CSBG Archive
What I bought – 6 July 2006
I had to wait a whole day to get my comics this week, and you better believe it made me grumpy! But I made, good folk, I made it through the rain (literally, as it actually rained for a few hours here in AZ on Wednesday morning) and now I bring you my thoughts. I wonder if everyone appreciates what I go through for you people. I pick up first issues of things so you don’t have to, and let you know if they’re worth it or not. Yet do I get nominated for Nobel Prizes, Victoria Crosses, Congressional Medals, or get considered for canonization? I do not. Where’s the justice, I ask you?????
Whoops. Got carried away a bit there. Let’s look at the selections, shall we?Â
Batman: Secrets #5 (of 5) by Sam Kieth. $2.99, DC.
Check out that cover – Batman as Christ, complete with halo, sternly judging the sinners who reach up to him (represented by the Joker). Christian iconography in a comic book cover – cool!Â
The interesting thing about this mini-series is not that the story is that revolutionary, but that Kieth says what we all know about Batman and the Joker, but DC is unwilling to admit. Well, it’s out there in the public record now, DC, whether you will admit it or not! Ha-ha-ha! The secrets of the title aren’t necessarily the most interesting thing, although they add a bit of spice to the story. This is really about why Batman and the Joker exist, as Joker points out in issue #2: “We can’t really die, you and me. We’ll be kept alive and at each others’ throats in reporters’ stories forever. It makes us … iconic, sort of. Doesn’t it? You dark and brooding, me insane laughing. Clichés the public wants.” He asks Batman why they fight, to which Batman replies because the Joker keeps killing people, but the Joker is more perceptive: “No. We fight … because the machine demands it. … The corporations, the public, media profits. They want blood, Roman gladiator stuff. And thumbs-up doesn’t pull the ratings or sell papers, does it?” Kieth does a masterful job of putting all of this in the mouth of the Joker, who is of course insane, but never contradicting it. Batman cannot come up with arguments to counter what the Joker says, especially when it comes to who Batman saves and who he doesn’t. Is it a choice? Or is the Joker just that much more evil? In this issue, Kieth references the controversial ending to The Killing Joke. The Joker says, “We laughed because it was absurd – because we are. But you’re not laughing any more. Neither am I.”
Ultimately, this is not really a great Batman “story.” The Joker claims to have reformed, he gets out on parole, but begins killing again. He tries to sway media perception against Batman, but that doesn’t really work. He blackmails an old friend of Bruce Wayne’s, who has his own little secret. Each character finds a bit of redemption because they give up their secrets. But Batman can’t find redemption, even though he too gives up his secret. The Joker presses him for his real secret, and that’s what it is: he can’t forgive himself for anything that has happened, especially crimes the Joker has committed. This lack of forgiveness makes the cover even more ironic and twists the entire story into a much more unusual take on what Batman means. It’s a fascinating profile of both Batman and the Joker, despite a weak narrative. And you get five issues of Kieth’s absolutely gorgeous art. Look for the trade, my friends, look for the trade!
Battler Britton #1 by Garth Ennis and Colin Wilson. $2.99, DC/Wildstorm.
Because I care about you, good readers, I buy stuff like this and tell you whether it’s worth it. A new Garth Ennis war series? With art by the very good Colin Wilson? How can it not be excellent?
Well, unfortunately, it’s not. It’s not horrible, but it’s a Garth Ennis war story. That means, if you’ve ever read a Garth Ennis war story, you’ve read this one. If you have never read a Garth Ennis war story, by all means go get this. It has nice action sequences, good characterization, the obligatory death of the young kid who didn’t know what he was getting into, and tension between the Brits and Yanks in North Africa, which adds a nice twist. But we’ve seen it all before from Garth Ennis. So I don’t need to keep buying this, because I can just re-read War Stories, or Adventures of the Rifle Brigade (which is funnier, but still a war story), or 303, or even parts of Hitman. This is why I don’t read The Punisher, even though I like Ennis. Yes, I don’t like the character, but from what I read about it, it sounds like Ennis is writing war stories starring Frank Castle. I have mentioned this before with some of my favorite writers, of which Ennis used to be one: how about trying something different? Write a romance, for crying out loud! Write a spy thriller set in Elizabethan times! Do something!
Anyway, like I said, there’s nothing particularly wrong with this. There’s just nothing particularly thrilling about it, either.
Detective Comics #821 by Paul Dini and J. H. Williams III. $2.99, DC.
I like how somebody somewhere mentioned that these Dini/Williams Detectives would be one-and-done issues, as if that was revolutionary. It’s always fun when a new writer decides to do that, because people react as if it’s never been done before, even though we know it has been. It’s just such a novel approach here in the writing for the trade days that we seem to have trouble processing it.
That doesn’t mean the stories will be any good, of course. Six-issue marathons can be brilliant, just as one-issue quickies can, but both can suck, too. Dini does a decent job his first time out, aided by Williams’ gorgeous pencils (not in his new Promethea/Desolation Jones style, but in his old style, which is still very good). He uses Bruce Wayne effectively, as a crime wave is sweeping through Gotham’s bluebloods and Bruce actually goes to social functions to get to the bottom of it, and it’s always nice to see a new villain. The problems I have with the issue are minor, and they’re the same ones I always have with detective stories – it seems way too easy. One of the gang approaches him (which makes sense, as they’re robbing rich people and he’s the richest one around), but this just makes it much easier for our Bruce.  Batman figures out who Façade (the very nicely designed ringleader) is easily, too, from a chance encounter at one of the clubs he visits while doing his Bruce Wayne thing. I realize that if you’re going to do a story in one issue, you’re going to have to cut some corners, but it always bugs me.
Still, it’s a solid start. Batman is suitably tough, but he does make a small joke, and Robin shows up to help. What I would really like is if DC and their Batman writers made a clear delineation between the two main books. They’ve tried it before and it hasn’t lasted long. I want these kinds of stories in Detective – Batman needs to use his skills (although, to be honest, he doesn’t use them that much) to track down your regular punks and thieves. Let’s keep the Rogues’ Gallery to a minimum in Detective (yes, I know Poison Ivy is showing up) and the stories short – one or two issues. Batman is the superhero book. There he can fight the Joker and Two-Face and all the outlandish crazies and do superheroic things and have longer storylines. Anyway, that’s my plea. I’m sure all the bigwigs at DC read this, so maybe they’ll heed my advice!
Manifest Eternity #2 by Scott Lobdell and Dustin Nguyen. $2.99, DC/Wildstorm.
I am sticking with Manifest Eternity for a few more issues, but I don’t have high hopes for it. Before I read them, I have a few different kinds of books in my mind: there are books I know will be good just because of the talent involved; books that intrigue me but I’m not sure about them because of the talent involved (either I don’t know them or their track record isn’t great); and books I want to like because of the idea and the talent involved. This book falls into the third category. I think Scott Lobdell’s run on Uncanny X-Men is wildly underrated, and I loved Nguyen’s art on Wildcats 3.0. The first two issues of this series, however, are underwhelming.
Nguyen’s art isn’t sloppy, but his new style makes it look so. He’s experimenting with softer lines and blurs, and it fits the fantastical sections of the book, but not the hard science fiction parts. Meanwhile, we learn that Xavier Tarkington, who was an important part of the first issue, was taken to the alternate reality and given a choice to betray his species or watch his entire crew die. He decides to be a traitor, a choice that will of course have consequences. He sees it as now being on the inside of contingent that is coming to conquer this reality and therefore being able to work against it, but how many others will see it that way?
It’s certainly an interesting series, but Lobdell takes far too long getting to the point of this issue, and therefore very little happens that couldn’t have happened in a shorter amount of time. There is, of course, a fine line between rushing everything and taking far too long, and I don’t want this series to zip along and skip crucial moments, but this issue was decidedly weaker than the first one, and therefore I have to question where the series is going. Like I said, I’m giving it a few months to make up my mind. It’s on notice, though!
Midnight Sun #1 by Ben Towle. $2.95, SLG.
Here’s another book that I bought for you, good readers. Okay, not really, because I’m not going to buy something if I don’t think I will like it, but the point is, you might have missed this, and it’s my duty to tell you if you should run, not walk, to your local comics haven and buy it quick!
Well, don’t bother. If and when this gets a trade paperback, it might read better. The reason I got it was because the story is neat: a reporter is sent to find out what happened to a blimp that was flying over the North Pole. It takes place between 1922 and 1933 (it’s during Prohibition, Pius XI is pope, and Mussolini rules Italy), and the blimp, after reaching the North Pole, turns back in inclement weather, but has not been heard from since. Our ace reporter, H. R., who has a bit of a drinking problem, is on notice: get the story or don’t bother coming back. We get a brief interlude where we see the crew on the blimp and their triumphant pass over the pole, and then H. R. prepares for his journey, which will take him to Liverpool, Norway, and points north. We know the blimp has crashed, because the book begins with a crew member finding the captain – a man called General Nobile – in the snow. The question is: what happened, and can H. R. (or anyone else, for that matter) save them?
See? It sounds neat. The art is sketchy and lacking in verve, but sufficient. But the actual issue is boring. It’s a lot of talking heads, as H. R.’s editor gives him his assignment, H. R. visits a friend to get background, and even the scene in the blimp don’t convey much sense of motion or even of the weather turning nasty. It’s just dull. I’m not sure what Towle could have done differently – perhaps skip the part where H. R. gets his assignment and have him already heading north – we could learn about it all from a brief flashback, maybe. I’m just not sure. I have a feeling that this will be something very interesting when it all comes together, which makes me think it should have been a graphic novel, because then I could have forgiven the slow start. I have not seen another issue solicited yet, which makes me think it will be a long time before it’s even finished, much less collected. It’s a shame.
One final thing: the editing is atrocious. “Leningrad” is spelled “Lenningrad.” Pius XI uses “latter” incorrectly – at least I hope he does, unless he wants to tip the scales of the expedition to evil, which would add a nifty twist to the story, but I doubt it’s supposed to be that way. And General Nobile says, “the weather is worstening.” Maybe it’s his poor command of English, but I doubt that, too. Sloppiness like this really bothers me. It might not bother you, but it does me. Maybe I’m too anal.
Uncanny X-Men #475 by Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan, and Danny Miki. $2.99, Marvel.
It has been a while since I was a regular reader of Uncanny X-Men, but when Brubaker comes on board, I have to at least give it a chance! The first thing that daunts me, however, is in the upper left corner: Part 1 of 12. Holy crap! Will he be able to consistently keep up the momentum on a 12-issue story? We shall see.
This is a pretty decent issue. It’s nothing great, but it’s interesting enough to get me to come back. There’s a lot of action, and our favorite mutants get to trash stuff and hit people, and Charles Xavier has a good mission for them, which involves going into space to stop the third Summers brother before he destroys the Shi’ar Empire, which gets them all off the earth for a while and allows Brubaker to concentrate just on these characters. That’s fine. The art is good, too, although Tan appears to be channeling his inner David Finch. When did he start drawing like this? I thought I had seen his art before, when it wasn’t as good as this. It’s good – perfectly suited for a standard superhero book, which is what this is. Fine and dandy.
My general complaint with the X-books these days is total lack of focus. I like that Brubaker picks up on Milligan’s use of Lorna and how she is being chased by acolytes of Apocalypse, because continuity between writers is always nice, even if the incoming writer overturns the status quo – he should at least acknowledge that it exists before wiping it out. However, the mutant corner of the Marvel U. has become hopelessly convoluted, and I know I haven’t been so deeply involved in it as I used to be, but this issue left me with a lot of questions that are completely tangential to the storyline. I have never liked Warpath, but I guess I can deal with him. Why he hates Xavier is beyond me. Why Xavier can walk but doesn’t have his telepathy is also beyond me. I had heard rumors about Vulcan, but have no idea what’s going on with him. Scott also hates Xavier, for some reason. And where has Xavier been? I know he was in some minor book for a while, and then in the “Dangerous” story in Astonishing X-Men, but since then, where? And when was his marriage annulled? You understand, I’m not terribly worried about these things, but the problem I have is that when Claremont was writing all the books, you might not have liked what he was doing, but at least it was somewhat coherent. Now, not so much, but Marvel wants to pretend we buy every single mutant book and that they all make sense. Either kill off a bunch of your books and make sure every writer is on the same page, Marvel, or stop pretending that it matters. Grrr.
As for the composition of the team, that’s another thing that bugs me. Each writer coming in appears to simply cherry-pick his favorites for the teams. I know Whedon got to pick all his faves, because we must all bow down to the altar of Whedon, but I would love it if Marvel said, “These are the teams – deal with it.” Again, jumping around from book to book might work if we had fewer books and fewer mutants, but it doesn’t work with this sprawling mess of mutants that we have now.
That’s just my rant, however. On its own, this is a fun first issue, with lots of action, a good mission, and a chance for good character interaction. I’ll be back to see where Brubaker is going with it!
MINI-SERIES I BOUGHT BUT DID NOT READ.
Free Fall #2 (of 5) by Gianluca Piredda and Eric J. $3.99, Narwain Publishing.
I mentioned when issue #3 came out that I hadn’t gotten issue #2 yet. My fine comic book shoppe, though, tracked down an issue for me. Yay, Robert! I only put this cover up to compare and contrast with the covers for issue #1, issue #3, and issue #4 (which hasn’t come out yet). Just for fun. I’ll let you know about the content when the series is complete.
Umbra #2 (of 3) by Murphy and Mike Hawthorne. $5.99, Image.
Issue #1 should still be available, because it just came out. It’s a very intriguing book. Of course, I just saw issue #3 solicited for September, so it may be a while until I read this, but I don’t care, because it’s cool.
So there you have it for the first week of July. Remember – I sacrifice for you! FOR YOU!!!!!!!
23 Comments
DanLarkin
July 7, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I’m pretty sure Warpath doesn’t hate Xavier anymore. Charles was referring to the period (circa issue #193) when James blamed him for his older brother’s death.
I thought Tan’s art looked too much like David Finch’s work. He draws the same ugly squinchy faces.
T.
July 7, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I disagree about the Batman mystery. Compared to what passes for detective work in Batman comics for the past decade, it was the best mystery he’s had in a while. The mysteries either consist of Batman beating the info out of somebody, Oracle doing the legwork offscreen, a villain who’s deliberately leaving clues for Batman (how hard is it to solve crimes when the person leaves clues on purpose?), or the mystery is written by Jeph Loeb, meaning it’s all red herrings and plot holes with no actual clues.
And Batman didn’t chance upon the villain in that earlier encounter, he was investigating the club specifically because it was a likely place to have a connection the culprit.
moose n squirrel
July 7, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I want Garth Ennis to write a book about a physically weak, even effeminate man who doesn’t like fighting, reads a lot of books, and is nevertheless a likeable, admirable person.
E.D.
July 7, 2006 at 1:27 pm
“I thought Tan’s art looked too much like David Finch’s work. He draws the same ugly squinchy faces.”
Exactly. As much as I like Brubaker’s other Marvel work, the Finchiness of the art turned me off.
Greg Burgas
July 7, 2006 at 1:28 pm
See, Dan? I knew Warpath hated him back then, but didn’t know if he still did. It’s stuff like that – where we’re never sure of the current situation because of all the ridiculous amount of books – that drives me batty. And Tan’s art does look like Finch, but compared to what it used to look like, it’s much better.
I agree, T., that Batman’s solving of the crime is better than it has been, but it still seemed easy to me. Batman simply had a hunch who Facade would be, and surprisingly enough, he was right! His instincts about the reporter were done better by Dini. That said, I did appreciate the effort and thought the story worked. It’s always nice to see a Batman who doesn’t simply beat people up.
I think Ennis’ brain would explode if he tried to do that, Moose.
Rob
July 7, 2006 at 2:34 pm
“Oracle doing the legwork”
Was I the only one who did a spit take?
FunkyGreenJerusalem
July 7, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Umbra sounded good the last time you mentioned it, but issue two’s cover just put me right off.
“Bugger the story and the art and anything else we might have going, we’ve got two women fucking! What else do you need to know?”.
(I am curious though, isn’t it set in Sweden? Is the writer Swedish at all? The Swedes, and most of that are of the globe (Norway, Netherlands etc) do make some intresting/bizarre crime films, usually of a pretty decent quality).
Greg Burgas
July 7, 2006 at 4:39 pm
It’s set in Iceland, actually. I flipped through the issue, and it doesn’t look gratuitous at all. I might have missed something, but don’t let the obvious pandering put you off! Even in issue #1, the making out was more subdued than I thought it would be!
moose n squirrel
July 7, 2006 at 5:30 pm
“Bugger the story and the art and anything else we might have going, we’ve got two women fucking! What else do you need to know?â€
Well, if the actual story inside the actual book does involve two women fucking, then is it any more exploitative than a similar cover showing a man making out with a woman?
To be honest, I find the faux-prudish objections to attractive lesbians just a bit rich coming from readers of superhero comics, who are not exactly known for shying away from sexploitation. Where was this massive host of finger-waggers back when Power Girl and her breast-window debuted?
FunkyGreenJerusalem
July 7, 2006 at 9:57 pm
“Well, if the actual story inside the actual book does involve two women fucking, then is it any more exploitative than a similar cover showing a man making out with a woman?”
If they were in an ice pool fucking, then I’d have the same reaction.
Actually I lie, it’s worse it being lesbians, because it feels like a blatant grab for young boys/single men in need of a somthing to titillate them.
“To be honest, I find the faux-prudish objections to attractive lesbians just a bit rich coming from readers of superhero comics, who are not exactly known for shying away from sexploitation. Where was this massive host of finger-waggers back when Power Girl and her breast-window debuted? ”
I’m not being prudish – I’m all for comics about people fucking. But I don’t believe this entire comic is about women screwing.
I’m just dissapointed that the medium I love still can’t get away from needing sexploitation.
I wasn’t around when Power Girl debuted, but I’ve always shaken my head at the size of her knockers.
I can see your gagging to make some sort of hypocrite allegation, but you’ve really got the wrong man for it.
Mark Cook
July 7, 2006 at 11:19 pm
For Prof. X: after “Dangerous” were his appearances in “House of M” and “Deadly Genesis.” Deadly Genesis is probably the only must read, House of M just means that when Wanda said “No More Mutants” Chuck lost his telepathy but gained the ability to walk. Deadly Genesis is also where Scott gets pissed off at him, which has EVERYTHING to do with Vulcan. His marriage to Lilandra was annulled in New X-Men 133.
So the continuity isn’t too bad – Marvel’s big event of 2005, the Ed Brubaker X-Men mini-series that just wrapped up, a Claremont plot point from fifteen years ago, and a throw-away line from Grant Morrison; nothing that really contradicts. But good gosh, doesn’t it make you with they’d put the damn footnotes with the issue number back in?
Peter Hensel
July 8, 2006 at 4:00 am
Man, I wanted to pick up Brubaker’s X-Men, but I don’t even know who Vulcan is, enver mind all this Deadly Genesis crap. Oh well, at least his Captain America and DD work is stellar.
moose n squirrel
July 8, 2006 at 4:13 am
“it feels like a blatant grab for young boys/single men in need of a somthing to titillate them”
And it wouldn’t be a blatant attempt at titillation if it was a straight couple instead of a pair of lesbians?
“I’m all for comics about people fucking. But I don’t believe this entire comic is about women screwing.”
So now you’re not upset at the icky lesbian sex – you just think there isn’t enough icky lesbian sex in the book for it to justify a cover appearance. How many pages of lesbians-in-love would it take to justify a cover appearance, then? Four? Six? Twelve? Or do you really insist that the “entire comic is about women screwing” in order for that aspect of the plot to make it onto the cover?
All of this raises the question: is it possible at all, in your world, to depict two women in a sexual relationship that serves a greater storytelling purpose than mere titillation? Or do you simply believe that lesbians exist purely to serve as eye candy for straight males?
“I can see your gagging to make some sort of hypocrite allegation, but you’ve really got the wrong man for it.”
“Hypocrite” is not quite the h-word I’m thinking of.
Greg Burgas
July 8, 2006 at 7:48 am
Mark: I miss footnotes. That’s really all I’m asking for, because the stuff I didn’t know didn’t ruin the story, but it’s always nice to have references. It’s obvious Marvel knows when these things happened, so a lack of footnotes is just laziness or an attitude of “our comics are too cool for that – it’s so 1980s (or even 1970s)!”
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
July 8, 2006 at 8:19 am
I liked Detective but I think Dini will need to throw in a two-issue arc now and then in order to optimize the “detective” angle, lest he quickly get into a rut like Jonah Hex and NextWave, where there’s no real sense of consequences or progression from issue to issue. I didn’t particularly love Williams’ art, though, especially during the Bruce Wayne scenes. Bermejo’s Bruce in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel should be made the standard for all other artists to work from.
I flipped through Midnight Sun, reading the first 5-6 pages, and decided it was an OGN that was being serialized for economic reasons. The pacing was way too slow for a 22-page story, but would work fine in a 100+ pager.
gabesummers
July 8, 2006 at 11:00 am
I have never liked Warpath,(what you dont like stereo typical native americans he even lives on a reservation!!! but honestly he is really cool with alot of rich history ..he really came into his own in the x-force seriers even jeph loeb wrote some awesome tales with warpath…i think for me this was when x-force was finaly getting good (i think 2nd series..after new mutants and cable id try issue #51)but honestly it was the John Francis Moore (Script), Adam Pollina (Pencils) issues were he really became awesome around issue 68-70 and on wards..i always thought he was a cheap version of his brother but it got much deeper than that..
Why he hates Xavier is beyond me.
as i recall warpath dosent hate prof x..last time (if memorey serves me right ) that warpath and prof x were face to face was durring morrisons run..right after the imperial storline(trade name) xavier and jean fly to the middel east to get wolverine and the new girl dust (now in new x-men academy) as the arive at the air port ..princess liilandra (sp??)atempts to shot prof x since last sotry line cassandra nova disguised as prof x destroyed the shiar…they are mad and she tries to kill prof x and warpath is on hand not only to greet him to the zimbawi (sp??) x-corps office but also helps save the prof.x..also later in the issue prof is hanging with warpath…soo unless i missed something…warpath dealt with his issues with prof x wayyy back…was it issue 193? for those who havent read the classic issue ill sumerize it with horrible eye bleeding gramar for you all!!!! banshee is ru8nning on mori island..warpath filled with vengence gets the drop on him…and kidnaps prof x and takes them to an army base in the mountain(i cant recall the name of it but it poped up alot) and prof of course persuades warpath to see the erorr in his ways and show hpow the og warpath died heriocly(awwwww) so im lost on this i got every issue from 95 to current (yes im one of those guys who just buys it so my run is complete) and i cant recall for any reason for warpath to hate him again..i havent read the issue..but from what ive read in interviews…i think prof askes warpath to join the team because of the past….who better to talk some sence into vulcan that a person who prof x has wronged..that was the logic of it all..so prof seeks redemption and warpath and him have dealt with that..plus with rouges powers still not clearly defined (no really way back a scrull zapped her and she was able to axsess all the powers of everyone she ever touched..then it was droped during relaoded..in xtreme she loses her powers then gets them back but then in a mini she gain sunfires powers and..i still dont get it..)colouss is tied up in astonishing so they need a power house so im guessing why he was choosen plus honestly he is a good charecter..read them x-force issues!!
Why Xavier can walk but doesn’t have his telepathy is also beyond me. blame wanda…i dont kow how?but by losing his powers he gained the use of his legs..i hope the writers work that out…im like huh? its not as if the loss of his legs was due to his power..for example if angle lost his powers he wouldnt be able to fly..or better..its like rouge her power prevents her from touching someone..so no power..she can touch again profx powers have nothing to do with his legs? so im lost.
I had heard rumors about Vulcan, but have no idea what’s going on with him. Scott also hates Xavier, for some reason. durring deadly gensis..it seems scotts mom had a baby while captive by the evil shiar ruler durring this time vulcan was raised in the slave pens and raised as a slave..some how he gets to earth and moria m. finds him and trains him for her team..profx is has his team the origianl 5…while on amission the origianl 5 are held captvie by karoka and prof then turns to moria for help ..she has her own team and prof x uses them to get the others back…but they all die..and vulcan is one of them..due to the nature of his powers(he can manipulate all forms of energy and control it)so when the team died all powers were transfered into vulcan…as you all recall koraka (god i cant spell for the life of me) was sent into space and history went on as we know it…so koraka an the team go off into space…back to house of m..wanda yells no more mutants and vulcan is awaken on the karoka astoroid floating in space..he wakes up realizes its the years later and hunts down prof x…scott finds all this out while investigating attacks by vulcan and vulcan captures him and new rachel phoneix thats when vulcan drops the bomb..hes a summers to..ulp!!! eventually all the team vconverge and prof x apears i guess he was wondering the british lands deep in inner thought..any who..it turns out prof x lied the whole time and scott is mad that he was never told he had a brother..vulcan just hates him for sending his team to die then leaving them to die..forgoten about…vulcans peeve with the shiar is the enslaved him..kidnapped his mom and dad and killed his mom..he dont know yet that the evil brother is in acoma and that illandria runs the show..
woh..that wasnt shot huh?
hahah
but yeah they keep reloading and to me 2 things are messing the books up..1) no consistency..new teams jump on every other year it seems like with all new cast…all new direction…things are set up then forgeten about .never fleshed out or explored good .stories are strted then dropped..things are never resolved..and yet everyone complains its a mess well yeah because nothing has been resolved since jim lee was drawing they keep getting a new team or creators and they do thier thing..but no one has stopped to clear things up..the last time the books had a clear direction was morrisons run..then relaoded..event event…its even more maddening when we get a mini tying up loose ends that were never loose..heres a thought why not resolve some real plot holes instead of creating new ones to tell your story..ok im ranting now hahahah but that to me is hurting these books..no direction..things are set in motion then stopped and taking in a new way..no direction…last direction at least ..i think if they picked one voice so to sepak on it it would be the number one book again..but why gabe why do you buy??
*looks down* because im weak..i tell you weak!!!!
Omar Karindu
July 8, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Detection
I’ll give Dini credit for dodging the single greatest problem I have with comic-book mysteries — the “only a Gothamite” syndrome, in which, say, the clay fromt he villain’s boot or the Riddler’s clue points to a city district or a museum exhibit we’ve never heard of before and which the reader literally cannot guess. Nor did he write what amounted to a mystery whose clues are continuity references, as Robinson’s just-concluded arc basically was. (I worked out the villain there, but guessing it meant knowing nothing about logic and everything about minor Batman villains with a marine-life theme.)
He also seems to have ducked the ongoing problem of violating basic plausibility; unlike The Long Halloween, we don’t have to buy that a character can, say, walk out of a hospital bed, kill a bunch of gangsters across town, and sneak back totally unnoticed. It’s a trifle rushed, and not entirely a “fairplay” mystery, but it’s miles ahead of pretty much any of the typical comics fare.
It does sort of depress me that Facade’s gimmick was, in a lot of ways, thematically close to what Black Mask’s was before the post-Doug Moench writers turned him into a generic sadist, fed supporting characters to him, and killed him off. Batman really should have a foe whose theme involves masks, false fronts, and deceptions, and Clayface and (ugh!) Hush don’t really rate as far as that’s concerned.
All in all, though, Dini’s written a nice, Bill Finger-style Batman story, where the antagonist has a theme and a costume but otherwise plans his crimes with a level of calculation and a probability of success that makes you just about believe he could recruit underlings and make a living at it. Unlike, say, the Joker of the last 20 or so years.
Also, and please correct me if I’m off on this, I seem to recall Dini or someone saying in a promo interview that the one-off stories would also subtly develop a longer story that’ll pay off in the twelfth story.
Ennis
For that matter, I’m waiting for Ennis to write a positive female character without smply writing her as an Ennis man who the lead can sleep with because she has girly parts. Whatever my opionion of the rest of Preacher Ennis’s inability to make Tulip seem like a match for Jesse without basically writing her as Jesse got to me after a while. He’s comics’ poet of male homosociality, but not much else.
Uncanny
I’ll admit that the story could be more compelling — it basically amounts to a “strike force” set-up — but I’ll give Brubaker credit for actually taking the time to explain or at least imply why these particular characters are the ones Xavier picked. I really can’t come up with a plot or thematic reason that, say, Beast and Wolverine are on the Astonishing roster and not the one in “plain” X-Men.
But everyone save Polaris seems to have a genuine reason to be on this mission, and even she can be explained as a sort of thematic counterpart to Vulcan as an X-hero recently through a spate of “going bad.” It’s only the occasional omissions necessitated by the other books’ casts that stand out to me. (Why isn’t Beast along? Because Whedon has him doing his usual routines — and not much else — over in Astonishing, that’s why.)
Footnotes
I’m in favor of the approach devised by Mark Gruenwald and continued — in miniseries, at least — by Kurt Busiek and Tom Brevoort: a little bar of endnotes on the letters page to be reprinted at the back of the inevitable TPB. Readers who don’t care get to skip the notes because they’re not taking up page space, and readers like me who care can read the references all at once and decide what to pick up or not to pick up.
T.
July 8, 2006 at 12:34 pm
You know, are you guys accepting any more contributors? Cuz there are a lot of contributors here who don’t really write anything, it’s basically the 2 Gregs and Brian show (all of whom write awesome stuff). Meanwhile, I’m consistently impressed by the depth of insight and clarity shown by Moose n Squirrel and Omar in the comments sections. I know you’ve asked some commenters to be contributors in the past and all…
T.
July 8, 2006 at 12:35 pm
oops, now that I think about it maybe I should have emailed the suggestion rather than put you guys on the spot. sorry, wasn’t thinking…
DanLarkin
July 8, 2006 at 3:56 pm
The return of the footnotes would be a grand thing. Particularly since so much of Marvel and DC’s old issues are available in TPBs these days. You’d think that referencing the old issues (in an inobtrusive way- the “endnotes” approach that was used in Avengers Forever is probably the best way to go) would mean more sales for them. ["None of my students has hated me as much you have James" * see Uncanny X-Men 193 (reprinted in Essential X-Men vol 5 available at better bookstores everywhere kids!).] In the days when comics were loaded with footnotes to back issues, the money would all be going to the comic shops.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
July 8, 2006 at 4:12 pm
“And it wouldn’t be a blatant attempt at titillation if it was a straight couple instead of a pair of lesbians?”
Not as much, no.
I mean, I get the point you are desperate to make about double standards, but quite frankly society as a whole has them.
Two men or a straight couple screwing isn’t going to do for sa;es that a couple of dykes will.
“So now you’re not upset at the icky lesbian sex – you just think there isn’t enough icky lesbian sex in the book for it to justify a cover appearance. How many pages of lesbians-in-love would it take to justify a cover appearance, then? Four? Six? Twelve? Or do you really insist that the “entire comic is about women screwing†in order for that aspect of the plot to make it onto the cover?”
Look at the rest of the cover. No, no, stop touching yourself while you go on tirades for a second, and look at the rest of te cover, and the cover for #1. Muted colours, abstract design. Then, in colour, two women fucking.
It’s a desperate grab for the perv market (re:superhero), and depsite how well meaning you mean to be whining at my phrasing, you know it’s true.
Quite frankly, if the book isn’t about sex in an ice pool, then the cover failed.
“All of this raises the question: is it possible at all, in your world, to depict two women in a sexual relationship that serves a greater storytelling purpose than mere titillation? Or do you simply believe that lesbians exist purely to serve as eye candy for straight males?”
In the real world or in comics?
Remember, there is a big difference, both in how we perceive them, and how one perceives itself.
“I can see your gagging to make some sort of hypocrite allegation, but you’ve really got the wrong man for it.â€
“Hypocrite†is not quite the h-word I’m thinking of.
Apodaca
July 8, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Yeah, let’s definitely get that one commentor on staff who’s always got that wonderful tinge of condescension in his posts.
Or not.
Nitesh Arora
March 30, 2007 at 8:59 am
hello by my personely interest i m doing some research on one subject for my subjece i need some comic book story material i.e. first is “SEVEN BROTHERS” in all parts written by Garth Ennis & second is “The Sadhu” in all parts written by Jeevan Kang. presently i have no extra money to purchase all parts of books, so request to you please if u can provide it me all stories material so i will do continuse my research. I am wiating ur reply, i get ur contact to search my subject topic in google.com.
thanking you,
regards,
nitesh arora/single male/30/birth Delhi/India..