CBR Live! Archive
What I bought - 18 April 2007
Not a bad week in the comics world, but once again I am called upon to defend the one purchase I make that makes everyone's brain hurt. Luckily, I'm up to the task!
Birds of Prey #105 by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, and Doug Hazelwood. $2.99, DC.
Hmmm. I purchased this based on the recommendations of the readers, because several suggestions tied for most votes. I didn't get DMZ because I wasn't impressed with it the first time around, and I figured if I ever get curious about it I can read a trade to see if it's gotten any better. Meanwhile, I figured I would wait until next issue to read Manhunter and I couldn't find a copy of Love & Rockets. C'est la vie! I've been hearing good things about Ms. Simone's little book that could, so I figured I would give it a try.
Well, it's okay. It's nothing that is really going to make me gasp in amazement, but as fair-to-middling superhero books go, it's a decent read. I'm not sure what I was expecting with it, but it lacked the wit and crackle of many of Simone's books.  Her portrayal of the Secret Six feels different from their portrayal in their own book, even though it's the same writer.  I mean, I know Lawton is supposed to be a tool, but even that doesn't mean he would keep desperately trying to make a dick joke. Maybe it would. Their interaction is just a bit askew, as if they were actors trying to fill the roles of the "real" Secret Six (yes, I know they're all fictional characters). Remember when Jeremy Piven and the other two actors were on the fictional Seinfeld pilot? How weird it was seeing them "act" like the regulars? That's what this felt like. I could be wrong.
The whole issue is kind of like that, as Helena sticks a gun in someone's face holding it sideways, which cracked me up (because it's such a cliché, not because it was kewl), and Kendra fights Scandal after dropping her weapons because she wants to prove how tough she is. (Does no one in a particular comic book or movie or television show watch/read any other movie, television show, or comic? This is never a good idea.) It's just sloppy storytelling, using standard stereotypes instead of actually considering what might be a smart idea. I mean, please - if Scandal takes her weapons off, challenging Kendra to a bare-knuckle chick fight, the correct response from Kendra is, "Yeah, I'm not full of testosterone needing to prove my manhood. Thanks for making it easier." And then she pummels Scandal with that mace thing.
The return of Ice is nice to see, but that's about it. Scott's art is decent, and it's nice to see women in comics that actually look like women (funny how male artists can't seem to grasp that a woman can be attractive without being ridiculously buxom - all the women in this comic are attractive yet realistic). It's nothing spectacular, but she does a nice job with facial expressions, as there are a lot of people in this book and some don't have many lines. Scott gives us some insight into those who don't talk, and that's good to see.
I really wanted to like this comic, because I had heard so many good things about it. I don't doubt that it's entertaining, but except for the fact that the heroes are women, it doesn't really distinguish itself from the many other superhero books. I know it's the second part of a storyline, but I'm not talking about the actual story, which appears to have something to do with getting Ice out of Russia. If you pick up a random issue of Simone's Welcome to Tranquility, you won't know what's going on (perhaps), but the characters have more verve than they do here. It's too bad.
Ex Machina #27 by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, and Jim Clark. $2.99, DC/Wildstorm.
Our very own MarkAndrew is amazed at how poorly written this comic book is, and I'd like him to explain himself! Actually, I have noticed a few things creeping in that I don't like about the book, but it's not enough to make me turn on it - it's still a very good comic. I know it's always had some harsh language, but its usage appears to be growing, and I'm not sure why, nor do I like it. Maybe I'll have to go back to the early issues and see if Mitchell says "fuck" more now or if I'm just noticing it, but it seems like Vaughan is throwing it around more just for shocks, and we all know it doesn't really have that effect anymore. Vaughan's predilection for throwing useless trivia at us shows up in this issue, and it's off-putting as ever (it's not exactly annoying, but it does break up the flow of the issue a bit). But the story continues to be interesting, as the guy from (presumably) the future goes looking for Mitchell, and our esteemed mayor deals with the power outage. As usual with this book, it moves a bit slowly, but not so much that you lose interest, and even the hint that Mitchell might have lost his powers (I can't imagine they won't come back) throws a nice wrench in the works. So although I see where Mark is coming from, I don't share his hatred of the book. It's still a fascinating comic about a superhero mayor, with all the problems of politics and the inherent weirdness of the spandex set. And Harris' art in this issue is great as usual.
Fallen Angel #15 by Peter David and Kristian Donaldson. $3.99, IDW.
This is a flashback issue, as we learn the secrets of Lin, Lee's predecessor as "protector of the downtrodden" in Bete Noire. Donaldson's art, though harder and more angular than Woodward's, fits the tone of the book, as we look back on a time when the Dr. Juris had lost interest in making the city habitable and the dark side was taking over. So Donaldson's kind of punk style does a good job at conveying the roughness of the city back in the day, and Rhonda Pattison's colors (assisted by Donaldson herself) give this a darker look than what we usually see. As Bete Noire is in Louisiana and probably could be considered some otherworldly New Orleans stand-in, the art feels like jazz.
As for the story, it's a fairly standard origin story, except for the fact that the origin is being told to the person to whom it happened, Lin. She has no memory of her past, so Dolf fills her in. She shows up in town, excites the wrath of a local pimp, who then sets fire to her place (and since she's staying with Dolf, his bar as well). Exactly what happens next will show up in the next issue.
As usual, it's a good read that manages to push the story forward while presenting an entertaining tale in its own right. Just another issue of one of the better books on the market.Â
Moon Knight #9 by Charlie Huston and Mico Suayan. $2.99, Marvel.
You know, whenever people question my taste in comics, it always seems to come down to: "You like Moon Knight." Now, some people might think those four simple words are enough, but it kind of bugs me. John and acespot and Tim (who liked Fallen Son: Wolverine - really, Tim?) just can't understand why on earth I would "waste my money" on stuff like this. If any of those gentlemen spent money on and/or read and enjoyed World War III, they no longer have a dog in the race, in my opinion. But, you know, it's my money. I don't buy video games or go to the movies, so I spend it on comic books.
Tim, specifically, likens this to Marvel's version of Faust, meaning it's "violence porn." I have no interest in getting into how almost every single comic book on the market is violence porn in some form or another, but long-time readers know that I actually own every issue of Faust, and think that, although it's not a great comic by any stretch of the imagination, if Marvel had any balls they would publish stuff like it. But Joey Q doesn't, even though this comic does crank up the violence quite a bit. But unlike most of the other comics around, this shows the consequences of such violence much better, and therefore it's a far better examination of what it means to be a costumed vigilante. Marc Spector is no longer young, and throughout this series he has been trying to figure out what he has done with his life and if he's going to continue on this path. The fact that he's kind of insane as well makes this walk on the razor's edge even more meaningful. With many superheroes, they might experience a moment of craziness and then next issue they're back to kicking ass with no recriminations. Spector is living with his choices, and so are the people close to him. Yes, it's "violence porn," but unlike almost every single comic on the stands, it examines the consequences of that violence porn. Look at that abomination in four parts that DC released today. Will anyone remember that Terra got slaughtered in another week or so? Who the fuck remembers Looker (besides me, of course, because I moved one of my daughters into the garage to build a shrine to her in a bedroom)? So yes, Moon Knight is violent. I'd rather see a superhero rehabbing, as Spector does in this issue, because of his violent lifestyle, instead of having lame-ass "healing" powers, which it seems like every hero these days has ("Gosh, my spleen is hanging out, but it seems to be crawling back into my body thanks to these suddenly-discovered healing powers! How cool is that?").
Suayan's art is less hyper-stylized than Finch's, which might make some people happy. Maybe he won't make it so pornographic.
So, is that good enough for the critics? Perhaps. I trust people who don't like Moon Knight also don't buy anything by Garth Ennis, this week's Hellblazer, Invincible (man, that gets bloody sometimes) or ... well, gosh, this week's next selection, which lovingly portrays people getting shot and beaten up, plus beastiality!  Now that's wholesome!
The Spirit #5 by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone. $2.99, DC.
Because I love the violence and man-vulture love, I really enjoyed this installment of The Spirit. This was the first issue that really had a sense of more than just Cooke showing off. Faithful readers know that the only issue I haven't bought is #2, and although I have liked it enough to come back to the book, I don't see what all the fuss is about. So far it has seemed that Cooke is simply doing these stories to show that he knows how to write a comic book featuring the Spirit, and that's not a very good reason. In this comic, he gives us a goofy-yet-plausible premise, that bad guys are using the Spirit's image to sell "old Russian army rations" to kids; he gives us plenty of action; he gives us a nasty bad guy who wants to horn in on the food-making business; he gives us the Spirit doing some actual superheroing; he gives us Mr. Carrion and his unnatural love for his pet vulture. Seriously. And frankly, it's not as creepy as it sounds. Okay, it is. But still. Man-vulture love. Good stuff.
The nice thing about this issue is that it tells a story. In issue #1, we had that hostage crisis with that reporter chick, but it felt like Cooke was just introducing the character. I didn't get issue #2 (but maybe I should). Issue #3 was an origin issue, and was okay. Last issue was more of the "Look-how-clever-I-am-because-I-can-write-a-Spirit-story" kind of thing that is certainly not bad, but not terribly memorable. While this isn't a great issue, it's a very solid one, because Cooke channels his delight at writing The Spirit (I have to assume he's delighted) into ancillary goodness (the commercials for the pork and beans) that enhance the story rather than making it the story itself. That's why this is the best issue so far.
Next issue it seems as if he's going to experiment with something. Maybe not. If the whole point of Eisner's Spirit is to tell different kinds of stories, it would be nice to see Cooke do that. Maybe these early issues are simply establishing the characters, and we'll get more interesting ways to tell stories soon. That would be nice.
X-Factor #18 by Peter David, Khoi Pham, and Sandu Florea. $2.99, Marvel.
David is a writer who occasionally slips into gratuitous pop culture references, and in this issue, it's Sponge Bob Square Pants. But that aside, he's still one of the better writers working in comics these days, and he continues to do a fine job on this minor mutant mag. This is in the middle of a story, so there's a lot of treading water, but David is smart enough to keep things crackling even when that's happening. So here he gets to the big reveal at the end (Marrow shows up as a member of X-Cell) by a nice means, as Layla Miller, who doesn't think X-Factor should do anything about the terrorists, sends the members of the group to various places in the city, and the actions they take lead to Marrow being revealed. David has done this kind of thing before (the excellent Major Disaster issue of Aquaman comes to mind), but so what? He does, as usual, a nice job introducing stuff from earlier issues, like the French orphan Monet and Teresa bring back from their vacation, while still sticking to the main story. And it's interesting that we believe the Blob is no longer a threat, because David, in just a few lines, makes it plausible.
Pham continues his guest stint on the book, and although it's rougher than Raimondi and Calero, that doesn't make it bad. It's fine, although nothing entirely memorable. I don't like Pietro's hairstyle. It's goofy.
This book keeps trucking along. The nice thing about it is that David will probably stay on it forever, as long as it doesn't get cancelled.  It won't attract new readers, because people who don't like David will never like David, but at least he's in it for the long term, so we'll get good stories that create their own history.Â
X-Men #198 by Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo, and Tim Townsend. $2.99, Marvel.
Astonishingly, there's only one inker for this book, implying that Bachalo had plenty of time to finish, yet it's perfectly coherent. Okay, I'm not entirely sure how Creed escapes or if the final panel we see of him before he escapes is supposed to clue us in, but that might be Carey's fault as much as Bachalo's. The bad guy, who turns out to be an artificially-created Mummudrai, is very cool-looking, and the fight scenes, which occasionally are very sloppy when Bachalo's drawing them, are neat to behold. Meanwhile, the double-paged spread giving us the history of the fake Mummudrai is spectacular. The coloring is very interesting, too - It's been kind of washed-out for some time in this book, and it gives the book a neat, "realistic" look, because not everything is vividly bright (or brightly vivid). I wonder if that helps the pencilling look better.
Carey's doing a good job with these stories, too, even though this is tangentially related to the Shi'ar and I'm getting sick of those stupid aliens. However, it's only "tangentially" related, and it's good to see these characters, who don't really know or even like each other, trying to work together. So they talk hesitantly, flirt awkwardly (I still think Bobby and Mystique together is weird, but I like how they talk to each other), and aren't sure if they can trust each other. The threats feel important, too, which is in contrast to Brubaker's space epic, which doesn't. So it's a more interesting comic than Uncanny.
I'm looking forward to the resolution of the story. It's neat-o.
Well, that's all for this week. On a side note, although I don't often pimp my other blogs, I like to reflect upon my daughter's progress occasionally, and I did so the other day. Read it here if you like. Or don't. It's your choice! It is, I admit, much more fun to bash me for my silly comic book choices. So bash away!
- Posted on April 19, 2007 @ 09:11 PM
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25 Comments
M Bloom
April 19, 2007 at 9:28 pm
As one of the people who recommended Birds of Prey this week, I have to admit I was really disappointed in it. The Secret Six stuff is amusing, which is par for the course, really. Simone loves these characters and clearly has a blast writing them. My problem with this issue was that, as a huge JLI fan, I tore into this issue anxious to see Ice back amongst the living again. And she's there on four pages, sitting on a sofa and not talking. I sped through the issue looking for Ice, and it just wasn't there. The rest was decent, but not the best I've seen from this book. Had I known this issue would end up like this, I wouldn't have recommended it (especially in light of the surprisingly fun old school JLA/JSA crossover). Mea culpa.
Bill Reed
April 19, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Man, that X-Men review sounded really familiar. I looked up the last issue-- yeah, some of your points seemed the same. Okay. I wasn't going completely mad. Whew.
I liked the Spirit cover that was solicited better than the published one.
And Greg, God bless you and your kids. I can't imagine what it's like, but I'm certain that you are a fantastic dad. Even if you like Moon Knight.
stealthwise
April 20, 2007 at 1:16 am
Greg:
Run and get the first two DMZ trades.
So much excellence.
For reals and truesies.
- stealthwise
MarkAndrew
April 20, 2007 at 2:19 am
Yeah. REALLY didn't like DMZ? I wasn't as life-changed by Channel zero as some folks, but DMZ was excellent from the word go.
J To The AAP
April 20, 2007 at 3:28 am
DMZ is one of the best series Vertigo is publishing right now, IMO. Seriously, read a trade, what's not to love?
T.
April 20, 2007 at 4:39 am
Anyone that likes Fallen Son: Wolverine (or any Loeb book for that matter) should definitely not give you any grief over Moon Knight.
Lorin
April 20, 2007 at 5:39 am
I love Garth Ennis, but do not read Moon Knight, the reason being that the first issue was sooooooo lame. A big "dream" fight against non-descript muggers and little to no reference to who or what is going on. For someone with only a passing knowledge of Moon Knight, it was a terrible way to start the series, instead of making me want to know more, left me feeling like there was nothing worth knowing. And yeah, Fallen Son: Wolverine was pretty blah.
Tim Callahan
April 20, 2007 at 6:11 am
I was shocked that I liked Fallen Son: Wolverine too! But it was a satisfying read with excellent art and a story that firmly established (for now) the death of Captain America. It did what it was supposed to do. What was wrong with it?
Also, when I wrote that Moon Knight is violence porn, I was well-aware that Greg would turn that phrase against me and say that all superhero comics are basically violence porn, but I disagree. The difference with Moon Knight is that the comic lingers over the gruesome violence for no real purpose. The story barely moves forward each issue, there's no dramatic tension--the book is like living in a slaughterhouse--it's just gruesome wallpaper. That's bad dramatic structure. Pick a movie that's considered "good," like The Godfather or something--now imagine that movie (which is considered quite violent, right?) lingering on all the violent scenes for an unbearably long time--showing Apollonia's body torn apart and burning slowly in the aftermath of the explosion--showing Moe Green's brains dripping out of his head for minutes. Such scenes would reduce the effectiveness of the violence because it would be just too much. And then imagine that those minutes of extra gruesomeness replaced things like chracter development and plot. That's what Moon Knight is like.
It's not the level of violence that even bothers me, it's the ratio of gore to story progression. The series so far is a sequence of faces being ripped off and that's about it.
And I guess what's most oppressive about Moon Knight is that, unlike the work of Garth Ennis, there's no sense of irony at all. It's just a slaughterhouse.
But I guess that's the point. It's an attempt to do contemporary horror in the vein of a Rob Zombie movie. All torture, no substance.
It's just not for me.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
April 20, 2007 at 6:19 am
No it's not a VERY good comic.
It's a comic that though enjoyable, never quite lives up to the promise of it's concept*, routinely gives it's stories ending's but not resolutions**, raises issues but is too scared to have characters come down on one side or another*** and is more concerned with slot machine storytelling**** (to steal a phrase from Pol Rua) and showing off the authors love of dialogue than actually telling an entertaining story.*****
That said, Vaughn is good at making that work - he's very good at slot machine comics, but that doesn't make for a very good comic.
It may be ahead of the pack, but that says more about the pack than this comic.
I'm constantly teased by flatmate whenever I pick up one of the trades (usally if there's nothing else going and I've got cash and just want a read), because as he says 'I can see why you buy it, but you're buying it for what it could/should be, not for what it is'.
I probably enjoyed the last trade more than the others, but I realised later this was because I'd learnt not to expect great things from it.
It's also committed two great sins in my mind - in the issue with his mother, it gave up internal consistency for a good last line (the gun lied to him), and in another, he stole a last line to an entire story from an issue of Planetary (set in a comic shop, but before planetary came out, but don't worry, in the first part of the story there are Ellis comics everywhere, so it's alright, he's acknowledged who he's riffing).
Also, is anyone else sick of Tony Harris getting a nipple in at any chance possible, and giving every female character a nose ring? And I wish he'd get some new models, some of the people look very similar to Starman people.
So yeah, I read it, and I whine about it - the book that shouldn't be for fanboys has turned me into one.
I wouldn't mind you saying you enjoy it, but saying it's VERY GOOD, seems well off the mark..
(I view it as I do a Corman film, disposable entertainment that you shouldn't think about too much).
* It fails as a political story because well, it raises issues without dealing with them - even the West Wing had them come down and pass policies, and the superhero stuff... the police normally take the person down or something - the wrap up never seems that important. Maybe it's fine if you like one or the other, but as someone who likes both politics and superheroes I never feel I get enough of either.
** The story about Marijuna just ended with the main character a hypocrite, but no actual pay off to the storyline.
*** Instead of having Hundred debate the issue when he was on Jury duty, they all got attacked by a crazy man (and even the issues he raised were a lie).
**** The over reliance on cliffhangers, and the promises made in early issues of the bad times to come, is he gay or not (will he ever come out on that issue - I really don't care, does anyone except the other characters?), he will use his costume again.
***** Subway workers talking about porn for a page, or was that two?
Vaughn often mentions how he tries to pace his comics like a film - no film would use that much off it's running time on such an incidental conversation that has no point other than itself.
Matt D
April 20, 2007 at 6:42 am
I got burnt out on Ex Machina by issue 14 or 15. It's Vaughan, so it's still good, but it just wasn't something I was particularly interested in anymore. A lot of the novelty had worn off.
All this talk has made me want to give Love and Rockets an honest try. I love stories that are so complicated that you really need to start from the beginning to understand the world.
Matthew E
April 20, 2007 at 6:58 am
I recommended 'Brave and Bold' and 'JLA', and both turned out to be good picks. 'Brave and Bold' disappointed me a little because I thought Jaime's characterization was a little off, but JLA was my favourite book this week; I liked it even better than I liked 'The Spirit' which, I agree, was as good as it has been this month.
Greg Burgas
April 20, 2007 at 7:37 am
Tim - we're going to have to agree to disagree on this, because in my mind, Huston IS showing the consequences of Spector's violence, so even though the violence IS more lovingly portrayed than in many superhero books, we also get to see its impact. Spector spends most of this book rehabbing his knees, after all. I wonder if most superhero books are more "violence porn" because they show the "excitement" of a good beat-down but none of the after-effects. In porn, no one ever uses a condom or gets pregnant or gets an STD. In comics, no one ever gets crippled (or if they do, they come right back) or dies (ditto). So to me, the violence in Moon Knight is not awful because we see what it's done to people. If you don't think so, that's fine. I can't really disagree with Lorin's criticism that it's pretty insular, but then again, I'm a fan of the character, so I don't mind.
Rebis
April 20, 2007 at 8:19 am
I'll agree that JLA was more enjoyable than Birds of Prey this time around. When's the last time a person could make that claim with a straight face? Wow. I suppose some of us have some old-school geekcitement going on because it's an actual JLA-JSA team-up. I mean, that used to be one of my favorite annual events! So it's probably making me overlook the things about Meltzer I don't like so much. I'd have to read it a second time to judge it more objectively. (And I definitely think Nicola Scott's a much better artist than Benes or his temporary fill-in guy.) Anyway ...
When I read that sequence in Birds with Deadshot driving that dumb dick joke into the ground, I thought, "Gosh, isn't this what an editor's for? To reel a writer in when she (or he) tries too hard?" Too bad. Beyond that, it's pretty formulaic Birds stuff: A mission goes awry, and then from bad to worse. Only this time Oracle's not in control. I'm confident she'll help save the day somehow though. And I will admit, I'm looking forward to the Birds versus Six knock-down next month.
Matt Brady
April 20, 2007 at 8:23 am
Re: Ex Machina - I gotta disagree, Funky. I think he usually deals with the political issues very well; Mitch married the gay couple, didn't he? And it's true-to-life in that a lot of times, these issues get raised and debated, but they rarely get dealt with concisely. Real life doesn't have a lot of plot closure.
I thought about debating each of your points, but I don't think that's really necessary. I love the comic, and you don't. I don't think I'll convince you otherwise.
As for Greg's comment about the language, as far as I remember, it's stayed at the same level throughout the series. In fact, I didn't really notice the swearing in this issue, but maybe I'm desensitized to it. I do remember an issue a while back in which the mayor's aide reprimanded him for swearing so much because it looks bad to "family values" people.
Re: The Spirit - I'm not sure what you mean by Cooke showing off and demonstrating that he can write Spirit stories; it's supposed to be a comic about the Spirit, isn't it? He's just writing fun stories, which is the same thing Eisner did with the character. I don't know if you're expecting it to be a masterpiece of modern comics or something; it seems like he's just having fun with the character, and that's fine by me, because I'm having fun too.
Stressfactor
April 20, 2007 at 11:19 am
Actually, next month's The Spirit is not so much an experiment as a planned fill-in. Cooke can be a slow artist and he knows it so in an effort to make sure 12 issues get put out every year two issues each year (once in the Summer and once in the Winter as I understand it) are "guest shots" with art and stories by different people. Personally, I like the idea.
acespot
April 20, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I agree, this issue wasn't one of the Birds' finest.
However, that bit with Hawkgirl makes perfect sense: she's in the JLA, but she knows, as do we, that she doesn't really deserve to be there, so she's always overcompensating for her perceived failures as a hero, and trying to prove to herself that she is, indeed, worthy. Hence the fisticuffs.
John Seavey
April 20, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Actually, my problem with Moon Knight isn't at all that it's "violence porn". My problem with Moon Knight (having now read three issues for the 'Civil War' tie-in, with my new suspicion being that they're going to slap that 'Casualties of War' banner up there forever because they noticed the effect it had on sales) is that NOTHING HAPPENS. Seriously, the plot has been, for these three issues, "Moon Knight beats up some muggers, then rehabs his knee while chatting with all his old friends and hallucinating a bit. Then a bad guy shows up and makes some vague threats." That's not three issues, that's three pages.
And again, there's no exposition--I've got a bit more of a handle on who's who because I went and read the Essential Moon Knight, but you know what? Anytime someone has to do over 400 pages of pre-reading for your 22-page monthly comic, it means you're doing a shit job with your exposition. This issue was an improvement, in that they _had_ exposition, but it was exposition so badly written that I couldn't tell whether they were talking about the character in front of us or his father...or possibly Moon Knight, I'm not going to rule even that out. This is a writer who clearly does not want to have to explain things, and as such he limits his audience to people who have already read every Moon Knight comic ever written.
So perhaps you like it because you're its target audience, and most of us aren't.
Greg Burgas
April 20, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Matt - what I mean is that the first few issues of The Spirit don't feel like Cooke simply telling stories in which things happen and the Spirit happens to be there, but telling stories in which he felt the need to introduce certain elements of the Spirit's backstory. This issue, although I guess Mr. Carrion is an old character, feels more like a story in which characters happen to show up because they're needed. That's what I meant.
Stressfactor - Issue #7 has been solicited as a fill-in, but is #6 as well? I do like the idea in order to keep it monthly.
I get Hawkgirl's reaction, acespot, I just think it's stupid.
And I understand your point, John, and I accept it. I'm not necessarily trying to convince people to like the book, I'm just pointing out why I like it and that liking it doesn't make me an idiot. Unless, you know, it does!
Ninajwookie
April 20, 2007 at 9:33 pm
The Spirit is great for people who have never read a spirit comic ever.
I'm not sure if I would continue to read this if Darwyn Cooke was not on the title though, and i'm not particularly tempted to buy the original series as yet.
But right now, it's a good book as far as i'm concerned.
Sort of like Batman Adventures, but with way better production values.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
April 21, 2007 at 1:41 am
Was there any ramifications on the gay couple being married? Can all New Yorkers now do it?
It was more a symbolic ending than any kind of actual ending to the issue, and in a book that's meant to be at least half about politics, that's just weak.
Makes it more Commander In Chief than The West Wing.
I've also got issues with the Mayor and the Commissioner jumping in a car to track down a crook illegally, and spending way too much time on certain events (three pages for a snow plough operator to be killed?) but I think they both fit into previous complaints.
It's alright for a quick fix, but the book isn't great. It's almost a Don Mcgregor book - and that means it's almost a book that almost makes the cut.
I can read it and enjoy it, but if I think about it, it's ruined for me.
sleeper
April 24, 2007 at 7:00 am
Nobody can claim that MOON KNIGHT is Shakespeare, or even that it's a great comic, but I don't think there should be any misconception about what it is or what it's trying to do.
In my mind, MOON KNIGHT isn't trying to be a masterpiece, it's a Mavelized version of the lurid, trashy, pulp fiction paperbacks that were so popular in years past.
Like those pulp fiction paperbacks, MOON KNIGHT is full of sensationalized violence, heightened to a nonsensical degree. Like those pulp fiction paperbacks, MOON KNIGHT revels in this gruesomeness, and like those pulp fiction paperbacks, MOON KNIGHT is criticized for being absolute garbage. Huston has succeeded in every regard when you consider his original goal (yes, he's a huge fan of trash noir).
As far as I can tell, criticizing MOON KNIGHT for being a shit comic is like criticizing GRINDHOUSE for not being an Oscar contender.
As for the "violence porn" comment, MK is plenty ugly, but, as Greg mentioned, not without consequence. Again, it's comparable to trashy pulp novels in that the main character has to suffer immensely because of the violence he's surrounded with. It's not as if they just show you something horrible and then, in the next panel, it's not a problem anymore.
There's a lot about the book I don't like, (it's gross, it has a sadistic streak, etc.) but then again, there's a lot about about pulp fiction, either.
sleeper
April 24, 2007 at 7:01 am
*EDIT: there's a lot I don't like about pulp fiction, either.
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
April 24, 2007 at 7:32 am
Finally got around to reading last week's books and while I'm as big a Moon Knight fan as Greg, the latest issue was very disappointing. Not for the story, which I'm fine with as I like Huston's style, particularly his novels, and know what to expect, but the art was just terrible. Suayan actually made me miss Finch, and I'm certainly no fan of his. Solid illustrator, but a terrible storyteller. The preview for #10 looks just as bad. Ugh.
Ex Machina went from being one of my favorite reads to losing me completely during the "Smoke, Smoke" story arc, and I haven't missed it since I dropped it. Something about Vaughan's style just doesn't work for me over the long-term, and Ex Machina was the longest I stuck with him on any title.
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
April 24, 2007 at 7:34 am
PS: I agree with Greg's take on the violence in Moon Knight vs. other comics. Huston's forte is showing the effects of violence and I think that's been one of the strengths of his story so far. Spector is a broken man, physically and psychologically, and Huston's doing a great job of showing, not just telling, that part of the story.
MarkAndrew
April 28, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Fair enough.
Put a hold on volumes 1 - 3 at the library. As soon as I get 'em, I'll do a bitch about Brian K. Vaughn post.