Deathblow/Wolverine, Desperadoes, Excellence

Deathblow/Wolverine 1-2

The story doesn’t matter at all.  This is a tour de force in action art by Aron Wiesenfeld.  (It earned him an Eisner nomination.)  It’s a shame he moved on from comics, but I’m happy he’s still doing art.  

This is Geoff Darrow-level.

Look at how their legs are crossed as they circle each other.  Love that detail.

Exquisitely drawn.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Desperadoes 1-5

I remembered this being fun, I remember John Cassaday’s art being awesome.  Both are still true.  It isn’t the best Western comic I’ve read (Blaze of Glory by John Ostrander and Leonardo Manco comes to mind after 5 seconds), but it’s pretty up there.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Excellence 1-5

My original thoughts when this first came out a year ago are the same as my current thoughts.  This is a really well done comic with gorgeous art Khary Rudolph and compelling themes, but Brandon Thomas falls short in the storytelling department - It constantly feels like he’s leaving out a few crucial connecting panels or scenes that would really make the comic flow better.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Astro City

Astro City 42-52

Well, at least I’m done now.  Doesn’t help that I have food poisoning right now, but it’s not like I’ve had the highest opinion of this title for the past two weeks.  Once again, it’s a mixed bag of quality.

Issue 42: A villain who’s spent the last forty years of his life stranded on a deserted island finally has a chance to return to civilization and have his revenge, only to realize that his isolation has changed him far more than he could have imagined.  As with issue 22 and a couple of other previous issues, the theme of understanding what makes you happy versus what you think will make you happy makes for one of Kurt Busiek’s better Astro CIty issues.

Issue 43: The origin of the Gentleman turns out to be a twist on Shazam, hardly a surprise given their similar faces under Alex Ross’ brush.

Issue 44: The Superpets issue with Kittyhawk and Rocket Dog.  Amusing, nothing more.

Issue 45-46: The Broken Man origin turns out to be as boring as all of his other appearances.  This ongoing storyline has been Busiek’s most egregious error throughout all of Astro CIty.  I suppose I should be grateful he didn’t spend any more issues to finish off what every grand plan he had mapped out.

Issue 47-48: A heartwarming story, really can’t go wrong with a Corgi superhero.  Busiek’s last standout story on this title.

Issue 49: The Resistors are basically MTG Slivers.  Heh.

Issue 50-52: Nearness of You, the unparalleled ½ issue of Astro City, did not need any kind of followup whatsoever.  But this is even worse than I could have imagined.  It ruins the magic and wonder of the original story and drags it back to earth in an unsatisfying, overly long manner.  I’ve been reluctant to cut issues from this title, just for completionist sake.  After thinking about it for 5 seconds, I’m going to cut these three issues since they’re at the end of the series anyway, the twelve Dark Age issues, seeing as how I never got the last four issues, and Supersonic and Astra specials.  I won’t miss them.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (No for 45-46, 50-52)

Rating: Runs the gamut from Disliked through to Pretty good.

Astro City

Astro City 37-42

Another decent batch of comics!  It’s not a good sign for this series when I’m pleasantly surprised that I had a good time.

Issue 37-38: Mister Cakewalk and Jazzbaby dance onto the scene.  I like the character designs a lot more than the stories themselves.

Issue 39-40: I was not excited when I saw that Kurt Busiek was returning to Marta, the Shadow Hill resident from issue four of the original series.  So it was awesome to read the best arc since the Quarrel/Crackerjack story.  Marta’s called upon to apply her lawyer contract expertise to the magical world, and it’s lots of fun to read.  

Heh.  This would have been useful for my grandma.

Sounds just like a Chinese mom :)

Issue 41: The Astro-Naut, the hero from whom Astro City got its name.  Mostly notable for the random appearance of the Broken Man, once again breaking the fourth wall.  I haven’t been a fan of him so far, but this cameo was successfully creepy.

It's the silence and abruptness that sells it.

  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice, Pretty good for 39-40

Movies

Catching up on some stuff I’ve watched.

We Were Soldiers

I’m usually not a fan of Vietnam War movies (as opposed to WWII and Civil War).  So much moral ambiguity, and there’s an ugliness to the fighting that makes it very hard to watch.  (At least in the way it’s usually filmed.  All wars are ugly.)  

But this is a really well done film.  Mel Gibson, for all of his many, many faults as a human being is a phenomenally charismatic actor and magnetic to watch on the screen.  The action is gripping and well filmed.  All the wife scenes back at the base felt completely unnecessary.  (This is based on a true story, by the way.  Worth reading about.)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good  

Outpost

One of the few Afghanistan War movies that I’ve seen.  (Lone Survivor’s the only other one I can think of.  Wait, Zero Dark Thirty.)  An engrossing movie about the defense of one of the worst positioned bases ever.  Seriously, who wanted to put a base there, surrounded by mountains?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good  

Stowaway

An extra person somehow finds himself on a mission to Mars.  His presence and a series of unfortunate events means that there won’t be enough oxygen for everyone to make it there alive.  What does the crew do?  How do they decide who dies?  

A sweet cast of Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim, and Shamier Anderson.  They all sell their roles extremely convincingly.  The ending’s a little melodramatic, but even that was still effective.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Unstoppable

Chris Pine and Denzel Washington need to stop a runaway train before its cargo of toxic chemicals destroys a city.  A nice action flick with situational conflicts that I haven’t seen before.  It feels unique, something that doesn’t happen much anymore.  (The true story it’s based on is a fun read as well.)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good  

Greyhound

A wonderful WWII movie about a destroyer protecting a convey in the Atlantic, captained by Tom Hanks.  The only fat on this movie is the opening scene with Hanks and his girlfriend.  Everything else is a taut, exciting movie about tactics and survival. 

Special shoutout to composer Blake Neely for his spectacular score.  The wailing sounds are eerie, captivating, and haunting.  Amazingly suitable for this movie.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Astro City, New comics

New comics day 2!  This has been an amazing week of new stuff.  Weeks like this are why I love comics.

Moon Knight 1

I picked this up because of writer Jed MacKay’s excellent work on Black Cat.  My confidence is rewarded with this entertaining start to a character who’s always been a second-rate Batman to me.  (Except for Warren Ellis’ run.  I missed Bill Sienkiewicz’s classic time on the title.)

Can’t ignore artist Alessandro Cappuccio; Moon Knight’s amazing looks in this issue do a great deal of the heavy lifting.

Love the suit.

Love the cape.

Definite add to my pull list.

Captain Marvel 30

A fine ending to the Strange Magic arc.  Carol gets back together with Rhodey and pisses off Doctor Strange with her method of dealing w/ Ove.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 2

I can barely keep track of all the characters and their relationships with one another, but I’m still having a good time.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow 2

Holy moly do I love what Tom King’s doing with this title.  His writing is lovely, and Bilquis Evely’s art continues to match.  

Superman: Red and Blue 5

One of the better anthology issues that I’ve read in a long time, where all but one (the Mark Buckingham) story is a highlight - Judd Winick’s Krypto story:

Ibrahim Moustafa on art.

G. Willow Wilson’s De-escalation story with a great Christopher Reeve Clark by Valentine de Landro:

Jimmy Olsen’s favorite Superman photo as told by Joshua Williamson and Chris Sprouse:

And Daniel Warren Johnson’s touching lesson on how to raise your kid right:

An amazing issue.

Astro City 26-36

Sigh, back to just fine stories.  If that.

Issue 26: A callback to the very first issue of Astro City on its 20th anniversary issue.  Samaritan dreams of flying, but this time they’ve become nightmares.  

Issue 27: The story of American Chibi.  It has to do with video games brought to life.  

Issue 28: Wolfspider, the Australian Ant Man, gets his moment in the sun.

Issue 29-30: Standard “child living in a fascist society conditioned by propaganda and brainwashing learns that the world’s very different from what he’s been raised to believe” story.  For all the alien trappings, it’s very much by the numbers.  

Issue 31: Boring issue about Nightmare.  I don’t know why Kurt Busiek bothered.

Issue 32-34: Steeljack returns for a story I certainly didn’t ask for.  It’s not as bad as his first arc, but maybe that’s just because it’s half as long.  

Issue 35-36: Jack-in-the-Box’s story and legacy continue.  Meh.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (No for 29-31)

Rating: Didn’t suck through Nice

Astro City, New comics

New comics!

Shadecraft 5

End of the series (for now).  That ended way faster than I thought, I assumed this was 12 issues for some reason.  Everything gets tied up rather neatly, I’d rate it as Nice if this were a re-read.  Not nearly as good as Skyward, but maybe it’ll be better the second time around.  (Which will be surprisingly soon; I’m getting to the box after this one.)

Many Deaths of Laila Starr 4

This is really good, and unlike anything else that I’ve ever read.  Ram V’s story and Filipe Andrade’s art combine into this amazing series that feels like a mix of Death: High Cost of Living and Daytripper, I think.  Only uniquely its own.  I think it ends next month, very curious to see how it turns out.

Nightwing 82

So Dick Grayson has a retconned half sister that I’m totally cool with.  Tom Taylor does an impressive job of pulling off the Melinda Zucco connection in a way that doesn’t piss me off.  Told almost completely in flashback, the main story continues next issue.

Astro City 18-21

A nice stretch (for Astro City) of eight issues with no clunkers!

One of the better arcs in this whole series; Hawkeye/Mockingbird analogues Crackerjack and Quarrel are rapidly approaching retirement age, and struggle with the pending life change in different ways.  Kurt Busiek tells a great origin story with some wonderful narration from Quarrel.  He doesn’t do much to redeem Crackerjack’s annoying egotism, but he at least makes his motivations understandable.  Plus, some of Alex Ross’ best covers for Astro City.

Love the joy on her face and the angle of the shot.

Profound grief, masterfully depicted.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Astro City 22-25

Issue 22: In stark contrast to the Quarrel arc, here’s a calm, satisfying tale about a hero who recognizes when his time in the line of fire is over.  It’s surprisingly serene and peaceful, and it totally works.

Issue 23-24: A talking gorilla who just wants to play drums in a band.  His dilemma is amusing (his rehearsals are always interrupted by villains who want to use his gorilla-ness for evil) and his solution is sublime (form a rock band comprised of superheroes so that no one will mess with them).  

Issue 25: The origin story for Hummingbird.  Not too bad.  It’s fun reading about someone who has all the women of the Honor Guard as aunties.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Astro City

Astro City 12-17

All over the place again, and the weaker issues have the same problems as the ones yesterday:

Issue twelve: The Gentleman Bandit is the requisite weak-willed criminal of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City.  Luckily, his gimmick is cool enough that I still had a lot of fun with this issue.  The Bandit is a clotheshorse, and it’s his addiction to fine apparel that keeps drawing him back to a life of thievery.  Love it.  

Issue thirteen: I haven’t talked at all about artist Brent Anderson yet, which is pretty wrong as he’s been Busiek’s partner since the very beginning.  He’s not a bad artist by any means, but he’s never going to be the reason why I buy a comic book.  

Just when I was thinking that very thought though, I turn the page to see this:

He can bring it every once in a while, but I’m still not searching him out when I’m looking to buy something.

Issues fourteen and fifteen: Fuuuuck.  A naive main character and her asshole loser nephew.  Hate hate hate.

Issue sixteen: A good enough story about a teenage Lex Luthor who discovers her own true identity as she learns about that of her archnemesis.  Not at all where I thought the story was going at the beginning, a neat outing by Busiek.

Issue seventeen: Completely forgettable.  Something about a bad guy in the quantum realm who grows large enough to be a threat in the human-sized world.  Blech.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes for 12, 13, 16.  No for the others.

Would read again: Yes.  No for 17.

Rating: Boring (17), Didn’t Suck (14-15), Nice (12-13), Pretty good (16)

Astro City

Astro City 6-11

For such a seemingly positive title, Kurt Busiek sure spends a lot of time on losers, lowlifes, and a populace that’s quick to distrust the heroes.  I think that’s why so many of these issues are an emotional drag.  Take a look at what I’ve read today:

Issue six - A mob flunkie tries to take advantage of a naive Galactus-type cosmic character.  Blech.

Issues seven through ten - The public turns on Winged Victory when she’s framed by one of her enemies.  Sadly still relevant today, magnified for me by the sexual harassment lawsuit against Activision/Blizzard that was announce a few days ago.  People suck.

Issue eleven - The only issue where the protagonist is not only a good person, but good at her job as well.  (Similar to issue four yesterday.)  This story about “Dr Strange’s” personal assistant isn’t bad, but it’s actually weaker than the previous Winged Victory story.

Overall, nothing that gets me excited to keep reading.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck through Nice

Astro City

Astro City 1-5

Here we go into the back half of Astro City.  It’s a mixed bag:

The Broken Man is a crazy, annoying version of John Constantine, the person scheming behind the scenes to stop a threat that no one else can see.  Issues one and five: Meh.

The high tech hotline handling all of the Honor Guard’s incoming calls is a really neat idea.  Kurt Busiek fleshing out the organization to a very satisfying degree, but the human element of a call center worker wracked with guilt over a botched call gets tedious fast.

Issue four brings back a minor character from Volume 2 issue 22.  Awesomely, she’s perfectly happy as a minor character, someone who has powers but zero interest in any kind of superheroics.  This traditional comics-adjacent world is the kind of thing that Busiek excels at writing.

Oh yeah, Mister Cakewalk seems very problematic.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No (Yes for 4)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine through Pretty good

Astro City

Astro City: Dark Age Book Three 1-4

Geez Louise, how long does it take to get revenge for your parents’ murder?  I thought this interminable series was twelve issues long, since that’s how many issues I have.  Turns out past me lost patience and didn’t get Book Four.  Sixteen fricking issues.  Are you serious?

Dark Age is the strongest argument so far for making cuts to my Astro City collection.  I’ve got fifty two issues left to read, let’s see how it goes.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

Astro City: Astra Special 1-2

The little girl from Volume 2 issues two and three has graduated from college, and isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life.  And her boyfriend sells out to a tabloid.  Blech, it sounds worse when I type it out.  Downgrade in rating!

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck