Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 265-268

I’m still entertained by this run, but I’m also running out of things to write about.  Perhaps it’s a sign of an uninspired mind.  All right, let’s keep this thing going.

I think I’ve found what would have been a No-Prize candidate in the olden days: So Doctor Doom ‘dies’ in issue 260.  Then Beyonder teleports three-fourths of the FF off to the Secret Wars in issue 265, where Doctor Doom plays a substantial role.  But in 268, Doom is still presumed dead.  Continuity error!  Easy explanation is that the Beyonder resurrected him.  Or it gets addressed in a future issue, since Doom is clearly not dead.  But you’d think Reed would have brought it up.     

I had forgotten that Sue miscarries this pregnancy.  I thought that this was where Valeria was born.  [Wikipedia reading time passes]  Ah, this baby does turn out to be Valeria years and years later.  Interesting.  Anyway, it’s handled surprisingly well by John Byrne in a striking page:

But so far, the aftermath has been a let down.  The team grieves for two pages before moving on with their adventures - Johnny gives She-Hulk a tour of the Baxter Building before they fight Doom’s mask.  Reed joins them in the fight and concludes that Doom is still alive (because a god-level Doom on Battleworld wasn’t enough of a tell).  Over/Under that the miscarriage is addressed for more than 5 panels though the next 4 issues?  I’m taking the under.  

It plays a lot like the Stern Avengers, where if you stopped and thought about it, it’s like 10 issues and 3 arcs take place over the course of two days.  No one has time to think about what happened four pages ago.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Byrne Fantastic Four, Bendis New Avengers

New Avengers 11-13

The last of the David Finch New Avengers.  I won’t miss his faces, but he does draw a pretty fight scene.  And while it isn’t the most inspired of designs, there’s something about the Ronin costume that I totally dig:

It also helps that it’s Echo beneath the mask.  I’ll go over this in detail when I get to David Mack’s Daredevil, but I love her character so much.  Wikipedia reveals that she hasn’t really been put to good use since her initial appearance, so I’ll take what I can get.

Not much else happens here; The Avengers fight ninja and Spider-Woman reveals that she’s working for Madame Hydra.  Again, way more plot than character here.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Fantastic Four 261-264

The out-of-nowhere kiss that starts issue 261 did nothing but remind me of a more memorable opening page kiss (even though it came years later):

Maybe it's only memorable to me.

I don’t know very much about the Namor/Sue romance, and this issue doesn’t do anything to enlighten me.  But the two panels devoted to it have me more interested in this relationship than fifty-plus issues of watching Reed and Sue go through the motions of a marriage that could belong in a fifties sitcom.

Just like Reed, too busy reading to notice his wife.

The Trial of Reed Richards.  What an odd issue - it came during Marvel’s Assistant Editor Month, which gave it the excuse of being weird.  It chose to take advantage of this leeway by making John Byrne a character in the story, for reasons that defy understanding.  After moving past that baffling decision, the issue serves as the origin story for Galactus.  The trial is concluded by a deus ex machina turn from Eternity.  Sure, whatever.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Byrne Fantastic Four, Defenders, Mighty Thor, American Way, Fence, Punisher: The Platoon

Taking a look at the new stuff that came out this week:

Defenders 10

And so begins Brian Michael Bendis’ departure from his stable of Marvel titles.  This will most certainly need to be re-evaluated after I binge read it the second time around.  Right now, my memories of this series consist primarily of excellent fight scenes and a jumbled mess of Kingpin-wannabes fighting each other and the Defenders.  Entertaining but insubstantial is how I currently characterize this series.  And the ending is a cop out masquerading as a pretty poster.  

Mighty Thor 704

When the Death of Spider-Man arc started in the Ultimate universe, I did not believe it.  No story gives away the ending like that, especially when it’s the end of the title character.  Also, I did not want to believe it, since I loved that Peter Parker so much.

I’m feeling the same way with this Thor.  I don’t want Jane Foster to die, and I didn’t believe it at the beginning, but it’s looking more and more likely at this point.  It makes me sad, and bravo to Jason Aaron if he’s pulling the wool over my eyes.  I hate him if he isn’t.  

American Way: Those Above and Those Below 6

Not nearly as good as the previous mini-series.  The various threads didn’t tie together coherently, the issue ends with no satisfying resolution, and I flat out don’t like Georges Jeanty’s art.  I didn’t like it on Buffy, and I don’t like it here. His faces are inconsistent and unappealing.  Not worth buying, but I’d read it again (I think).  

Fence 4

This is as manga as it gets in US comic book form.  A callow high school student with raw talent joins the fencing team.  His roommate turns out to be his chief rival, and way more skilled at their craft.  Whatever will happen next?

Each issue is way too short, feels similar to a chapter in a manga.  I’ll stop buying and see if I’m still inspired pick it up when it comes out in trade.  

Punisher: The Platoon 6

This joins the rest of Garth Ennis’ Punisher run as something that I’ll read many times in the future.  No more to say.   

And back to our regularly scheduled run of Fantastic Four:

Fantastic Four 255-260

Quick hits:

The alien in issue 255 loses because he’s stupid, but I forgive him because he gets it:

Truer words were never spoken.

John Byrne continues to be the king of drawing people getting smashed through stuff:

Byrne conveys such power and destruction in these panels.

I appreciate the attempt at modesty, but the impossibility of the skirt physics on display bug me to no end:

Why did he even tie them up like that in the first place?

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 251-254

John Byrne might be the anti-Bendis - His plots are far superior to his characters.  Not that his interpretations of the FF are inconsistent with their historical representations.  It’s just that the personalities of this foursome have always been annoying.  The stories succeed despite the flaws of the team, and not in the good way.  (Examples of good ways: Cassidy’s betrayal of Jesse was core to the ending of Preacher.  Morpheus’ inability to change led to his destruction in Sandman.  Rorschach’s inability to compromise could have only one ending.)

In story after story, Ben smashes whatever’s in front of him.  Johnny burninates anything that ticks him off.  Sue just stands there.  Reed is smart enough to think and reason his way through conflict without resorting to violence, but he usually arrives at the fight just in time to say, “Wait, don’t!” right before Ben or Johnny do the thing they’re not supposed to do.  And somehow, the FF manage to move on to the next adventure with nary a scratch.  Or lesson learned.  

Issue 252 is a perfect example.  It’s even worse, because Sue is the nominal leader with Reed in a temporary coma.  Yet she has absolutely no input, comment, or command as Ben and Johnny rip through the living city, ultimately killing it.  Even when she’s supposed to be in charge, she’s shunted to the side.  

Issue 253 had a wonderful plot with a poignant ending, but nothing that happened in it really needed the FF to be present.  The reveal at the end would have been just as powerful without them.  It would have been better, because we would have been spared another instance of Ben and Johnny immediately resorting to fisticuffs when a misunderstanding begins.  Hate.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 247-250

I’m back home, so that means I’m back to Fantastic Four!

Not much to write about, though.  It’s nice to return to John Byrne’s clean art and fun stories.  The FF help return Doctor Doom to power in Latveria after grudgingly admitting that he’s a superior alternative to Zorba.  The Inhumans and FF undergo some kind of nightmare scenario that I don’t quite get.  Guardian fights the FF in a case of mistaken identities.  (He thinks they’re Skrulls, while the real Skrulls are impersonating the X-Men.)  

I was surprised by how nice it was to see John Byrne’s depiction of the X-Men again.  My first encounter with them wasn’t even during Byrne’s actual run, it was in a reprint of the Dark Phoenix Saga.  It has been a number of years, and it was like meeting up with old friends.  I’m looking forward to reading them again.

I’ve written previously about how John Byrne’s made vast improvements to Sue Richards’ character.  She no longer the useless, mewling wife of the Stan Lee days, and is defined by more than her dependent relationship with Reed.  But it still feels like she’s under-represented in the pages of her own comic.  Taking a quick poll of these four issues:

(Okay, that took longer than expected.  I counted the number of panels each of the Four appeared in.  I didn’t count panels showing all four members.)

Reed: 75

Johnny: 64

Ben: 78

Sue: 53

That looks about right.  Obviously not the most scientific, but it’s not just a matter of screen time.  Invisible Woman is rarely proactive, and seems to exist to either follow Reed’s orders or play the color commentator to his brilliance.  I’ll pay more attention to that aspect tomorrow.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Bendis New Avengers

I haven’t been reading Fantastic Four for the last few days because I didn’t want to bring a ton of old single issues with me on an extended business trip.  Decided to use the trip to catch up on a bunch of trades that have been piling up.  That includes today’s New Avengers Vol 1, the first of the Complete Bendis Avengers.  (I picked up the entire run during Barnes and Noble’s massive Christmas TPB sale.)  

Oh right.  I was holding off on reading these because I wasn’t sure how to handle them for this project; do I need to read these twice for them to qualify for a rating?  The new comics I’ve been reviewing go on the shelf, so they’ll definitely get reread.  But they’re so far in the future that there will be enough time in between for me to get a new perspective on them.  With these, they either go on the shelf (possible), or they go in the boxes, which means they would come up again in just a few months.  No matter how good they end up being, would I want to re-read them again so soon?  Eh.  I’ll worry about it after I write this.

New Avengers 1-10

The trade also collects Bendis’ Avengers Disassembled story arc, but I’ve already reviewed that here.  

Not his finest work, but still not bad.  It doesn’t play to to his strengths, which lie in page after page of spellbinding dialog and character growth.  Having done zero research on this, I have the feeling that Bendis falters when his stories are more plot-driven.  Or perhaps it’s just harder to focus on talking when you’ve got a huge roster of people to juggle.  No...that doesn’t scan because his X-Men work had better talking than these Avengers issues as well.  Goes on the ideas list of things to actually research.

So the plots of this trade: Electro stages a prison break on The Raft.  A random assortment of New York’s finest heroes show up to stem the flood of bad guys.  Cap sees it as a sign and recruits them to reconstitute the Avengers.  The new team chases down Sauron.  The new team chases down the Sentry and deal with his mental blocks.  The new team throws amusing one-liners out as all Bendis characters do.

Sauron has never interested me.  The Sentry has never interested me.  Bendis did nothing to change my mind.  

I’m surprisingly not a fan of David Finch.  I say ‘surprisingly’ because he’s got that Silvestri-esque Image style that I responded well to in the past.  Probably because it’s so close to the wonder that is Jim Lee.  

Finch

Silvestri

Lee.  (The king.)

Finch overdoes it with the shadows.  It gives his art a dark quality that makes it look like it’s always about to rain.  It works fine for Batman, not so much for the Avengers.

The inker earned his pay that day.

And then there’s this…

What is her body doing???

It must have been a different time, because 6 years later, when Milo Manara did it...

...The internets went up in arms over its unrealistic hypersexualization of women.  I’m not saying they’re wrong, just that it felt an awful lot like:

Then I feel like a pig because I don’t disagree with the guys here:

I’ll rank these now.  If I end up re-reading it, I’ll update it.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Black Hammer, Black Panther movie

Black Hammer 7-11, 13

So yeah, I picked this up at the bookstore today.  That I did it on a business trip makes it feel more shameful, for some reason.  Why isn’t issue 12 in the trade?  Looking...can’t find an official reason, but it was a backstory issue.  Don’t know how that’s a reason, though.  This title is also on hiatus until its relaunch in April 2018.  Sure.  It’ll give me some time to think more about it.  

The second trade is more of the same, high quality stuff, but I may have been hasty in buying it; As good as it is, I don’t think I need to reread it again.  I mean, I would, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of title I’d ever feel like reading out of the blue.  I fall into this trap sometimes where I get started with a new series and plow through the available trades more because I want to find out what happens next, not because it’s re-read material.  (Deadly Class is the most recent example that I can think of.)  No regrets, I’m fine with giving Jeff Lemire my money for this story, but let this be a cautionary tale.  I could have borrowed this from the library or read it at Barnes and Noble and been just as happy.  And 20 bucks richer.  Which is what I’ll do with the next trade.

Black Panther movie

I watched this last night at an Alamo Drafthouse.  It’s my second time at one, and I’m sad to say I’m not the biggest fan.  The servers are distracting in the middle of the movie, and eating while I watch on the big screen diverts my attention as well.  I don’t think I need to go back to one again.  Like with 3D films.  

My initial reaction to the movie was that it wasn’t as good as the the hype.  While I didn’t read any reviews beforehand, the headlines I saw all trumpeted this as a Marvel Masterpiece.  I did not agree.  It has a ton of amazing moments, but as a movie, it did not elevate itself above my favorites from the studio - Cap 2 and 3, Avengers 1, Spider-Man Homecoming.  The plot was still boilerplate - Hero is knocked down from his lofty perch by an antagonist who wants to see the world burn, must regain his position.

I loved all the women.  Sister, General, Partner, Mother.  As NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour stated (pretty sure it was them), every one of them could carry their own franchise.  I would pay to see all of them.  (They’re all more interesting characters than T’Challa, let’s be honest.)  I so much want to see Shuri as Ironheart in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I love Riri in the comics, but Letitia Wright would KILL IT.  

The action scenes were generally sub par.  (The final fight between T’Challa and Killmonger was a CGI-fest no better than the one in Justice League.)  The car chase scene was pretty good, but the trailers unfortunately gave away all the good bits.  On the plus side, watching the Dora Milaje kick ass was always fun.  And battle rhinos!

Killmonger.  He was a few writing decisions away from being one of the MCU’s great villains.  I was so ready to be on his side, but he had to screw it up by being just a little too evil.  And his final plan of mass weapons distribution was ill-conceived.  Other than that, his message of sharing Wakandan tech to make the world a better place and help the oppressed was one I could get behind, and echoed the sentiments of Nakia.  Played just a little less militantly, Killmonger could have been so much more.  

So that was last night.  Today, I got into a number of discussions about Killmonger and other aspects of the movie.  There’s so much more to talk about with this movie compared to just about everything else out there. (Last Jedi being the exception…)  And that means something.  I still don’t put it above the aforementioned movies from an entertainment standpoint, but as a think piece, it outpaces most, if not all, of the field.  

Regret watching?  No

Would buy on DVD? No

Would watch again?  Yes

Rating: Pretty Good

Black Hammer, Batman Incorporated

Black Hammer 1-6

I bought this on the recommendation of a co-worker.  It’s the latest (for me) in a long line of JLA-analog stories.  The ‘JLA’ has been trapped on a farm for the past 10 years for reasons unknown, following a massive battle that saved the world.  Why can’t they leave?  We don’t know yet.  But we learn about their backgrounds and how they’ve adapted to small town life, where no one knows who they are.  And the daughter of their dead comrade has begun looking for them.  

It’s entertaining enough.  I read the trade straight through, and want to read the next one.  

Batman Incorporated 0-13, Batman Incorporated Special 1

These trades were sitting on the bookshelf at the library, and I’d never read them before.  I didn’t get very far in Grant Morrison’s Batman run when it first came out.  I don’t think I was a very big fan of Damian Wayne back then.  That opinion has changed drastically with Peter Tomasi’s Super Sons.  Which....was cancelled in an announcement today.  Ah well.  

I read Batman RIP at a used bookstore and hated it, so I figured Morrison just didn’t have it this time around.  Sadness, since he pretty much defined Batman-as-all-knowing-god on JLA.  

But library means free, so why not?  

The concept of international Batmen really doesn’t do anything for me.  Not sure why, let’s see if I can break it down.

I have no problem with multiple Green Lanterns.  Green Arrow has a son with the same name and a spinoff with Arsenal.  Superman’s got Supergirl.  Flash has a whole team of speedsters.  Even Batman has his family, four Robins, and temporary replacements.  Why does Batman Incorporated feel so gimmicky by comparison?  Why can there be a Green Lantern for each sector of space, but not a Batman for each country?

I think it’s because Batman is inextricably tied to his origin - Murdered parents in Gotham and the determined vow of a grief-stricken child.  Calling someone the Batman of Japan or the Batman of England is absolutely meaningless.  Superficial similarities - dead loved ones and fighting for justice - aren’t enough.  Grah.  I couldn’t get to a good explanation.  But i still don’t like it.  

While the Batman Incorporated part of the story is questionable, everything else is solid for a good long time - The build up of Talia’s plan, Batman’s attempts to counter it, and the growing horror as it all goes incredibly wrong had me rapidly flipping the pages.  The culminating battle in the Wayne Tower lobby is spectacularly choreographed.  The character moments between Damian and Dick are beautifully touching.  And Robin’s final stand showcases a brave, scared, defiant, beaten boy.  It’s very good comics.  

If only the following issues handled the aftermath as adroitly.  It’s now the third instance I can recall where a Batman arc fails to conclude as successfully as it starts (War of Jokes and Riddles, Death of the Family).  

Out of time.  I’ll write more tomorrow if I can’t fill it with whatever I read.  

Byrne Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 242-246

I read these issues at the airport today, which isn’t really relevant to anything.  But it was absolutely gripping, even with the mass of humanity milling around me.  This is how you do a Galactus story.  Its similarities to Lee/Kirby’s original plot are unmistakable - one of Galactus’ heralds shows up, an odd phenomena appears across the sky, Galactus shows up, herald fights Galactus, Galactus is thwarted an instant before consuming Earth, heroes fight Galactus, Galactus is convinced to leave.  

Yet the differences make all the difference.  Terrax’s initial fight again the FF is an amazing opening card.  Byrne does wonders with his layouts, smashing Thing through multiple floors of the Baxter Building:

Not to be outdone, Ben Grimm comes back on the next page and punches Terrax across multiple buildings, as Byrne switches from the vertical to the horizontal, across two pages’ worth of distance:

The devastation across the city is clearly conveyed, as the FF and Avengers labor to save civilians and quell general panic, before Galactus restores everything and strips Terrax of his cosmic powers.  And then the main event: Galactus versus everyone.  The power disparity is neatly addressed, and the fight is beautifully choreographed.  The heroes’ win feels fairly earned, and climaxes in a breathtaking splash page as thrilling as the end of a Rocky fight.  

The humanity of saving Galactus and Frankie’s offer follow, and her transformation into Nova is glorious.  Her rejection of Johnny both before and after her humanity is burned away rings true - she makes her choice, is confident in it, and does not turn back.

Everything is incredibly satisfying and expertly executed.  The more I think about it, the more inclined I am to upgrade the grade.  It started out as pretty good, and I happy with it at Really Good now.  (The two issues that follow are Nice.)

Other things of note:

I’ve never seen this angle of Thor flying.  It’s a nice change.

Heh.  This opening line to issue 144 goes on the list of best lines.

Johnny’s attitude towards women hasn’t changed in two hundred issues:

Hence my vicious glee in seeing his pain after Frankie ditches him:

Ben’s psyche is distilled into a single panel:

Finally, I like the dynamism of Sue’s dodge, and how it flows into the next panel:

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Really Good (242-244); Nice (245-246)

Byrne Fantastic Four, World of Tanks

World of Tanks 1

I’m visiting my sister in Fort Collins, Colorado.  I stopped by Halley’s Comics, and found the missing issue of World of Tanks that I’ve been looking for.  Woots!  I’ve already read the rest of the series, so there were no surprises here, and not much more to talk about; It’s the first part of another solid WWII story by Garth Ennis.  The connection to the video game might as well not be there; This would just as easily have been an arc in his War Stories title.  

Fantastic Four 238-241

Poor Alicia Masters.  She’s always being told by the Fantastic Four members that she can’t see, as if she didn’t already know:

• Issue 237 - “Don’t worry, Alicia.  I haven’t forgotten that you’re blind…”
• Issue 238 - “Sorry, Alicia, you get around so well I sometimes forget you’re blind.”
• Issue 239 -  “I know you can’t see it on account of you’re blind…” 

I know that every issue might be someone’s first, but surely there’s a way to relay the information to the readers without being insensitive…

Checking on the FF enemy stupidity count:

• Issue 238 - No villian
• Issue 239 - The FF rescue civilians and solve the mystery.
• Issue 240 - No villain, but Reed helps the Inhumans relocate to the Moon, where they still reside to this day.  A momentous issue.
• Issue 241 - Sue gets the win by pulling off the emperor’s helmet.  He was stupid to turn his back to her, but not egregiously so.  I’ll give it to Invisible Woman.

FF: 4

Enemy stupidity: 1

Byrne’s FF continues to read far better than the other 80s Marvel runs that I’ve reviewed so far (Stern’s Avengers and Nocenti’s Daredevil), but I can’t quite identity why.  Certainly the art is superior, and that goes a long way.  But the stories are generally run of the mill, single-issue plots that leave the team the same as when they started.  There are incremental lasting changes - The addition of Frankie Raye as Nova, Thing’s transformation to his early visual appearance, and the birth of Luna to Quicksilver and Crystal.  So what’s keeping me engaged as I continue to read through the run?  I’m not approaching each issue with the mild dread that I may fall asleep that I did with the Avengers or DD.  Is it a pace thing?  Is it really the art?  Something to look into in the future.  It goes on my idea list.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice