Doomsday Clock, Heroes in Crisis, Clue

New comics!

Clue: Candlestick 1

I bought this based off a positive review I read somewhere and the fun graphic designs of writer/artist Dash Shaw.  Like many, I grew up playing Clue, and seeing the classic characters on the page brings back fond memories. The murder mystery nature of the game makes it a natural fit for comic book adaptation, and Shaw creates a decent enough story that I’m up for more.  His art style, with the deadpan faces, reminds me of Mike Allred or Melinda Gebbie.

Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls

Mike Allred.  Same bug eyes and expressionless faces.

Heroes in Crisis 9

What a clusterfuck.  So many things wrong with this issue:

There’s a huge leap of logic here that makes no sense:

(I cut out the irrelevant scenes in between.)  So...how did Blue Beetle’s intervention magically convince future Flash to go from willing homicide victim to extremely effective trauma counselor?  (That’s what I think’s going on, but I honestly don’t care if I’m wrong. This story isn’t worth my brain power.)

Poison Ivy talking like Swamp Thing annoys the heck out of me.  But I still thought Harley’s reunion with her was super cute.

Though what was the point of Harley in all of this besides murder frame victim?  And what did Batgirl accomplish besides look cool?

Booster Gold still sucks ass and I hate that he’s somehow the guy who figures it all out.  Not that it makes any sense. And seriously, “Bros before heroes”? Lame and stupid.

I would say that all of this pisses me off, but that would require me to care about anything that’s been going on in the DC Universe as a whole.  It’s kind of like the DC movies. I’ll chalk it up as another flagrant misfire, ignore what Tom King did to Wally like the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and move on with my life.  I will say that I expected so much more from King. How does he get from Vision and Mister Miracle to this?

Good things:

Clay Mann finishes up his string of amazing title splash pages.:

All of King’s talking head pages are little thumbnails into how he views these characters.  And some of them are hilarious.

This has to be a Vision nod :)

I’m definitely keeping this, despite my displeasure.  The art is way too good. I’ll just ignore the words that make me sad.  

Doomsday Clock 10

Geoff Johns is so adept at aping vintage Alan Moore’s voice in this series, I barely care about the quality of the story itself.  Half of this issue is spent on the life and death of Carver Colman, the actor in the film noir movies that have been playing in the background of previous issues.  Colman’s annual meetings with Dr Manhattan at the diner remind me greatly of Hob Gadling’s rendezvous with Morpheus every century in Sandman.

One of my favorite issues.

Johns finally gets to the point of this series - Superman is the focal point of the Multiverse, in a special world called the Metaverse.  Here, every one of the multiple Superman origin stories that I’ve been reading has happened, each one creating ripples in the multiverse.  I don’t know if it really makes any sense, but I like what Johns is trying here. It’s a bold, crazy idea, and the execution is nifty. No idea if it’s going to hold up in the last two issues, but it’s a far better effort at an event than Tom King’s failure.

It's the Dr Manhattan narration that makes this so effective.

Marada the She-Wolf

Marada the She-Wolf

So after seeing an ad for it in a comic from 1986, I found a copy of Marada the She-Wolf by Chris Claremont and John Bolton.  (Epic Comics marketing really earned their money thirty-three years ago.)  I was drawn in by the slick Bolton art, and that certainly didn’t disappoint.  The guy knows how to draw a pretty picture.

The ad art that got me to read this.

Love the colors.

This was originally meant to be a Red Sonja comic, but problems related to the movie necessitated the change to an original IP.  Either way, this has some questionable portrayal of women that wouldn’t go over so well today. Sure, Marada’s written as a strong warrior who kicks major ass, but it’d be more convincing if every scenario didn’t involve placing her in revealing poses.  It’s like Danger Girl, but worse.  J. Scott Campbell is unapologetic about what his comic is doing - It’s fun, playful, and self-aware.  Marada plays it straight, and I’m worried that Claremont thinks this is the strongest female character he can put out there.

She's in agony here.  Really.

Odd how male warriors are never subdued this way...

...but hey, at least she's strong enough to resist.  Right?  That makes it okay?

Tentacles?  Really?

Just as gratuitous, sure...

But somehow a lot less insidious.

Anyway, tons of gorgeous art with troubling characterization.

Dreadstar

Dreadstar 11-15, 18-24

My wife made the point that when in doubt, keep the issues - they’re not taking up that much space, and it’s better than regretting the cut later on.  I generally agree with her, but I really don’t see myself thinking about this title ever again.

The sad thing is that I’d probably enjoy this series immensely with a better IP.  Just like throwing the Star Wars or Marvel license on a video game usually increases my enjoyment of the game by a significant amount, I suspect that I’d find these adventures a lot more fun if they starred the X-Men.  Starlin actually does an excellent job with the plot in Dreadstar.  The setups, conflicts, and developments are all fun and engaging.  The problem is that I don’t care about any of the heroes. I mentioned yesterday that they’re all visually drab.  The same goes for their personalities as well. None of them have much depth, their backstories and motivations are all story driven.  They could perform just about any action and I wouldn’t be able to accuse Starlin of writing them out of character.

Issue twenty-four is a perfect example.  Willow and Monalo engage in a psychic duel.  It’s quite brutal and well-done, but I didn’t care.  I wasn’t invested in Willow’s fate in any capacity.  Starlin had two years worth of comics to get me to like her, and he completely failed on that front.

If that were Jean?  I'd be emotionally invested.

Legit creepy.

And yet, this would totally have worked as an issue of X-Men.  Swap in Jean Grey and the Shadow King and I’d probably be raving about it.  Same with the rest of the series. It’s kind of a shame.

Other stuff:

Really??

Saw this ad for Marada, which I’ve never heard of, and I’d totally read it based on the art alone.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Dreadstar, I Could Never Be Your Woman

I was rewatching I Could Never Be Your Woman the other day.  Directed by Amy Heckerling of Clueless immortality, it’s wildly inconsistent.  But it’s got several things going for it - Saoirse Ronan in her first film role, Paul Rudd doing amazing slapstick, and an absolutely magnetic Michelle Pfeiffer.  I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and there’s something nice about the fact that older Pfeiffer is more attractive than younger. Love her.

Wasp and Ant-Man!  Both ageless wonders.

Dreadstar Annual 1

Dreadstar 1-6, 8, 9

I think I picked up a huge run of Dreadstar back in college because I’d heard some good stuff about it.  I probably recognized Jim Starlin’s name from Infinity Gauntlet and wanted to give him a try.  I don’t remember anything else about this title, which I took as a sign that this would be an easy cut.

A third of the way into the issues that I have, I’m on the fence about whether this is worth keeping.  It’s not particularly good, but it doesn’t suck either. Just writing that out feels like my questions are answered.

There’s a ton of exposition; It seems like every character needs their own issue to tell their origin story in lengthy flashbacks.  It’s a tedious way to fill in backstory. But on the other hand, it’s not so boring that I’m reduced to skimming. So Starlin must be doing something right.

Starlin’s art is solid, and even pleasing, but character designs are largely uninspired.  Dreadstar’s a blue Robin Hood with a sword. Willow literally looks like Scarlett from GI Joe.

Oedi’s a cat in a jumpsuit.  Syzygy’s the only one with a unique look, and even then, it looks like Starlin slapped some accessories onto a black onesie and called it a day.

Well drawn, but not the most visually appealing.

More later as I read more.  

Heh, Infinity Horn.  Starlin loves him some Infinity weapons.

This reminded me of Kubert's later Infinity cover.

Eh, kind of. 

Deathmatch, Demo

Deathmatch 1-12

Paul Jenkins writes and Carlos Magno draws this miniseries.  Thirty-two of the world’s biggest heroes and villains (pretty much all DC and Marvel analogs) are teleported to an unknown location and forced to fight each other to the death in a March Madness-style elimination tournament.  (It’s Secret Wars with more killing.)

On top of that is the mystery - No one knows what’s going on when they’re in the staging area, but once they enter the battle arena, their memories are restored and they understand why they need to kill each other, no matter if their opponents are friends, enemies, or lovers.  When the victor emerges alone, their memory is erased once more.

It’s a riveting setup, and feelings of dread and helplessness cast a shadow over everyone, as does the desperate need to find answers before thirty-one superbeings end up dead.  Each death ramps the tension up further and further.

Jenkins does a great job of creating counterparts to classic comic book characters while simultaneously given each of them unique backstories that I’m sorry I can’t explore in more detail.  Rat’s the Rorschach of this universe, and he may actually be even more hardcore than Alan Moore’s iconic character.

Hardcore place to hide a weapon.

Metal wire is hard to talk to.

Magno’s art is perfect for this series.  It reminds me of Gene Ha and Bryan Talbot, and successfully tackles everything Jenkins asks of it.  I particularly like how he depicts Melody Toon’s (Banshee) solution for using her sonic scream to kill Mink (Robin) in a vacuum.

Love the musical notes as actual FX.

Unfortunately, the reveal of the mystery is a bit of a letdown.  Manchurian’s (Reed Richards) idea is reminiscent of Ozymandias’ master scheme in Watchmen, where everyone, friend and foe alike, is an expendable pawn in his “I know better than everyone else” plan.  I’m left slight dissatisfied at the end. I’m still not sure why only one person could return from the Deathmatch facility.  Credit to Jenkins, most of my frustration has to do with the emotional investment he’s created. Both Dragonfly (Spider-Man) and Sable (Batman) are characters that I’ve grown to like over the course of the run, and I’m sad that one of them has to die.  

Overall, a really strong work by the creative team.  It had been long enough since my initial read that all the surprises were just as effective the second time around.  Very happy to have this in my collection.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Demo 1-12

I remembered very little of this Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan collaboration.  I thought that this would be a prime cut candidate, but they proved me wrong.  Demo is a series of twelve short stories, each one about a young adult with a superpower.  The role of the person’s ability in each story varies in significance. Some of the issues that stood out:

Issue 5: The lead girl’s appearance changes to match the heart’s desire of her beholder.  Ignoring the question of what happens when multiple people are looking at her simultaneously, it’s a thought-provoking setup.  What’s it like when no one sees you for who you really are? What happens when you meet someone who does? Does is mean they’re your soulmate?  The premise is much better than the story execution, but I still liked this a lot.

Issue 8: Let’s say you could remember every moment of your past relationships with perfect clarity?  Would the good bits or the bad bits dominate your mind? It’s a variation on Eternal Sunshine.

Issue 11: Wood says in the afterword that this issue is supposed to be funny.  He and I have very different definitions, because I found nothing amusing in this episode about three slackers, two of whom are trying to improve their lot in life while the third wants things to stay exactly the same.

Issue 12: A Brooklyn couple spend a perfect day together, then jump off a building to their deaths.  Total bullshit with a pretentious poem that’s supposed to elevate it to art. Utter fail.

The overall theme seems to be “Powers or not, life is depressing and shitty for everyone.”  It’s not necessarily fun, but I appreciate the art of what Wood and Cloonan have created. (Exceptt for the last issue, which ironically tried the hardest.)     

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Shadow

Shadow

Zhang Yimou’s very hit or miss with me.  I love Hero and The Road Home.  House of Flying Daggers and Raise the Red Lantern do absolutely nothing for me.  The trailer was the deciding factor:

So cool, right?  Well, the visuals don’t disappoint.  The black, white, and grays are truly stunning.  They very intentionally create the classic Chinese painting look.

But surprisingly, there’s far less martial art in this than I was expecting.  The bladed umbrellas are pretty cool, but only the scene where Li Sun unlocks the fighting technique truly lives up to its potential.  

The scene with her umbrella fighting is really slick.

“Shakespearean” is the word that constantly came to mind as I was watching this.  The court intrigue, the formal style of speaking, the incessant scheming - this would not feel out of place in his bibliography.  Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if my expectations were different, but I never came around on it.

Regret watching: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Would watch again: No

Rating: Fine

Jessica Jones, Excellence, Unstoppable Wasp, Runaways, Star Trek: Q Conflict

New comics!

Star Trek: Q Conflict 4

Plot is so secondary in my enjoyment of this series.  I’m having a blast just reading this thing with the voices of the actors in my head.  Silvia Califano draws great representations of the characters, which really helps to sell the story as a massive tv show crossover.  

Love seeing everyone interacting around a table.

Runaways 21

I’d never thought of Chase as the responsible member of this family, but this issue goes a long way towards convincing me of that fact.  It doesn’t feel like a sudden shift in personality - writer Rainbow Rowell’s been building to it for a while, but always in the background, so that I never really noticed it.  I’d just been so used to early Runaways Chase, the self-absorbed bro that I didn’t like at all.  His conversation with Molly was touching in its honesty. Chase has levelled up, and I’m a huge fan of it.  

Heh.

Also like that Karolina’s in therapy, and it’s depicted as something positive.  Mental health maintenance is important!

Love the joy on the saved kid's face.

Victor’s apparently human now, so we’ll see how that shakes out next issue.

Unstoppable Wasp 8

The usual fun, not much more to add right now.  

Just a bunch of faces by Stacey Lee, but it encapsulates the book so well.

Excellence 1

I bought this after hearing the guys on the iFanboy podcast talk about it as their Pick of the Week.  I’m so glad I was introduced to to this, it’s a really sweet read. (Brandon Thomas writes, Khary Randolph pencils, Emilio Lopez colors.)  This is an excellent example of how to do a first issue. Thomas quickly sets up the world and characters, along with the conflicts that will be taking place.  It’s economical and action-packed, and I’m eager to find out what happens next.

Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter

The next collection of the webcomic by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis.  Remarkably well written, and as gorgeous as the first trade.  On the other hand, I’ve totally reached my saturation point with the Purple Man.  I’m just so tired of him. Not as much as Jessica is, but still. I understand that the whole point is that Jessica will never be rid of him, but I wish it didn’t mean that the same thing applied to the readers as well.  

Thompson's conversations are as strong as Bendis'

Jones’ interactions with Emma Frost are the highlight of the story.  I would never have imagined the two of them in a team-up, and it’s simply hilarious.

Lots of boob jokes, but Jessica makes them work.