Welcome to the 92nd instalment of the new Leave Your Spandex @t the Door! Wednesday is Comic Book Day in the U.S., and LYS@D is here again with this week’s First Reviews, so you can catch up on what rocks and what flops this week before you head to your local LCS! Many thanks to Travelling Man Manchester for providing the advance look copies for review!
LYS@D now has its own MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/lysad , so be sure to drop by and add me to your friends list!
The ole’ Greek desktop had been acting up for the past year, leading to a meltdown last weekend, which in turn was followed by a mammoth 2-day salvage attempt. The problem was found, the motherboard was repaired and after a quick disc format, we are back in business. This was followed by a week of Birthday celebrations (thank you thank you), a bout of illness and another week of feverish preparations for my new duties as secretary for the Greek Society of Manchester. In case you failed to notice, that was ‘pathetic excuse for missing a week’s column’ #32, but also true and earnest.
After a month of downtime, LYSAD is back in full force, catching up with our regular features, some advance reviews from Marvel, and a slew of indy reviews from Boom Studios and IDW!
Panel(s) of the week(s):
A whole month has passed since the last poll we did, so for this week I’ll bypass the poll and instead offer a selection of my favourite panels from the past 5 weeks:
“¦aware-of-his-own-medium-boy (52 week twenty-four)
“¦hop on, the Bat-Chair? (Birds of Prey #99)
“¦Ultimate Bloodstone! (NEXTWAVE Agents of H.A.T.E. #9)
“¦”I knew you’d use that” (The Boys #4)
“¦”Imagine all the Skrulls, living for today” (Wisdom #1)
“¦”the things I do for England!” (Wisdom #1)
October ‘06 HOT Grade (never too late)
1. NEXTWAVE Agents of H.A.T.E. #9 (Marvel)
2. Dork #11 (SLG)
3. The Other Side #1 (Vertigo)
4. Doctor Strange: the Oath #1 (Marvel)
5. Mixtionary #1 (IDW)
6. Tag #2 (Boom Studios!)
7. Casanova #5 (Image)
8. The Boys #3-4 (Wildstorm)
9. Pirates of Coney Island #1 (Image)
10. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo)
The week in (advance) review:
Planetary Brigade Origins #1
Boom Studios
Writer: Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Artists: Julia Bax
Review Content: They’re back”¦ for the first time!
Giffen and DeMatteis return to the superhero universe they established for Captain Valor in Hero Squared. The original Planetary Brigade mini-series looked at an already formed team of superheroes, on the verge of Super-Buddies level disarray. Now, going back to the literal first day of this new team, we see that they were never really that close-knit to begin with.
Much like the original, Planetary Brigade: Origins pretends to exist in a shared universe, modelled after the Silver Age of Marvel and DC. As the solo heroes enter the plot, they are treated like established solo heroes who turn up for a team-up story, in the vein of Avengers #1. The story structure, exposition, dialogue and plot pacing all bring back memories of 60s comics, only with an underlying razor-sharp wit.
An accident in Mr. Brilliant’s NOT nuclear-missile testing ground will create a new villain: Mister Master and will bring in the unwilling solo heroes Captain Valor, Grim Knight, Earth Goddess, Fighting Man and the Mauve Visitor.
How is this title different from Giffen and DeMatteis’ previous BwaHaHa work, though? Here, they get to play with the big boys’ toys, without editorial intereference. When they originally took over the Justice League after the first Crisis, they weren’t allowed to really use any of the big Three, as their outside image and their presence in their own titles didn’t allow them to exist in the twisted twilight comedy field that surrounded that particular incarnation of the Justice League. Now we get to see what would have happened if they had been unleashed on (reasonable facisimiles of) the great superheroic archetypes. What if the Martian Manhunter was actually pink”¦ and pink? Would Captain America be really that cooperative if he was behaving like a real Army Captain? How would a Superman and Batman team-up turn out under the Super-Buddies spotlight? I’m more inclined to agree with ‘please leave me alone you annoying boyscout‘ relationship between the Superman-Batman archetype than DC’s ‘Best Friends’ approach in the current cringe-worthy team-up series.
This origin story doesn’t pack as many laughs as the other collaborations of these writers but it still sports a solid tongue-in-cheek feel. I wish all comics were this fun!
Grade: A
Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #14
Marvel
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Scott Eaton
Review Content: Peter David is a genius!
It could be that my opinion is coloured from currently reading his insightful book on writing comics, or it could simply be it’s true.
