sounds interesting indeed, but if it is indeed Ultimate GOTG…

POWERS #1.
POWERS #2.
POWERS: THE SELLOUTS TPB.
Does Brian Michael Bendis deserve what is essentially his own imprint (named ICON by the way)? Quite possibly. But what this means is that he’s got full creative control over POWERS (along with MAO of course) and it’s got the backing of Marvel now. Of course it’s never needed much pushing given the undeniable quality of the work.

KABUKI #1.
David Mack’s KABUKI is one of those comics that I’ve heard lots about but never actually read. This move to Marvel’s ICON imprint gives me a perfect jumping-on point to sample this opus.

See, I don’t understand this mentality. These comics have been around for a good long while, and word of mouth has been 100% dithyrambic. Still people had never considered picking up a copy to see what the buzz is all about. That is, until now, when they slap a Marvel logo on it, and essentially keep everything the whole package as is from Image. Both these projects got HUGE publicity from Image, both making the cover of their month’s Previews magazine. How much more publicity does someone need to take notice of these?

It’s a sad fact, but in the comic industry unless you’re being published by DC or Marvel (or you’re a licensed property with pre-comics recognition) your comic simply isn’t going to appear on the radar of a lot of readers. In lots of stores comics are even grouped by publisher, so if a reader is focussed in on Marvel or DC they might not even have seen an issue of POWERS before. There’s also the point that retailers automatically order greater quantities of comics from the big two, meaning that comics like POWERS can sell out to regular readers quickly in some stores, not leaving any copies for people to try. I know that I’ve rarely seen any issue on the shelves in my local store (actually now it’s my ex-local store, now that an excellent new one has moved in a few doors down).
Of course there’s also people with my kind of mentality who hate to jump into a series mid-stream. I’ve no doubt that this issue of KABUKI would have been a “jumping-on point” whether it came out of Image or Marvel, and if it was advertised as such I would have picked it up from Image. But simply because it was mentioned in the Marvel solicits made me actually read the blurb and find this out – if it was in the Image section I wouldn’t necessarily have read about it unless it had a big “Perfect for New Readers” somewhere on the page in PREVIEWS.
It’s not the way it should be, but it is the way it is. .
And great use of the word “dithyrambic” by the way. For those readers who don’t have a grasp of Ancient Greek, it means ‘enthusiastic’.

Why, thank you, Dave! We’re the column that informs, entertains and educates, all at once. :)

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Coming up next week: The return of a long-standing LYS@D tradition: the online petition!
As always, I’m waiting for your comments through email or in the official LYS@D discussion thread.

Manolis Vamvounis
a.k.a. Doc Dooplove

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ah, the good old Dr Manolis, the original comics Greek. He's been at this for sometime. he was there when the Comics Nexus was founded, he even gave it its name, he even used to run it for a couple of years. he's been writing about comics, geeking out incessantly and interviewing busier people than himself for over ten years now and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.