The Comic Bloke’s Review Block #4 – 3-24-06
By: Chris Delloiacono
Before I get to the reviews this week, I want to address a concern from several readers.
It’s true, I don’t like what DC Comics is doing and for that matter I think the incessant mega events coming from Marvel suck too. I’m a longtime comic fan that recalls with extreme clarity the dark days Marvel and DC unleashed on the industry the last time there were dozens of variant covers and plentiful crossovers with no substance.
Eventually people got sick of the endless hype and the fans departed in droves. I don’t want to happen again. I see many parallels in the present day releases from the Big Two, and more than anything, it’s become harder for smaller press comics to find a place on the overloaded racks in comic shops.
I feel strongly about these things and I’m going to voice those concerns.
Some people seem to have the idea that I look down on other people for reading and enjoying these events.
Not true! In fact, that’s nonsense.
Read what you like and enjoy what you read.
Who am I to look down on people for what they like, The Brady Bunch is probably my favorite television show ever.
That’s all. Let’s get on with what turned out to be a weak week on the Block.
X-Factor #5
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Dennis Calero
Colorist: Jose Villarrubia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The Madrox miniseries was one of the finest comic stories last year. Hardboiled detective tales with heaps of noir both in writing and art are hard to find in the world of sequential storytelling, especially from Marvel. There wasn’t anything else on the shelves like it. I was eager to see more stories in that vein in the new X-Factor.
Unfortunately, X-Factor is nothing like Madrox. Oh, Madrox is there and so is the detective agency, but this has morphed into a series exploring the mutant condition and the numerous changes brought on by House of M.
This issue is a decent character piece centered on a whacko that was formerly a mutant. The characte’s not one of the players from the book and this issue’s nothing more than the former mutie’s ramblings on how the world has forsaken him. I for one didn’t care about the character, so the dimwitted take on Phantom of the Opera presented within fell flat.
What the hell is going on?
When’s the hardboiled noir version of X-Factor going to hit shelves?
This isn’t what I signed on for.
I feel like I’ve been baited and switched.
The only improvement in this issue from the previous is Dennis Calero doing the art solo. The visual appeal of X-Factor tripled now that we’ve moved beyond the Ryan Sook/Dennis Calero mishmash in the past few issues.
Improving artwork aside, one more issue like this, and I’m gone.
Score: C
Nextwave #3
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciller: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Publisher: Marvel Comics
I picked up the “Directo’s Cut” of issue #1 last week and found it refreshing if a bit light on well, anything of value. I decided to grab issue #2 this past weekend and it closed out the initial storyline with foul mouthed, raunchy, superhero ass kicking aplomb.
And sometimes, that’s all I’m looking for.
I love the fact that Warren Ellis is doing two-issue arcs. That’s beyond cool.
This third issue starts the second arc. We’d be at issue #18, minimum, if this was Brian Michael Bendis’s Nextwave.
Ellis uses his time wisely. He centers on a crooked cop for seven pages before tying the plotline into the main course of Nextwave vs. the Agents of H.A.T.E. Ellis goes from setup right into balls out full frontal action.
If irreverent superhero mayhem is your thing, you’ve got to try this out. Ellis’s script is hilarious and Stuart Immonen clearly is reveling in the big time action set pieces. These pages turn themselves!
It’ll be interesting to see how long Ellis and Immonen can keep up this pace.
Score: B – Chip of the Week!!!
The Incredible Hulk #93
“Exile” Part II
Writer: Daniel Way
Penciller: Carlo Pagulayan
Inker: Jeffery Huet
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Publisher: Marvel Comics
You know, doing a riff on Spartacus (Gladiator won a Best Picture Oscar doing it) isn’t at all original. Placing the action on an alien world doesn’t somehow make it art.
Well, I guess technically it does, this is a comic book after all.
That’s not what I mean. I’m talking “Art,” you know in the grand sense.
Planet Hulk is just Spartacus with a grunting green guy.
Come on, you all know this one.
The Hulk is an outsider that becomes a gladiator and inspires the masses–it’s been used dozens, if not hundreds, of times before in film, books, and comics.
Nothing original, at all.
I give credit to Greg Pak, because he’s made the past two issues readable, which is big step up from the wretched previous arc. Those four issues (now known as Prelude to Planet Hulk amounted to the titular character smashing a space station, repeatedly.
The only other thing happened in those issues was three bucks left my wallet each month.
At least now Pak’s making a vague effort at characterization. Admittedly, Pak’s got very little to work with. Literally, there’s nothing left to do with the Hulk. Great creative minds, most especially Peter David, did it all with Bruce Banner in the last forty-odd years. Borrowing or riffing on other stories and calling it a major event seems to be the new way to go with the character.
Anyone remember The Incredible X-Files: Featuring The Hulk that ran for about a zillion issues?
Much like Star Trek, The Hulk should probably go away until someone decides to do something original. Does Superboy have a punch for that?
I can’t believe there are twelve more parts to come!
If there things don’t take a positive turn soon I‘ll drop out long before the finish. That’s coming from someone that’s read every single Hulk comic there is.
To sum it all up, so far, Planet Hulk is a ****ty action story with no heart and a paint by numbers script. Think Speed 2.
Score: D
Testament #4
“The Valley of Siddim”
Writer: Douglas Rushkoff
Artist: Liam Sharp
Colorist: Jamie Grant
Publisher: Vertigo > DC Comics
The further it goes the less likely Testament is going to be the next great Vertigo series.
To be blunt, that’s not even a possibility anymore.
The book’s ridiculously obtuse and there’s no point other than to retell Biblical stories in the modern day. The world Rushkoff is creating is the same bland dystopian future that’s been spit out dozens of times before. Frankly, last yea’s Ewan McGregor film The Island had more depth.
I guess originality isn’t a prerequisite when you’re adapting the most popular book in history.
Ruskoff’s said nothing new since the first issue, and it’s not a’ tall interesting. The characters are bland, cardboard cutouts offering nothing fresh. The story is trapped inside a bland shell of Biblical nonsense that’s like a lousy version of The Matrix directed by David Lynch.
That’s not doing it for me.
Finally, may I ask why Liam Sharp illustrated Abraham (the Biblical standard) as an over pumped Barry Bonds when he takes his shirt off?
What the frig is that?
To be fair, besides Abraham’s wrestler bod, things look superb artistically.
I guess blandness can make you regurgitate. In any event, I’m punting this mess to the curb!
Score: D – Cow Chip of the Week!!!
Iron Ghost #6
“Geist Reich”
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Sergio Cariello
Colorist: ATP Colors
Publisher: ATP Studios > Image Comics
Leave it to Chuck Dixon to weave a satisfying tale set outside the modern era. Dixon has pulled off many well researched historical pieces during his career. With Iron Ghost, set against the backdrop of the last days of Hitle’s Nazi Germany, Dixon has crafted another successful amalgamation of history and fiction.
The mini concludes with the motivations of the Nazi killing Iron Ghost fully explained and the villains of the piece brought to justice. Dixon’s story remained gripping from start to finish. It never elevated itself too far beyond The Shadow in Germany, but in that it worked surprisingly well.
Sergio Cariello made Dixon’s story possible by doing his research and bringing to life the crumbling Nazi Germany. I’ll be anxious to see more from Cariello now that this mini is finished.
As much as I liked the series, I’m not really interested in further adventures of the Iron Ghost, at least not for the time being.
Score: B
Catchin’ Up:
Local #4
“Two Brothers”
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Ryan Kelly
Publisher: Oni Press
DMZ was my introduction to writer Brian Wood. Eventually I plan to pick up his critically acclaimed DEMO, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet. What I have caught up on is Local.
Brian Wood has shaped a strong premise. Each issue moves to a different city and centers on an almost entirely new cast. The only carryover is a young woman, Megan. What’s remarkable is that Megan’s not always a major character. She was little more than a background character in issue #3. Local is about relationships and realistic interactions. It’s a tremendous fit since Wood’s greatest strength as a storyteller is stimulating dialogue.
Megan’s in Missoula, Montana this time out. She picks up a hitchhiker, and we all know how bad that can turn out. She ends up mixed up in a truck stop encounter between two brothers, with a long, long history. The interactions and dialogue are sharp and the drama is fantastic.
Ryan Kelly makes the dramatic tension between the dueling brothers work from panel to panel. There’s a bit of action in the story, but it’s mainly driven by the dialogue. Kelly and Wood fashion the perfect balance. This is a small press book you absolutely need to go out and get!
Score: B
Kick to the Bollocks:
Who else but Isaac Hayes deserves this week’s kick to the bollocks?
As I stated in an e-mail to friends this past week:
Can you believe it, there’s bigotry and intolerance on South Park?
Hayes is one patient man. He cashed ten years worth of checks before the intolerance was too much for his fragile psyche to handle. He’s full of sh**.
At least his songography will always contain “Chocolate Salty Balls.” No matter what he has done, or does the rest of his career, even that Academy Award for singing the theme to Shaft, it all pales in comparison to that one little ditty. And that’s what he’ll be remembered for most.
Hayes used to be in on the joke of South Park. Now he is the joke.
Swack!
Contact me at acegecko@comcast.net if you want to talk comics, have a book you’d like me to review, or just to bitch.
Bloke’s done. See ya next Friday!