Here is a writer who is given the comics equivalent of lemons in the form of a Spider-man who reveals his identity to the world, thus putting in danger the kids at the school he teaches. Peter comes across as irresponsible towards these kids and then is faced with the dilemma of what to do with his day job. He can’t teach there because the parents are picketing for him to leave as he’s endangering their children. He can’t stay away either though as the kids are ripe for use as bargaining chips anyway whether he’s there or not. Lemons.
But Peter David still takes this odd hand he’s dealt through Civil War and makes lemonade. After addressing the above issue inside the story (and by his own storytelling rules pointing at the Bigfoot in the room), he then makes smart use of ‘guest-stars’ Wolverine, Punisher, and the Beast, as well as a returning Ben Reilly to amend the situation and against all odds convincingly keep Peter as a teacher at the school, in a new and interesting position in the faculty.
P.S. Yes, you read correctly, I said Ben Reilly! The information has already been leaked on certain message boards, but without giving too much away, I guarantee you it’s 100% a clever storytelling twist and not the return of the Clone Saga. Read on!
The issue also sees the return of Deb Whitman, one of Peter Parke’s less noteworthy girlfriends from the 80s. Deb dated Peter for a few years in real publishing time when Bill Mantlo was writing the title. She now returns with a book expose on ‘How Spider-Man Ruined My Life’. Looking back at their relationship, I can’t say I blame her, as Peter kept lying to her constantly and ditching her on every date to go be Spider-Man. In their last encounter he even staged an elaborate scam to convince her he wasn’t Spider-man when she had become mentally unbalanced and obessed with his dual identity. Having her back as a new member to Pete’s supporting cast only bodes well for the upcoming storylines. Spider-man’s popularity was always due to a degree to his beloved supporting cast, and PAD is assembling a mix of old and new characters around Peter worthy of Spidey’s glory days!
Scott Eaton is the guest penciller in this issue, and is an instant fit! Todd Nauck has already been announced as the new regular artist, but Eaton feels a more natural fit as he is closer to Wieringo’s character designs while keeping his own style and better complements the tone PAD is setting for the book. Plus, his Ben Reilly redesign is too sweet for words! (I wonder why every time I type Ben Reilly the font goes bold? Odd!)
Grade: A
Immortal Iron-Fist #1
Marvel
Writer: Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction
Artists: David Aja
Review Content: Reading this issue right after this week’s NEXTWAVE (mocking the dark-and-gritty feel of modern superheroes) didn’t help my appreciation of this new take on ole’ ‘pajama-slippers’.
Brubaker and Fraction take the ground floor approach with Iron Fist, much like the recent successful Dr. Strange mini-series. They choose to explore the often-overlooked public identity of Danny Rand as a business leader, and make an interesting parallel between his two roles as they have both been inherited from his late father. Not being an avid Iron Fist fan –snicker-, I can’t say if this is a retcon or not, although I’m certain the intriguing First Act Turning Point at the end of this issue counts for one. Working backgrounds, the whole first issue is a history lesson on Iron Fist, framed between a rooftop battle with Hydra Agents. The structure of the issue is still commendable as the story jumps back and forward in three times without losing the reade’s interest or becoming confusing.
The mission objective the creators are poised with is obviously: make Iron Fist cool. Make him sell. It’s the Marvel Knights take on the character, without the actual banner since the line was discontinued. David Aja is an ideal artist for such a cause. He keeps the essential elements of Iron Fist’s iconic image but simplifying the line down to a more urban feel.
Grade: B
NEXTWAVE #9-10
Marvel
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Stuart Immonnen
Review Content: NEXTWAVE follows the trail of H.A.T.E. into a trap city that is in reality an ambush set up by the figureheads of Beyond corporation who launch a triple attack on NEXTWAVE from their upside down castle headquarters in the sky. Within two issues we’re introduced to two amusingly named and designed themed supervillain teams, following a medical and army motif. A third All-Gay Villain team, the Homosexuality are announced, obviously inspired by DC’s host of gay superheroes, but miss the big fight because of a hold up at the Gay Parade! Meanwhile, mysterious characters from Marvel’s offbeat ‘Wha Huh?’ Magazine get new Ultimate origins and unite in a new losers version of the Ultimates, lead by Forbushman!
In the second part of the story, NEXTWAVE make waste of the opposition in a blatantly vulgar and violent manner until they become trapped in Forbushvision. What does that even mean? One by one, the members of NEXTWAVE get reinvented into Mature Readers versions of themselves in short stories drenches in moody storytelling, angst and nonsensical plotting. While Ellis riffs Morrison, Gaiman and Mignola, Immonnen shows off his versatility by successfully emulating the mood and style of other popular artists from Vertigo and Dark Horse, like Pope and Mignola. Taken on their own, some of these stories could even pass for the norm prententiously intellectual stories that made up previous years of Vertigo’s output, but in the context of the current story they make for a hilarious experimentation and a scathing commentary on the industry’s current fascination with dark and gritty.
Grade: Infinity
Onslaught Reborn #1
Marvel
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Rob Liefeld
Review Content: To be honest, I was predisposed to hate this title before I picked it up. I’ve committed the rimal reviewer sin, but there’s no point hiding behind one’s finger. The hype leading to this release included lackluster art, muddled covers and misshapen character designs.
Several of Liefeld’s fans going on the news forums and declaring how dynamic and exciting this art is to them; so, obviously, someone out there is bound to enjoy this. Myself, I still can’t fathom how anyone could appreciate this. I see misshapen and out of proportion characters being thrown randomly inside the panels, boring layouts and no sense on the waste of negative space on the page. Will the 90s never end?
Onslaught Reborn is the anniversary celebration of the Onslaught crossover and Heroes Reborn. Onslaught was the creature formed from the mind-meld of Xavier and Magneto, spawning a massive and entertaining crossover in the 90s between virtually every Marvel title and leading to the vol. 2 relaunch of Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man and the Avengers titles. It was a massive creative undertaking. This move led to a real change in the Marvel Universe (now without Heroes) and in the Heroes’ titles getting re-imagined by the likes of Liefeld and Jim Lee.
So Onslaught is back, somehow, and he’s taken over half the Fantastic Four in an attempt to seize Franklin Richards. This leads to a drawn-out battle between the members of the FF, while Franklin –gasp- escapes into his pocket universe from Heroes Reborn. The script itself doesn’t have any flaws apart from being generally unimpressive, but the art weighs down any momentum, with even the highest moments in battle losing steam because of the art.
It’s a sad trend of late, to ‘celebrate’ the tenth anniversary of huge and successful crossovers from the 90s with clunky mini series that don’t seem to have any merit of their own apart than to cash in on geek nostalgia. Save your money for something better.
Grade: F
Stan Lee Meets Dr. Doom
Marvel
Writer: Stan Lee and Jeph Loeb
Artists: Salvador Larroca and Ed McGuiness
Review Content: The previous oneshots have offered a predictable but entertaining and well-presented story scripted by Stan Lee where he formulaically meets up with his creation and chats to them about their woes, followed by a story by a different top talent writer featuring a clever story centered around Stan or starring him in the Marvel U, and a reprint of a classic Silver Age Stan Lee story.
The latest issue breaks the trend by having both lead stories star a Stan Lee – Doctor Doom dialogue, in different time periods.
In the first story by Stan and Larroca, Stan is an official guest to the palace to be held accountable for portraying Dr Doom in a bad light to the outside world and making them wrongly (sic) believe that he is a (gasp) villain. Larroca pencils, inks and colors here, to amazing effect as his art has never looked so lush and detailed. I predict this issue would have taken three times more effort to produce than his normal load; I hope Marvel realises how worthwhile it is to have him produce at maximum potential and start assigning him projects to match this new style.
The second story by Loeb and McGuiness finds Stan talking to Doom again, but this time in disguise, right after one of his most notable defeats at the hands of the FF during the Stan/Jack era (which is also being reprinted here), with Stan trying to dissuade Doom from giving up his villainous ways. Unfortunately this isn’t McGuiness’ finest effort, but rather an assemblage of busy splash pages showing Doom’s tussles with Marvel heroes, under the framing of the Stan-Doom dialogue.
Grade: B
X-Men #193
Marvel
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Chris Bachalo
Review Content: Carey and Bachalo’s first arc on X-Men wraps up explosively with the 6th part of Supernovas!
The Children of the Vault have sailed their flying ship, the Conquistador, over the Institute and opened fire against the X-Men. The team comes together nicely and result is a full issue climactic battle that has been building in anticipation since day one. The focus keeps jumping around to different fronts of the battle. Each of the X-Men get a brief moment in the spotlight, while Rogue again is the most prominent protagonist as their leader. The fight flows well from scene to scene, with the characters doing more than just shoot generic energy blasts and exchange fisticuffs, as Carey/Rogue has a valid strategy in use. It’s a joy to read a well-prepared and executed fight scene like this once in a while; it had certainly been a while for the x-books, before Carey and Whedon.
The satellite X-Men teams appear on the background to provide commentary as Carey has made sure to find a valid in-story excuse to keep them outside the main battle while still having them present to promote the concept of the shared universe. While most New X-Men have been regular fixtures of the Institute in previous issues, I was surprised to see some genuine Third-stringer students like Pixie not only appear but even get a line in the issue, while the Sentinel ONE pilots are referred to by name. Either Carey takes great pride in being part of a shared universe, or he’s trying to fill a demanded quotient of cross-title promotion per issue.
Chris Bachalo manages to keep things surprisingly clear, given his recent track record and provides explosive visuals. Unfortunately the legion of six inkers who have been brought in to get the book out on time (one of which is actually Bachalo himself) creates a jarring final result. The inked art is sometimes crisp and detailed, and towards the end seems really hurried with only the broadest strokes and outlines covered.
Grade: B
Last weeks:
X-Factor #13
Marvel
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Pablo Raimondi
Review Content:
This issue is a sequel of sorts to the most famous issue from Peter David’s original X-Factor run, the X-Aminations issue, wherein Doctor Sampson is called in to evaluate the members of X-Factor. The issue remains such a classic because for the first time an X-writer really delved deep inside these mutants and showed what makes them tick and made them ‘real’. Before this noone had an idea about Guido’s tragic situation or the reason Quicksilver had been such an arrogant @$$ for 30 years.
This is exactly what David does in this sequel, with the new members of X-Factor Investigations. The team sits down for 2-3 page individual sessions where they pour their hearts out and reveal their fears and passions to the good green doctor. And once more David makes these characters ‘real’ (damn quotes!).
Question: What is one way to tell the difference between a good and a bad writer?
Answer: The way they approach characters and continuity. Peter David spends sometime in his Writing For Comics book explaining the importance of continuity and how he uses it in his stories. A characte’s continuity is essential his history, his life. Certain events are landmark and change a character, and shared continuity between characters shapes their current relationships. It’s what makes the characters ‘real’.
This is more evident in the examinations of Siryn, Monet and Rictor. Siryn is still in denial over her fathe’s death, disbelieving death can be final for any x-man. Within a few pages, David touches back on her history with her dad, her past relationship with Madrox and how it affects her current situation with him, and her alcohol problem. Monet’s examination is the most jarring and revealing of the whole issue; Monet has a convoluted history that never quite fit with her characterisation and interaction. Originally conceived as a fake persona used by the twin 7-year old sisters St Croix when they joined into a 14 year old teenager, Monet was later ret conned into a real character, and one trapped in the body of her team-mate Penance. Essentially Monet had spent a good 50 issues of Generation-X as a slave to her brother. The convoluted explanation of this was subsequently pushed under the rug by following writers as it posed a trouble with what memories Monet really has and what counts as her continuity. David brings the whole dung sack back into the spotlight and uses this specific history to reveal a hidden side of Monet beyond her perfect façade.
Grade: A
Runaways #22
Marvel
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Adrian Alphona
Review Content: Chase wanders afurther away from his teammates, as Vauhan comntinues to examine the ripples Gert’s death has caused on the Runaways. Chase has been offered a limited time opportunity to bring back his dead girlfriend, with the exchange of an innocent soul.
Aware of their own medium as always, so addressing the thoughts, suspicions and anticipations of any fanboy who has seen botched reincarnations. Runaways is a comic setin a micropocket of the marvel u where dead does mean dead. Vaughan has toyed with the readers very often about returning a cead character but this time he seems intent to stretch it as far as it will go, having me wondering if he does indeed plan to reincarnate Gert as a hat trick before his final bow out of the title.
Propagating marvel teen comic stereotypes. First the romance between the asian teen hero and a black teammate (gen x, young avengers, new x-men) and now the witch & robot-created-by-Ultron-named-victor fantasy. When the culprits were the Vision and Wanda, a lot of fans were disturbed, but now that the cyborg is more lifelike, I found myself embracing it as a situation and beginning to question the deeper meanings.
Xavin’s genre-shifting throughout the last year is finally addressed, by the youngest of the bunch who is logically the only one who isn’t restrained by any social presuppositions and can frankly and uninhibitedly ask such a forward question. Molly’s naivete and honesty was refreshing in a world that is still stuck in certain prejudices against people of different sexual preferences.
Grade: A
CURRENTLY
Listening to:
Scissor Sisters: Ta-Dah
in concert
Scissor Sisters again, live at Manchester Apollo
on TV
Little Britain
at the Cinemas
BORAT: Clean and Cheap!
reading
NEXTWAVE of course! Why aren’t you?
Aaaaand that’s a wrap for this week! I’m waiting your comments and feedback through email to Manolis@gmail.com. If you self-publish your own comics or represent an Indy comics company, add me to your press release list, and I will run your news in this space every week.
Manolis Vamvounis
a.k.a. Dr. Dooplove
