AMAZING FANTASY #20:
“Unnatural Selection, part 6” [back-up “The Steam-Powered Heart”]
Written by Simon Furman [back-up by Joe R. Lansdale]
Penciled by James Raiz [back-up by Byron Penaranda]
Inked by Rob Campanella [back-up by Norman Lee]
Published by Marvel
And now it’s dead, with not a bang or a whisper but complete silence. The cancellation of any comic book title these days is enough to make some people weep for the sanctity of a supposedly imploding industry (even though such panicked pessimism is completely misguided; the industry is merely evolving). The more realistic and grounded lot prefer to wallow in sympathy for the writers and artists involved with such low-selling titles, which conveniently forgets that anybody expecting instant success or any profit from working in comics is hopelessly misguided and therefore deserves sympathy for very different reasons. If any people deserve our commiserations from the collapse of AMAZING FANTASY then it is the characters that appeared in the pages of a book that served no purpose other than to introduce new characters apparently without realizing that they were being greeted by a vast minority (the book now sells ~10,000 copies per issue, the lowest of any ongoing Marvel Universe title on the market) and that the majority of them reacted with complete indifference.
Introducing new characters is a sensible idea and plays an important role in allowing Marvel Comics to flourish at a ground level, but introducing them as part of an anthology title in such a contained, stringent and ignored manner benefits nobody. Successful new characters in recent years, such as X-23, the Young Avengers and the Runaways – were all brought into play with creators that clearly cared for them and had room to breathe, which in turn allowed the readers to respond in kind and establish a rapport that led to a future. The characters present in this book have not fared quite so well.
Arana, the character that kicked off this volume of AMAZING FANTASY, has of course had the most success of any of the leads involved with the book. She even managed to get her own title, briefly. It was of course cancelled after a generous twelve issues, which is the only suitable outcome for something marketed quite so cynically as “Spider-Man, but female and Latino”. She was last seen in a quasi-canon MARVEL TEAM-UP story; dying and having her arm live on as part of Terror Inc. Then came Scorpion in a widely acclaimed story that still couldn’t save her from a future of cameos and backgrounds. New characters like Vampire-by-Night and Vegas were more or less stillborn, while the return of Captain Universe passed the sensible part of the readership by unnoticed. The purported anniversary issue, the double-sized #15, had some interesting moments that would nonetheless be better off avoiding further exploration. Then came Death’s Head 3.0, which was devoid of any of the charm of the original character (despite being written by the creator of the original character), lumped into a generic sci-fi tale about a dystopian, corporate-ridden society that would have seemed passé about twenty years ago.
I’ve said everything I wanted to say about “Unnatural Selection” in previous reviews of the arc. The back-up strip, “The Steam-Powered Heart”, features a character so laughable that anybody not playing it for laughs is asking for trouble, which is sadly the case here. All in all, the second volume of AMAZING FANTASY has been a complete waste of everybody’s time. The only possible good outcome is that Marvel realises such an ongoing has no place in the current marketplace. However, since Marvel recently decided to give Wolverine a second ongoing solo title their judgement clearly continues to be impaired.
Score: F
ASTONISHING X-MEN #14:
Written by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Colours by Laura Martin
Published by Marvel
Clearly, Joss Whedon has wanted to write a proper X-Men story for many years. Clearly, he has spent a lot of time over those many years thinking about his story – what characters to involve, what direction to take them in, what cool things could happen with them, and what would make his fellow fanboys as happy as himself. Clearly, this story continued to be fine-tuned all the way through his film and television career. Clearly, by the time he was able to actually create this story, it had manifested itself as “Gifted”. Coming in between the radicalism of Grant Morrison and the marginalized overhaul that was HOUSE OF M, a story as clearly crafted out of love as the idealistic “Gifted” was always going to be greeted fondly. It continues to be remembered in such a way, unlike “Danger”, which sputtered on among contractual uncertainty, creative second-guessing and altered company direction. At least Cassaday made sure it looked pretty, helped greatly by Martin’s colouring technique (she’s one of the few colourists that I actually know by name).
In his third arc, “Torn”, Whedon is letting his cast relax after the trials and tribulations of the opening twelve issues of this series. This means less action and more dialogue, which plays to Whedon’s strengths. It seems that this story will consist mainly of the X-Men hanging around the mansion coming to terms with their ways and their relationships. This is the sort of thing that led to some of the strongest episodes of Whedon’s TV shows; however those are delivered in one single 45-minute block rather than spread out over six issues on a bi-monthly schedule. There is an attempt to create some intrigue over whether or not Emma Frost has allied herself with the new (i.e. old) Hellfire Club or has just been coerced into helping them, but I’d like to think we’re all intelligent enough to figure out the answer to that one ourselves. Cassandra Nova’s involvement only highlights the obvious outcome, whilst continuing to muddle the already murky waves of continuity surround Xavier’s twin. The male bald one has yet to play a part here, perhaps because he is still missing after M-Day. Then again, he did turn up in DEADLY GENESIS alive and well, without mutant powers but walking. Trying to figure out the X-Men canon these days is a truly thankless task, so it’s best to just take each story as it comes. That’s an essential part of ASTONISHING X-MEN, since trying to take each issue of Whedon’s effort as it comes is hardly fulfilling. After all, here we’ve basically got an issue of Cyclops getting angsty while the rest of the team chills out.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. Whedon clearly knows where he’s headed with his second stretch of this title, as the brief scenes dealing with the S.W.O.R.D. organization concerning the mysterious traitor of the X-Men and the second coming of Ord show. Whedon’s writing is also at its best when it comes down to the little character moments fuelled by snappy and minimalist dialogue, which is also to be found in this issue. Bringing back Colossus might have been permitted for nothing more than Marvel getting to sign a big-name writer that the unwashed masses were familiar with and keep him happy, but it was worth it for the beautiful moment when Kitty found him and further justified by a wonderful moment between the two characters in this issue – topped only by Wolverine’s brief contribution to their ‘morning after’ scene. There’s also a cliffhanger ending but, really, it’s about as precarious as teetering on the edge of the pavement. We all know that the character involved isn’t going anywhere, nor is he going to be radically altered anytime soon. He’ll continue to lean from side-to-side, with the occasional move backwards, rather than making any clear progress forwards. The fact that he is meant to be the leader of the X-Men speaks volumes.
But, still, it does look ever so pretty.
Score: B
EX MACHINA SPECIAL #1:
“Life & Death, part 1 of 2”
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Penciled by Chris Sprouse
Inked by Karl Story
Published by Wildstorm
So, EX MACHINA starts running late and all of a sudden a two-part ‘special’ off-shoot turns up with a different artist. Well, isn’t that convenient. Thankfully, under Vaughan’s guard, the special doesn’t go off on a different style or structure from the main title. Instead, we get a well-crafted story that could quite easily have been moved into the ongoing after its current arc finally wraps up. Perhaps in a more patient world it would have done just that, since there’s no other particularly convincing reason for this special.
What happens? Bloke turns up in Hundred’s early days, tries to duplicate his ability to communicate verbally with machines and winds up able to communicate with animals instead. So far, so Doolittle. Scratch a little deeper and, of course, there is plenty of scope to explore the differences between nature and machines – with the rather unique twist of having nature on the side of the ‘bad guy’. Cue lots of expected banter about animal rights and whether or not Hundred’s powers are an accidental burden or a destined gift.
There’s not a great deal to say about this book. That’s not to belittle it any, because it is, as always, well worth your time. It’s just that it’ll only become apparent next month whether this is ‘special’ because Hundred’s true archenemy turned up in it or if it is just nothing more than a stopgap measure.
Score: B
FANTASTIC FOUR #537:
“The Hammer Falls, part 2”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Penciled by Mike McKone
Misleading Cover also by Mike McKone
Published by Marvel
You see that cover? Bollocks. Complete and utter shite. No, Doom does not pick up the soddin’ hammer. There, now I just saved you from having to pay to read this waste of time. What’s left is nothing but a generic fight between Doom and the FF, the same sort of thing that has been down countless times before in far more involving situations than this one. Oh, and two random pages about some bloke that may or may not be Thor getting a bus. Big deal, the alternative was doing a truly interesting exploration of Doom’s beliefs, personality, morals and outlook in an acceptably controversial development. Okay, seeing Latveria’s finest stand in front of the hordes of hell and basically tell them to come and have a go if they think they’re hard enough was quintessential Doom. And yes, there was a certain perverse pleasure in Doom’s reaction to finding out he couldn’t actually lift the hammer (little more than “well f*ck you, then”) but really, this is nothing more than a waste of everybody’s time. Like a strip club without nudity. It’s also quite worrying to think that the confusing reasons behind Doom’s escape from hell, which even he admits are a bit far-fetched, are going to wind up being the Marvel equivalent of Superboy Prime’s punches over in the DCU…
Score: D
FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD SPIDER-MAN #7:
“Masks, part 2 of 2”
Written by Peter David
Penciled by Roger Cruz
Inked by Victor Olazaba
Published by Marvel
Similarly, here we have a flat and generic story that only gets mildly intriguing at the very end in a scene that really doesn’t have much to do with the focus of the comic. Also, it features the possible return of a character whose resurrection may simply be explained away as “Thor’s hammer did it”. You should all know who this character is by now since the internet has been trying it’s hardest to break in half ever since this issue first came out a few weeks back. The fanboy uproar made me curious enough for this to have been one of four books I picked up at the store to moisten the damp well that had been my subscription lately (hence my recent absence from the reviews section).
Of course, they can’t actually bring this character back to life permanently without fundamentally altering the very essence of Spider-Man. This isn’t like killing Clark Kent’s dad on Smallville even though he’s alive in the comics, this is an integral part of who Peter Parker is and how he has tried to live up to his great responsibilities. It is possible that this will turn out to be nothing more than a fleeting appearance, which would be fine if this character hadn’t already done that so often in the recent past, or it could be nothing more than a trick of the mind on Aunt May’s part. Since this all seems to be heading towards May’s insecurities over her relationship with Jarvis rather than dealing specifically with Peter, it seems to be the most likely option.
Other than that the issue is fairly bog-standard Spidey action. Half the time it seemed the only difference between this issue and the ESSENTIAL PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN VOL. 1 book I also got recently was the use of colour here. Basically, Spidey was coerced into wrestling somebody in the previous issue, which I didn’t read, only for his new Starkified costume to use some automatic self-defence weapon that seriously injured his opponent. Here, after a brief chat with Stark that seems awfully light-hearted considering what his new costume just did, Spidey goes to check on the wrestler in the hospital and winds up fighting some totem-driven representative of him. Yes, we’re back on the totem stuff again. Yes, there’s more dialogue about the use of science against magic that probably sounds better in your head. There’s even time for a few rants by J. Jonah Jameson.
All of which does a perfunctory job that makes me wonder just how dull the tertiary Spidey title must be. There’s nothing out-and-out wrong here, other than the obvious potential of the aforementioned return, though Cruz seems to struggle when it comes to drawing humans out of their superhero costumes (Jonah’s hair appears to be a crude Judge Dredd helmet at times). Get it if you want, but there is better Spidey on the market…
Score: C
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #17:
Written by Mark Waid
Penciled by Barry Kitson
Inked by Mick Gray
Somewhat Tainted by Kara Zor-El
Published by DC
“The most exciting superhero title on the market today.”
– Iain Burnside, ComicsNexus.com
There, if any of the DC marketing guys are browsing this then I’ve made it all very simple for you. Just ctrl+c the above and plaster it all over every Legion book, trade and poster you would like people to purchase. It’ll work, trust me.
As for you regular – and probably slightly more hygienic – readers, you should also trust me regarding the quality of Waid and Kitson’s interpretation of the Legion. Ever since day one, this title has been a powder-keg in print form. There’s a genuine sense of exhilarating potential and danger here, with neither the Legion nor the United Planets being presented as so self-righteous that they lapse into self-ridicule and the narrative veering off wildly and chaotically but always in a driven and linear manner. The characters, whether reduced to the background or prominent enough to earn sustained cover time, are handled with respect and an honest delicacy that lets them grow in an unforced manner and fail more realistically than a 31st century story could hope for. The neat little touches in concept and design have been some of the most imaginative this side of Kirby. All in all, it is a winner, a monthly treat, a Crisis-free thrill allowed to flourish without the half-assed parenting skills of meddling editors…
Well, until Supergirl turned up. Say what you will about the current incarnation of the character – you know, the petulant, whiny, irritating, anorexic version that wanders around half-naked having been modeled on a certain hotel heiress who is famous only for being a pornstar, which nobody seems to think was a bad idea despite the symbolic implications of the S-shield – but even if you like her and want her to appear in more than one ongoing, adding her to the Legion felt like a totally unnecessary and cynical move. Her own title suffers from delays, so let’s put her into a different book where we don’t have to worry about continuity issues so much… Not only that but we’ll put her name into the title itself so that we can get some cheap plugs in for the upcoming cartoon show featuring her and the Legion…
The A grade the book would otherwise probably have got has had scorn poured all over it, knocking it down a notch. Thankfully, Waid and Kitson have managed to limit the damage of Supergirl’s appearance by taking things into a completely different route than just letting her continually save the day and show up the existing characters. The Legion has been inspired by the actions of 21st century superheroes and bases their very ethos on their ways, so naturally the random arrival of one such superhero into their midst sparked some excitement. Truth be told, this could have been done with practically any current DCU character and let the same story be told. In fact, if they really wanted to stick to the teenage girl motif, then somebody like Batgirl would probably have made for a better choice (and saved the rather worthless scene of Supergirl getting excited about being given a flight ring). We all know why they picked Supergirl, however, so let’s not get back into that. The real intrigue comes from Supergirl’s claims that she is just having a strangely vivid dream and concocted the Legion and their world from her subconscious. Meanwhile, on another world, a group called the Dominators watches these events unfold, apparently responsible for delivering the “techno-organic payload” to Earth. It seems, quite rightly, that all is not as it seems when it comes to Supergirl. Some things never change. Let’s hope Waid and Kitson writing the Legion is one of them.
And bring back the letters pages!
Score: B
NEXTWAVE #1 DIRECTOR’S CUT:
Concocted by Warren Ellis
Nourished by Stuart Immonen
Published by Marvel
This was another one of my random purchases. I’m in the middle of trying to cut down on the number of monthlies that I buy, with only things as intriguing as 52 or as slow-yet-classy as ALL-STAR SUPERMAN being added to the scant few that remain. The rest are all switching over to trades, which will probably make things more awkward when it comes to doing these reviews but I’ll worry about that later. Anyway, NEXTWAVE was one such new title that I was going to trade-wait on, having heard nothing but strange and pleasing and strangely pleasing things about it. I had been a little skeptical about it because, well, because I’m a skeptical wee bugger but also because Ellis’ books have been very hit-and-miss for me. FELL? Brilliant. DESOLATION JONES? Wank. THE AUTHORITY? Meh. ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR? Brilliant, wank and meh all at once. His superhero stories have been particularly erratic but with this book he has been freed from having to march in line with the rest of the world. He’s not writing Tony Stark anymore, he’s just writing a bunch of random extras that nobody has thought about for years or thought of at all. Having kidnapped the rather talented Stuart Immonen from his bed in the middle of the night, shackled him to a steel chair in a dungeon studio and invented a form of tickle-torture to make him draw this book, Ellis then somehow persuaded Joe Quesada that Marvel really, really needed to publish it.
Thankfully, Quesada is a bigger fan of Ellis than I am and decided to go for it. The tagline (“healing America by beating people up”) tells you everything you need to know about the sort of stories you’re going to get here. They’ll be the sort that you either get or that you can quite happily ignore. They are absurd, satirical, jaded, overly critical and just plain odd. In other words, exactly the sort of thing that happens to anybody that reads comic books for a long time and didn’t start off as innocent as Dan Slott. It’s worth trying at any rate, otherwise you might miss out on dialogue like “No no not doing this no no no run away run away this is my special run away song so I do not get killed by scary girl” from a robot assassin that works in human resources.
The Director’s Cut version has a different coloured cover (WOW!), the script for the issue (YAY!), the original pitch for the series (HUH?) and the lyrics and tablature for the theme tune (LOL!).
Yes, the theme tune.
Score: A
SEVEN SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN #4:
“Frankenstein in Fairyland”
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Doug Mahnke
Assist by Mary Shelley
Published by DC
Almost over now… both these reviews and the Seven Soldiers project. It’s certainly been an interesting ride, though massively confusing at times, and the Frankenstein mini has not really been good enough or bad enough to make much of an impression either way. Mostly I just find myself wishing that Burlyman would hurry up and get the next issue of DOC FRANKENSTEIN out already.
There isn’t much change in the final issue of the mini, with some cool moments (Franky kills a self-contained sentient universe!), some exceptional art from Mahnke (check out that double-page spread as the bombs go off!), and some more intriguing references to the other 7S stories (plus Morrison’s JLA CLASSIFIED story, which is cheating a little bit) all burdened with some truly appalling dialogue (nobody would think less of you for using a straightforward sentence, Grant) and some very well-hidden and obscured form of plot that doesn’t even merit it’s own bracketed comment.
Things like this and the Mister Miracle mini have been little more than exercises in weirdness saved only by some very capable artists easing the pain of the writing a little bit. They have none of the charm or wit of the likes of Bulleteer or Manhattan Guardian. This will all be wrapped up next month with the cheekily-numbered SEVEN SOLDIERS #1 (really #33) in which somebody, most likely Frankenstein or Klarion the Witch Boy, will die. It probably won’t make any sense but will have tremendous artwork. I just hope that when I get the time to go back and re-read the entire series, things start to fall into place rather than sprawling all over the place…
Score: C
VILLAINS UNITED: INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL:
“A Hero Dies But One”
Written by Gail Simone
Penciled by Dale Eaglesham
Continuity by Superboy Prime
Published by DC
We’re almost there now. This is the last of the ‘specials’ to come from the four main Crisis off-shoots, with the mecha-event itself due to wrap up shortly (of course, wrapping up these days just means transitioning to something else, like 52 or the Crisis Aftermath books). Since my knowledge of C and D list DC characters is practically zilch, especially among the villains, I didn’t really get into VILLAINS UNITED as much as some other people did – although Simone’s appreciation of the characters was clear to see and led to more involving moments than I would have thought possible. Here, however, it all backfires horribly.
You see, the point of this issue is that the Secret Society, led by Alexander Luthor in disguise as businessman Lex Luthor (though the other villains don’t seem to know this yet), have come up with a plan to release every meta-human villain from every purpose-built containing facility in the world. You will know this because Oracle repeats it to several meta-powered heroes all over the world. Then she repeats it to Martian Manhunter, who repeats it to more people, who get in touch with Oracle, who confirms it then gets in touch with J’onn J’onzz again, and so on and so on and so on. The cavalry is raised across the globe and, with the big guns either off in space or fighting Superboy Prime and Alexander Luthor, it’s left to more of the C and D list guys to turn up and fight, with the biggest names present being Green Arrow and the non-Martian woman called Manhunter.
Then they all confirm the plot again.
Then the villains turn up and explain it all again.
Then they all fight.
Then the Secret Six watch the fight for a bit, get bored, and then leave. Perhaps they went to see Oracle to find out if there was some sort of a prison break happening.
Honestly, how could such a story be so dull? For that matter, with such little actually being resolved here, how could this not simply be told in about 5 pages of INFINITE CRISIS itself? And how could Alexander Luthor calmly turn up here when his special tower has been destroyed?
Superboy Prime should punch this book. With Thor’s hammer. And a call to Oracle, of course.
Score: D
