Bishop

Bishop 1-4

Bishop holds an extra special place in my heart.  The first comic in my collection was Uncanny X-Men 282, and that cover will always be burned into my memory.  I loved the mystery of his first appearance, the sweet character design, that red scarf, his take-no-prisoners attitude.  

Who could have known where this would lead me?

I’ve always found it sad that his writers never made good on his amazing potential, and that his initial story remains his best.  (I really can’t think of a memorable Bishop story after that one.) As far as my reading history goes, he’s always been a supporting character, used whenever something time-travel related needed a focal point.  (See Age of Apocalypse.)

This is a fine miniseries, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Carlos Pacheco.  It gives us more appearances for Shard, who also has a slick looks going for her.

The story’s okay.  Bishop fights one of the criminal refugees from his original timeline.  He’s forced to choose between the more brutal ethics of his XSE days and the compassion of the X-Men.  Is he going to kill Mountjoy at the end of the fourth issue? Blah blah no surprises. Still, it’s not the worst iteration of this tired trope.  And Pacheco’s art does a lot to grease the wheels.

I’m always going to picture Bishop as Michael Dorn.  He’s definitely got a lot of Worf in him.

Speaking of Star Trek, Bishop also had an ad for Star Trek: Generations.  So pretty.  And before it turned out to be an okay but not great movie.  (I was so hopeful.)

All the elements combine to take my breath away.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Saga, Archangel, Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, Astonishing X-Men

Saga 13-30

I don’t own these issues yet, but I will in 5-8 business days.  I borrowed these from the library, and they confirm that this series is amazing.  It continues to read so well in big chunks, and that’s how I’ll continue to buy it moving forward.  (Depending on how sweet the deluxe collections are, I may get Book 3 of that instead of buying volumes 7-9.)

Vaughan, though Hazel’s narration, is so skilled at sprinkling his story with just enough spoilers to drive you crazy.  (In a good way.) Things like, “She and her pals eventually find what they’re looking for...but at a much higher cost than they’d expected.”  And, “This is the story of how my parents split up.” These come issues ahead of the actual events, and knowing things are going to end poorly only increases the tension.  The only sure thing is that Hazel survives long enough to tell this story. Though she could just as easily be dead, like Izabel.

Some other things of note:

“There are only three forms of high art: the symphony, the illustrated children’s book and the board game.”  First of all, thumbs down to Eric Stephenson (listed as the coordinator) for missing the Oxford comma. Secondly, while I don’t necessarily agree with D. Oswald Heist’s list, it’s a perfectly valid one, and I love the sentiment.

Fiona Staples continues to draw both sublime quiet moments and batshit crazy “wtf am I looking at” splashes.

This is the sweetest, most life-affirming thing I’ve ever read.  It should be mandatory reading for anyone who’s been through anything like Sophie:

Best Lying Cat ever.

Love that all the people have different kinds of wings.

So obvious, but still so hilarious.

NEVER thought I'd be looking at a self-fellating dragon.

I’m finally on the bandwagon that everyone’s been riding for years.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Archangel 1

After almost starting on my indie comic boxes, I opted to move on to my X-Universe boxes.  It’s a lot more manageable (three of them as opposed to like six), and it’ll be nice to finish off all the Marvel boxes.  This box includes all the non-main titles, beginning with this random one-shot issue.

Written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Leonardo Manco, this takes place after Sabretooth kicked the crap out of Archangel circa Uncanny 328.  Warren deals with the trauma of the event by...getting kidnapped and working out his issues with his ghostly captor?  I don’t know why this couldn’t be an issue of the main title, nor why it’s in black and white. I really wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t want to spring for a colorist.  

It’s not Manco’s best work, and Milligan leans into his incomprehensible Vertigo-weirdness.  Easy cut.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Stupid (cut)

Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix 1-4

From an X-Men history standpoint, this is a neat miniseries.  While on their honeymoon, Scott Summers and Jean Grey are transported to the far future by Rachel Summers.  There, they raise Nathan Summers for the first eight or so years of his life, providing the foundation for the boy who will become Cable.  Meanwhile, Apocalypse rears a young Stryfe, a dark mirror for Cable from the very beginning.

This is epic stuff, and it’s cool that Scott Lobdell ties together Nathan’s youth with his parents.  (Kind of. His mom isn’t actually Jean Grey, but a clone of her who later went mad and became the Goblin Queen, transforming New York City into a demon-filled hellscape, etc.  God, I’ve missed X-continuity!) It’s nice that Cyclops gets the opportunity to raise his son after being forced to send him two thousand years into the future in a last-ditch effort to save him from the techno-organic virus that Apocalypse infected him with as an infant, etc.  (Love it!!)

It’s too bad that the details aren’t that interested.  Lobdell’s story is really kind of meh. The only thing keeping it in the collection it’s key place in X-history and Gene Ha’s art.  I think this is the first place I’d ever seen him, and while his work on Top 10 is far more polished, the pencils here are still unique and worth keeping around.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Astonishing X-Men 25-27

Warren Ellis as his worst.  It’s a bad sign when I need to read the “Previously in Astonishing X-Men” summary in the next issue to understand what I just slogged through.  These issues are super wordy, trying and failing to be witty while attempting to explain a plot that’s unnecessarily complicated.  Not even the really cool looking art by Simone Bianchi saves it from the donation box.

Dude can draw.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Stupid (cut)

Zero Girl, Think Tank

Zero Girl 1-5

Hated this in so many ways.  Amy’s powers are weird, her personality annoys me, her aggressive advances towards her teacher are improper, and she’s generally disagreeable.  Sam Keith’s art honestly disgusts me with its grossness (the square acne generated physical revulsion). I stopped paying attention by the last issue.  The final non-happy ending would have been powerful if I cared at all about the characters, but all I thought was, “Serves you right, you stupid person.”  I can’t get rid of this fast enough.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Hated

Think Tank 9-12

Think Tank: Creative Destruction 1-4

Think Tank: Animal 1-4

So so good.  Dr David Loren is a deeply flawed character, but despite his many issues and his almost alien genius, it’s so easy to relate to, and therefore root for, him.  Much of it has to do with the excellent inner monologues that Matt Hawkins writes for him. Even as he acts as a complete dick, you see everything that’s going on in his head, and you can understand and even empathize with what he’s going through.  He’s got so much weight on his soul, trapped in an impossible position creating weapons of death for the government. Only a sociopath wouldn’t crack under the pressure.

Then there’s the science.  Hawkins does so much research for these stories, as evidenced by the multitude of links that he cites at the end of each issue (thankfully included in the trades as well.)  There’s no end to the terrifying things that he’s managed to uncover, and I should really take the time to read up on a bunch of it. (It may be scary, but it’s also fascinating.)

The series wraps up a little too neatly, but after all the shit he’s gone through, who am I to begrudge David a happy ending?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

And that’s the end of Image Box 3!  

Box Summary:

Time spent reading: 18 hours, 38 minutes

Issues read: 154

Issues cut: 21

Highlights (Good or better): Rising Stars, Starlight, Think Tank, Transhuman, Wonderlost.  

Project Summary:

Time spend reading: 14 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes

Issues read: 2806

Issues cut: 356

Walk Through Hell, Superman, Ironheart, Youngblood

New comics!

Walk Through Hell 7

Still weird, but I’m losing interest and running out of patience.  The slow build up to..something is no longer creepy and ominous, just tedious.  Also, the thought of reading this over again from issue one doesn’t appeal to me at all.  It’s very likely that this is my last issue of the series.

There is a very interesting conversation midway through about identity and how social groups today have a tendency to reflexively judge whether or not someone is entitled to speak on their behalf.  “It’s a short step from identity to superiority. More and more I see opinions born of subjective experience being deemed more worthy than those born of objectivity...Your right to be heard in any discussion - even to join it - is determined by your identity.  Other opinions are not welcome. Now when did that every work out well for anyone?”

I have many thoughts about this, but I’ll keep them to myself.  I’ll happily have this discussion in person, though.

Superman 7

Jon Kent returns.  Three weeks in Superman’s time, seven years in Superboy’s.  (Which I totally don’t buy. From the amount of moping Clark’s been doing, there’s not way it hasn’t been less than three months.)

It’s really not much of an issue.  Superboy fights with Jor-El, Lois feel useless and returns to Earth.  It all feels like an excuse to dress Lois up in a spandex Superman outfit.  This is taking decompressed storytelling to completely new heights, and it’s not doing it for me.  Insane Jor-El doesn’t grab my attention either. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

I never noticed all this Lois fan service in the past.

Ironheart 2

At least Brian Michael Bendis’ legacy is in good hands.  This is a comic about Riri, not Ironheart.  Her character factors so much into this story, it’s delightful.  Definitely sticking around for a while longer.

Team Youngblood 9, 14

I must have gotten rid of the original miniseries at some point, because I know I used to own it.  As bad as it is, I’d still like to have it for nostalgia’s sake. Ah well. I’m certainly not going to buy anything else by Rob Liefeld.  Though I don’t understand why I would have dumped those and not these.

At least the inks by Danny Miki are cleaner on Liefeld’s pencils.  That gives it a professional look that improves upon the art in the original series.  For all the shit that everyone (and I) give Liefeld, there’s still something magnetic about his work.  It’s still fun to look at.  I still remember all of his designs for the original Youngblood team, so clearly he hit upon something that worked.  

I've always liked Shaft's look and Badrock's face.

Not as nice when Liefeld inks himself.

...okay, I can’t resist.  Let’s take a look at his hands.

Shaft's shaking with a balled up fist.  Try to get your hand to do what Die Hard's is.

Unsurprisingly, Liefeld draws half the issue before never returning to the title.  Chap Yaep, regular penciller for Team Youngblood, takes back the reins for the second half.  He has shown himself to be a capable artist, but his consistency leaves a lot to be desired.  

I really like this picture of Dutch.

Hard to believe the same artist drew these faces.

I only have issue fourteen because teenage me was titillated by the “Riptide poses nude for a magazine” storyline.  Seeing as how the ‘photos’ are no more risque than something you can find in an issue of Maxim, I don’t know why past me bothered.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (No for 14)

Rating: Fine (Didn’t suck for 14)

Youngblood 1, 2

Awesome Adventures 1

Alan Moore lasted three issues before bailing on his Youngblood reboot.  I’m constantly stunned by how much Moore material I keep cutting from my collection.  It’s flat out boring, not nearly as interesting as I remember. Steve Skroce draws a slick Shaft, though.

I just love the red/white color scheme paired with the archer motif.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring (Cutting)

WildCATs, Wildstorm Rising, Wild Storm, Wonderlost

WildCATs 1

A title restart by Grant Morrison and Jim Lee.  It hits all the right beats, with the original team scattered across the universe and slowly getting back together.  But there’s no clear mandate for the group, only a disparate set of stories. It doesn’t help that it’s part of a Wildstorm-wide crossover, something called Worldstorm that I never read more of.  (At least, I’m assuming it’s a crossover. Maybe it’s just the name of the first arc. I never read more of this series, either. Oh, hah. I just looked it up, a second issue never came out...)

Keeping it for the Jim Lee art, even though there’s nothing really stand out about it.

Any reason for the psychedelic colors aside from the sex?

Callback to the Emp trash scene in WildCATs 1?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Wildstorm Rising 1-2, WildCATs 20, Union 4, Gen13 2, Grifter 1, Deathblow 16, Wetworks 8, Backlash 8, Stormwatch 22

Ah, the massive company-wide crossover.  A ten-issue extravaganza spanning eight regular titles.  It sounds epic enough, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing more than a “gather all the pieces that power the MacGuffin” story.  Of course it has to do with an item that Team 7 encountered in the past, which conveniently allows the plot to weave its way through Gen13, Grifter, Deathblow, Wetworks, and Backlash.  

It’s clear that Gen 13 was only marginally involved with the planning of the story, as it’s a) the only issue not written by James Robinson, Ron Marz, or Steven Seagle (who each wrote three issues of the crossover) and b) only tangentially related to the main story.  It isn’t necessary for the crossover and it doesn’t interrupt the flow of Gen 13.  It’s also the most fun, a breezy romp that doesn’t take on the grim, serious mein of the rest of the event.  It’s also, importantly, the issue where Sarah Rainmaker comes out as a lesbian. Pretty enlightened for the mid-90s, though Roxy’s reaction is anything but.

I can’t tell if the decision to make Sarah gay was a thoughtful attempt at inclusion or a blatant attempt to attract horny male teenagers.  (It is a comic driven almost entirely by J Scott Campbell’s ability to draw hot women, after all.)  

Some other thoughts about the crossover:

Grifter 1 - It sucks to have your first issue come smack in the middle of the crossover.  There’s no way for it to effectively communicate what it’s all about. I suppose it succeeded in getting my money, but there was zero chance that I was going to come back for the next one.  

Deathblow 16 - This has got a line that makes the list of awesomeness.  After his comrades have fallen into a camouflaged spike hole, a surviving henchmen marvels, “How can that be?  No one arbitrarily surrounds his home with spear-filled pits.” Let us all join him in his thoughtful bewilderment.  

Stormwatch 22 - Renato Arlem is not the caliber of penciller that Stormwatch deserves.  

So many problems with posing and anatomy.

Of course, as good as he was at Marvel, Barry Windsor-Smith’s style doesn’t fit with the Wildstorm style either.  His thick line weights and blurry colors feel sloppy when viewed amidst the other artists’ issues.

Smith has some unpleasant anatomy going on too.

I’m not saying Brett Booth’s a better artist than Smith, just that he better suits the art expectations I have for this crossover:   

This crossover reminded me of the eight piece cover image Whilce Portacio did in 1994.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for Gen 13 and WildCATs because of the art)

Wild Storm 1-3

Warren Ellis completely reboots the Wildstorm universe.  He cuts down on the brightly-colored superheroics and amps up the government machinations.  It’s right in his wheelhouse (which isn’t to say that Ellis hasn’t nailed superheroes in the past).  It’s also very clinical and dispassionate, which is probably why I stopped buying it after three issues.  

But it reads a lot better in one go, instead of monthly installments.  I’m interested in reading the rest at some point, and can see myself being convinced to buy it.  (I want to be convinced, because I want to like Ellis.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Wonderlost 1-2

CB Cebulski writes vignettes about his high school and college years.  They’re all centered around girls, sex, alcohol, and drugs. That sounds far more shallow than it really is.  While a number of the stories do indeed reflect the stupidity and unthinkingly insensitive behavior that is the male teenage mind, just as many accurately reflect the magic of teenage love and the pure wonder of a perfect shared moment with someone you care about.  

The art is surprisingly consistent in its high quality.  I particularly liked Alina Urusov’s art. What else has she done?  Not very much, from what I can tell. That’s a total shame,

This never happened to me in college.

I'd love to see more of this art.

This reminds me of Copybook Tales with more sex and booze.  Both are welcome additions to my bookshelf.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Wildcats, Wildcats Special

WildCATs Special 1

This may have been my first exposure to Travis Charest’s art.  I remember thinking at the time that he did lips differently from everyone else.  Anyway, this was a solid debut for him (for me) - Close to Jim Lee’s style, but distinct enough to have a voice of its own.  And he would obviously go on to do do phenomenal work.

The story hits all the early WildCATs tropes: Daemonite possessions, cryptic Void/Providence speak, Grifter showing off, a Coda warrior still pissed off at Zealot, a dramatic team entrance courtesy of Void.  The details are unimportant.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

WildCATs 0

It pissed me off that this issue could only be purchased along with the collection of the original miniseries.  Of course, the completionist that I was at the time couldn’t resist. Present me isn’t so pleased with past me. A pointless issue with nascent Brett Booth art doing its best (which isn’t very good) Jim Lee impression.  Not cutting because nostalgia.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

WildCATs 1-13

I went into this read expecting it to feel like Mark Silvestri’s Cyberforce run - Horrible writing (from past his prime Chris Claremont and Claremont-devotee Brandon Choi), generic characters from the Image school of design, and awesome art.  Sure, the art would be superior (Jim Lee!), but it would still be a struggle to get through it all.

Surprisingly, no.  Jim Lee manages to carry the whole thing on the strength of his pencils, with strong assists from his inking and coloring teams (primarily Scott Williams and Joe Chiodo).  My notes are littered with panels that blew me away and reminded me of just how big of a role Lee played in why I originally fell in love with comics in the first place.

The other half of my notes call out all the plot holes too annoying to ignore.  Let’s see if there's enough pretty art in the rest of this post to keep me from getting to them…

These shots of Grifter are engrained in my mind from high school:

Lee would do a great Chow Yun Fat comic.

Lee really know how to use a three-quarters page panel for maximum effect:

The action leaps off the page.

Great use of perspective.

Warblade may be a generic mix of Wolverine and the T-1000, but Lee knows how to make him look cool.

I’d forgotten about this piece of Lee art until I saw it in an in-house ad:

I love Lee’s two-line shorthand for eyes:

Once again, the Cats port in fully posed.  I really like the bright, crisp colors.

Issue five also has two memorable four-page gatefolds.  They’re impressive, but part of me would have loved to see how he’d tackle a fight with more than two characters.

Something more like this.

Perhaps the only time a comic book character will admits to artificial enhancements:

Scott and Jean cameo, right after their wedding over at Marvel!

This Zealot reminded me so much of something that I’d seen before…

It's not a swipe if it's your own art, is it?

Granted, with Daemonites as your main villain, there’s bound to be a ton of mind control in your stories.  But Chris Claremont’s use of the phrase “body and soul” was such a trigger word for me that I felt compelled to do a quick internet search.  Surprising no one, it’s something that he’s used once or twice in his writing before.

I had not realized that Claremont’s use of mind control was prevalent enough to support an entire blog.  

Reading the Tapestry storyline reminded of happy days playing the Wildstorms CCG.  I should dig them up and dust them off, see if it’s as fun as I remember.

These were good cards.

WildCATs came as a pleasant surprise after so many early Image reread letdowns, and it’s all thanks to Jim Lee, best of the best.  He’s got a fan for life right here.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice