Alex + Ada

Alex + Ada 1-15

A lovely, satisfying science fiction romance.  Alex is a lonely twenty-seven year old single guy with a very meh life.  His fiancee dumped him seven months ago, and he’s not over it yet. His grandmother gives him a Tanaka X5 for his birthday.  An X5 is the state of the art in android companionship. Fully lifelike with no pesky free will to worry about. Think Scarlett Johansson’s Her with a human-looking wrapper.

After getting past his initial reservations, Alex names the X5 Ada and tries her out as a companion around the house.  (Very respectfully, with no sex. I don’t know why I felt it necessary to make that distinction.) It doesn’t take long for him to find her robotic, rote responses insufficient, and searches the less-than legal recesses of the internet for mods that will make her more human.  He discovers that Ada and other androids are fully capable of sentience, but have blocks installed by people who have seen Terminator and know better.  (To be fair to this society, their first experience with self-aware AI did result in thirty-seven deaths.)

As the plot would demand, Alex awakens Ada, and they eventually fall in love.  But their happiness is quickly threatened as knowledge of this growing population of activated, sentient androids spreads through a terrified, paranoid general public.  Sub in communists, gays, or witches and you’ll get an idea of their response.

This is a beautiful story, both in the art and the writing.  I was fully invested in Alex and Ada’s relationship. Alex is a sweet, kind fellow, and Ada’s innocence as she discovers the world around her is reminiscent of Data in Star Trek: TNG as he explored the various aspects of humanity with fresh eyes.  Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna create a believable future of self-driving cars and iPhone brain implants, and surround their main couple with a group of friends that provide a realistic variety of POVs to opine on their unconventional relationship.  

Everything builds up to a tension-filled climax, a bittersweet coda, and ultimately a perfect finale.  I couldn’t ask for more from a comic.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Deadly Class

Deadly Class 1-26

I don’t remember why I bought the first trade.  The concept is certainly a catchy one - Hogwarts for assassins and killers.  The art more than passes the flip test; Wes Craig can draw a striking image, no doubt about that.

That's some beautiful silhouetting.

On the negative side, it’s written by Rick Remender, who you can add to my list of “consistently excellent concepts with shaky execution” writers.  (I’ve actually started keeping track.)

Regardless, after reading the first six issues, I was sufficiently hooked to buy the next three trades, which were already out.  Then I got the fifth one when it came out before I wondered if I was suffering from Song of Fire and Ice syndrome, where I was only reading it because I wanted to find out what happens next, and not because I particularly liked it.  Deciding it was more of the former than the latter, I’ve since stayed away from the next two trades.

Now, after the reread, my opinion is once again teetering along that fine line.  To be fair to Deadly Class, I read trades two through five today in one sitting.  There’s no doubt it’s an addictive title. Remender took me on a breathless run from one chaotic, insane set piece to the next.  The guy can write extended action scenarios with the best of them, with visceral action and unexpected twists. And he’s got the perfect partner in Craig, who illustrates the crap out of them.  Remender has no compunction about killing off his characters, and he knows how to do it for maximum shock without making it feel cheap (I’m looking at you, Joss Whedon. Don’t even get me started with Dr Horrible).  His deaths are earned, and aren’t thrown in just because he needs a convenient crisis to get to the next plot point.  

I’m somewhat surprised that I wrote that last paragraph, given how little I thought I cared about the characters.  “I really really hate Marcus” (the main character) was the foremost thought in my head throughout the read. Going along with the Harry Potter parallel, Marcus Lopez Arguello was orphaned at a young age, had an abusive childhood in foster care, and suddenly finds himself in a totally different world.  He quickly finds friends with a group of misfits and gets caught up in a series of whirlwind adventures.

Unlike Harry though, Marcus did not manage to hang on to his innocence and pure heart.  Getting beat up and molested in a child’s home, then barely surviving on the streets of San Francisco left him a self-loathing wreck dependent on drugs to numb the pain of everyday existence.  Couple that with the blinding hormones of a freshman in high school and you get a kid who’s utterly incapable of making a single correct decision in life. I can understand Marcus, but I have zero sympathy for him.  Sure, certain things are out of his control - He’s at a school populated with assassins-in-training, there’s bound to be conflict. But so many of his problems are of his own making that I ways always sad when someone else died and he didn’t.  

For some reason, I feel more for his friends.  Saya, Maria, Willie, and Billy all come across as more trapped than Marcus.  It’s not that their circumstances are that different from Marcus’. They all have screwed up parental issues and had no choice in their enrollment or selected vocation.  They all have their own set of baggage. Maybe it’s because we don’t have access to their inner monologues, but none of them seem to be spiraling as horribly as Marcus. They’re dealing with their shitty hands slightly better.  They all have redeeming qualities, while Marcus has none.

Another point that just came to me.  Marcus actively pushes away his friends.  He’s just a dick to them most of the time, and that self-defeating attitude ticks me off.  

At the end of the day, I sorely tempted to pick up the rest of the available trades.  I haven’t had the urge to reread Deadly Class since my first go around, but these really were effective at grabbing and holding my attention, in a way that separates it from the “want to find out what happens but don’t want to own” titles of the world.  I’ll think about it some more. Do a flip through the next time I’m at the store.

Also, can’t forget that Lana Condor is playing Saya in the upcoming tv adaptation!

Lara Jean's going to be wielding a katana!

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes (I think.  Razor’s edge)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Michael Cray, Midnighter

Michael Cray 1-6

I reviewed this here just four months ago.  My opinion hasn’t changed since then.  There’s still something missing from each of the missions.  Substance. I want to see more of the planning; It makes sense that the takedown of each of these antagonists is short and sweet.  There’s an honesty to the brevity that I appreciate. Which means I need more in the setup, both on Cray’s side and the bad guy’s. Ellis’ story structure, which I laid out in the previous review, doesn’t allow for this.  

Though thinking about it more, that might not be it either.  Ellis has an excellent record of done-in-one issues (Planetary, Global Frequency, Fell, Secret Avengers...It’s a long record).  Two issues per kill should be plenty for Bryan Hill.

What else could it be?  The characters are all surly, none of them are likable or cool in a badass way - Michael Cray is coming across as a less impressive Frank Castle and his team has zero personality.  I only know them as male, male who pointed a gun at Cray, and female. And Christine Trelane is a blank slate.

The art is meh, too.  N. Steven Harris doesn’t suck, but replacement value sounds about right for me.  

Not even good enough for me to read the rest at a bookstore.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)

Midnighter 1-7, 10-15

Switching gears to another remorseless meta-killer.  

Two TPBs for 10 bucks, partially written by Garth Ennis.  Worth a shot.

It starts out okay and then gets worse once he hands the reins over to other people in the second volume.  Midnighter is coerced into killing Hitler, which...okay. Then he runs afoul of the timecops from the 96th century...suuuurrre.  Plus, there’s a comedic interlude with four Nazi kids defending Berlin as the Russians storm in at the end of WWII. Okay, that was actually funny, but I felt bad even as I laughed.  

Then Brian K Vaughan writes an issue in reverse, trying to illustrate how Midnighter always knows how a fight ends before it starts.  The fact that there’s nothing clever in either the story or the plot device keeps it from approaching the way more interesting Grayson:Futures End, which uses the telling-it-backwards conceit to far greater effect.  

Keith Giffen rounds out the last trade with a not-interesting battle against a nationalist insurance company that provides superpowered coverage from other meta activities, at the cost of personal liberty.  It’s just lame.

Worth trying for 10 bucks, but these are easy cuts.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine for the Ennis issues, Disliked for the others. (Cutting)

Marineman, Box Summary, Free Solo

Manhattan Projects started Image box 2.  Box 1 recap:

Box Summary:

Time Spent Reading: 22 hours, 5 minutes

Issues Read: 174

Issues Cut: 20

Highlights (Good or better): Civil War II 0-8, Batman: White Knight

Project Summary:

Time Spent Reading: 12 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes

Issues Read: 2391

Issues Cut: 303

Free Solo

This documentary made me feel things I have never felt before.  Watching Alex Honnold climb the 3000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite with no ropes produced actual physical reactions in my body.  My hands were tingling the entire time in sympathetic tension as his chalk-stained fingers clung to barely imperceptible cracks in the rock face.  The camera shots took my breath away as I got a sense of just how far off the ground he was climbing and just how vertical the walls were.

“Insanity” isn’t the right word to explain what compels Honnold to do this.  But free soloing is so far away from the spectrum of what I’d be willing to do with my life that it just about feels like it.  In the movie, he says something to the effect of, “Being happy and cozy never resulted in anything good happening.” Which, first of all, is an interesting take on his girlfriend’s POV, and also makes me wonder how they are possibly compatible as a couple.  And secondly, makes me glad that there are people like him in this world so that I can watch truly amazing feats of accomplishment from my cozy seat in the theatre.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Good

Marineman 1-6

A totally unexpected offering from Ian Churchill.  I’m used to him looking like this:

All very modern with a ton of detail.  And now he gives us this:

Nothing but simple, bold curves and no cross hatching.  It’s very Ed McGuinness:

It a simplicity that mirrors the all-ages nature of the title.  Which isn’t a bad thing at all - This is a fun comic with a by-the-numbers story that manages to work despite its roteness.  The earnestness of its execution gives it a charm that I positively responded to. Examples:

It's got a shark punch!

Very impressive entrance.  And on the USS Obama, no less.

Marineman doing his best Captain America impression.

A wonderful palette cleanser from the usual stuff that I read.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Manhattan Projects, Cover, Pearl, Moth and Whisper

New comics!

Pearl 4

Grr.  Rapidly losing interest.  Things are moving at a slow pace, and the dialogue isn’t scintillating enough to distract me from the fact that nothing’s happening.  This was initially meant to be a six issue miniseries, but has since been extended to at least twelve. I’ll stick with it through the first arc, but things aren’t looking good for Pearl’s long term prospects in this household.

Cover 3

David Mack’s art continues to carry this title.  More accurately, David Mack’s five different art styles continue to carry this title.  This time, he’s added some kind of Walt Simonson madness to his repertoire. Just as slow as Pearl, but I’m enjoying this way more.

Mack

Simonson

West Coast Avengers 4

I was on the fence about this, and it didn’t pass the flip through test today.  It’s just a little sillier than what I’m looking for out of this title.

Moth and Whisper 3

The turn of events isn’t that surprising, but it’s well done and I continue to be entertained.  Of course, our hero’s been caught two issues in a row now. Doesn’t speak highly about their skills.

Manhattan Projects 1-25

Love this concept so much.  Take the most amazing scientists of the 20th century, turn them into amazing mad scientists, and throw them all into the same laboratory.  This is probably Jonathan Hickman’s best idea ever.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t exempt from every other Hickman book’s tendency to crash and burn on the landing.  By the end, it felt like Hickman really had no idea about where he was taking the book. Also, at the end it all, what did any of these scientists accomplish?  They build the atomic bomb and went to the moon. (Which happened IRL.) Enrico Fermi turned out to be an alien and got chainsawed to death. Robert Oppenheimer got eaten by his twin brother, triggering a psychic civil war between the two that ended up being pointless when Albert Einstein shot him in the head.  (After returning from banishment to an alternate dimension by his doppelganger Albrecht Einstein.)

Sounds cooler than it reads.  (Though it is pretty cool for a while.)  But by the end, it really feels like everyone’s spinning their wheels and failing to get anything of consequence done.  This could have been so much better.

The art by Nick Pitarra is slick.  It’s very Frank Quitely.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice for 1-19, Fine for 20-25.

Jessica Jones, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Jessica Jones: Blind Spot

Don’t want to review this too deeply since I’ll be re-reading it in a couple of years.  Okay, when I put it that way, might as well review it. I may regard it completely differently after such a long gap.

Kelly Thompson writes the first significant Jessica Jones story after Brian Michael Bendis’ departure to DC.  It’s the length of a trade, but internally divided into 6 issues, to allow for cliffhangers, I presume. (And possibly artist payments, as Marcio Takara draws the final installment after Mattia De Iulis’s work on the first five.)  [UPDATE: This was originally published digitally as 6 issues. Make sense.]

I came into this with mixed expectations; I originally vowed to stop reading any Jessica Jones (and Miles Morales) solo titles after Bendis left.  His voice was so inextricably linked to those characters that I refused to believe anyone could come close to recreating the magic. But then Thompson included a great Jessica Jones guest appearance in the middle of her delightful Hawkeye run.  I reconsidered my stance, and when this graphic novel came out I went ahead and bought it.  But between purchase and perusal, I read Thompson’s West Coast Avengers 3, which continued an already shaky run.  Which lowered my hopes for this yet again.

So after all that, how did it turn out?

Tons of fun!  Doing this list style.

1. Thompson nails the Jessica/Luke Cage dynamic.  They sound like an authentic married couple with a toddler, talking about grocery shopping, the need to have some alone time, ordering take out, and play-fighting over who gets the last piece of dim sum.  They realistically mix this with surviving lethal gunshot wounds to the head, protecting their daughter from reality-warping villains, and the trauma of being mind-controlled by purple-skinned psychopaths.  They’re also honest about their feelings for each other and (usually) share their doubts and fears. It’s everything that Bendis got right about their relationship, and it’s so satisfying to see it continued here.

2.  Jessica isn’t wrong when she says things always to go shit on her.  It’s the other hallmark of her life. Dead body in her office->Arrested by the police->Shot in the head, all in the first issue. Check.

3.  The entire interlude with Elsa Bloodstone made me so very happy.  Everything about their interactions brought me joy. The dialogue, the shared respect, the casual repelling of a monster invasion along the Hudson, the discussion of melee weapons.  It fairly shimmered with glee.

Looks so cool.

4.  The art by Mattia De Iulis.   I can’t find much about him online, this might be his first comic book work.  If so, it’s an amazing debut. His work looks a lot like that of David Marquez, and I mean that as a high compliment.  I’ll have to keep track of this guy.

Marquez

De Iulis

If this is what I can continue to expect from Thompson and De Iulis, I’m in for the long haul.  Though I have to say, I have major Purple Man fatigue at this point. It’s way too soon for Thompson to bring him back.  (On the other hand, I appreciate that trauma this severe doesn’t just disappear from Jessica’s life.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910, 1969

I tried.  I tried so hard.  But like the first time through with all three of these volumes, I couldn’t make it through any of them.  They’re just so dense, and any semblance of plot is buried beneath the groaning weight of literary references, text, and general weirdness.  

Unlike the excellent original LoEG series, these comics meander all over the place.  Alan Moore seems more concerned with cramming in as many obscure cameos as he can into these pages, instead of telling a coherent story.  Sure, Black Dossier was meant to be a reference book more than a story, but that doesn’t make it any more fun to read.  

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give Black Dossier all the props in the world for its ambition and execution.  It’s a collection of so many different literary presentations - the familiar LoEG comic, an article from a 19th century British newspaper, a 1950’s newspaper comic strip, a folio of Shakespeare’s work, an illustrated novel from the early 1900s (complete with thicker paper stock!) and so much more.  Really, really impressive.

If only the material it contained was remotely interesting.  I can’t keep any of this. That’s two times I’ve had zero desire to complete a read through (First time in this project), and I have zero desire to give it a third chance.  

Regret buying: No for Black Dossier, Yes for Century.  After Black Dossier, I should have known better.

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring (Cutting)

Kindred, Lazarus

Kindred 1-4

Regret buying: No.  I was young and impressionable and bought everything that Homage studios put out.  I liked Brett Booth’s art back then, and I still like it now. I like his combination of slender, ripped anatomy (all the guys look like marathon runners) and heavy inks.  (Mostly, I like how he draws Backlash. Talk about creating a character that plays to your strengths.)

Unsurprisingly, that lithe style works well with the Flash.

Would buy again: No.  Another comic you can add to the “horrible early Image writing courtesy of Brandon Choi” pile.  

I mean, that’s a 45-second monologue he’s giving there.  (Yes, I read it out loud and timed it. And it wasn’t fun, giving those lines a voice, filling a physical space with that wretched combination of words.  At least Frank Miller’s Sin City narration works on the page.)

I have no problems with a good rant.  But this is just exposition masquerading as some kind of opening statement to a trial.  Blech.

Sigh.

Apparently Black Razor training teaches you how to cover 5 kilometers in mere minutes on foot.

Also, Booth makes some questionable posing choices with his pencils:

Don't care how good a shot Grifter is, that pose can not make for accurate targeting.

I get it was the style of comic art in the 90s, but these Alicia poses are still a bit much:

Booth really likes his silhouettes.

I've never seen so much torn up pantyhose.

Would read again: No.  See above.

Rating: Stupid.  But I’m not cutting it.  Another Image title in my collection gets saved by nostalgia.  I’ve owned this for so long, I can’t bring myself to dump it. That’s literally the only reason it survives.   

Lazarus 1-6

Regret buying: No.  Greg Rucka is a fine writer, and I’ll usually give his stuff a shot.  Michael Lark is just as fine a penciller, and his art will never fail the flip through test at the store.  Quite the opposite, his covers for this series probably had a lot to do with why I would always pick it up for said flip throughs.

Would buy again: No.  The list of comics that I want to continue reading without buying is just growing and growing.  (Right now, it stands at DMZ, Unwritten, Black Magick, Ex Machina, and Lazarus.) Huh. That list of titles really mirrors the writers that I have on my internal tier 3 level of comic writers - Above average people who have really good story concepts, but occasionally stumble on either sustained follow through or execution.  Brian Wood, Mike Carey, Greg Rucka, Brian K Vaughan...Yeah, that sounds about right. I also wonder who would be in my tier 2. I haven’t thought about it until now.

Would read again: Yes.  I zipped through these issues really quickly, and not because they’re slight on content.  I really enjoy reading about Forever Carlyle, and Rucka’s created a world of fascinating inter and intra-family politics.  Not enough to buy the trades, but I can see myself being convinced otherwise.

Rating: Pretty good.  A bump up from my initial Nice rating.  (I score these immediately after reading, and sometimes I talk myself into a different rating as I write.)  I can tell that I lost interest the first time around the same time I did today, when Rucka started writing about the regular people in the Carlyle empire.  Sometimes it’s fun to read about the little guy, but this is not one of those times. Still, it’s an engrossing situation he’s set up here, and I’m pretty sure I’ll return to it sometime in the future.  

Infinite Vacation, Invisible Republic

Infinite Vacation 1-5

Regret buying: No.  This five issue miniseries is a total trip.  The concept is brilliant - in this future, people can buy their way into any of their infinite lives across the multiverse.  Wish you didn’t miss the bus this morning? Swap over to the reality where you woke up in time. Want to know what would have happened if you went to Harvard instead of Stanford?  It’s just a click away on the app. Would things have turned out as well as you’d imagined if that girl had just given you a chance? There’s only one way to find out.

(There are tons of unanswered questions.  The lives you swap into are put up for sale by other yous.  What what happens to them? Do they actually swap with you? If they do, how does the money you paid for the transfer get into their hands?  So confused.)

Regardless of the details, it’s a mind-bending idea, and Nick Spencer does a great job of setting up this world.  Unfortunately, the story spirals out of his control, and outstrips Spencer’s ability to tell it. I would have preferred a story about Mark and his pursuit of Claire, without all the end-of-the-multiverse malarky. Sure, it’s a lot more exciting, but it all felt like a lot of noise with no substance.  

And let’s not forget Christian Ward, who literally paints an amazing picture of the insanity.

Would buy again: Yes.  This comic is different from anything else, and it looks great.  I’d pick it up again.

Would read again: Yes.  Despite my issues with the overall plot and the overused “end of the world everything fades to white” ending, it’s definitely worth revisiting.

Rating: Nice.  I’m tempted to bump it up to Pretty Good on the art alone, but the story just isn’t good enough.

Invisible Republic 1-5

Regret buying: No.  This trade was on sale for five bucks, and I had heard positive things about Gabriel Hardman (the writer).  Reason enough to give it a shot. And it didn’t suck.

Would buy again: No.  I’m not engaged. The present timeline follows a reporter as he tracks the background of a fallen head of state.  He finds the journal of an until-now undiscovered relative, and the flashbacks comprise the second timeline. Everything’s mildly interesting, but there’s no one for me to really care about.

Would read again: No.  I first read this five months ago, and my opinion hasn’t changed a whit.

Rating: Fine.  This is an easy cut.