Three 8/10 Books That I Read So That You Did Not Have To
As always, I tell you about three comics that I did not hear a lot about this week, and then I ask you all to fill me in on comics that I did not read this week.
Special All Marvel Edition!
New Warriors #3, The Punisher #24 and Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 spoilers ahead!
New Warriors #3
I thought this was a strong issue.
First of all, obviously, Skottie Young's art is a polarizing force among anyone who picks up the book, so I will state right off the bat that some of you will just not like the art. In that sense, I do not recommend the book to you.
However, if you DO like Young's art (or don't mind it), then you would be interested in whether the story was good, and I think that it was.
Zeb Wells gets continuity heavy without appearing to be continuity heavy, which is the coolest way of doing that, as you please older fans without alienating the newer ones.
The framing sequence that Wells uses for this "How did the team get together?" story is that of unseen casting footage, as Night Thrasher goes to each member and convinces them to join up.
This is all viewed by the network executives who ultimately determine whether to pick up the New Warriors reality show.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are having a problem with a flat tire in their van.
The stories of each member joining up are handled well, and the commentary from the executives are quite funny. Like when one executive asks if they can give Nova a southern accent..."You DO know that he is a real person, right?"
Good stuff.
There was little action, except for some flashback fight scenes (including one cool one of Namorita beating up a big sea monster), but overall, I think that the issue was strong.
So, if you can't stand Young's art, Not Recommended!
If you CAN, then Recommended!
The Punisher #24
What's this?
A Timothy Bradstreet cover that is sorta kinda tied into the events of the issue?!
No way!!
You may not believe it, but it be so.
This issue is the finale of the storyline, so I will forgive it for, unlike the other issues, not being able to be really enjoyed on its own.
However, it is still an interesting Ennis Punisher story.
Which, by the by, is a LOT different from Ennis on other titles. On other books, like Hitman or Hellblazer, Ennis seems to actually care about the characters.
Not the Punisher.
Here, every character is just a means to an end, even Frank Castle himself.
There is no real sympathy for the character in the comic, and I think that is probably a very smart move by Ennis because, well, let's be honest. The dude dresses up in black with a big skull on his chest and goes around murdering people - not the most sympathetic character out there.
So Ennis makes up for that by just having lots of cool stuff happen, and that is what occurs in this issue.
Lots of cool stuff.
Like a crazy old fat incestuous lady trying to stab Frank and some other woman to death.
Or a bunch of mobsters refusing to do the dirty work of a mob guy, because the Punisher has killed everyone who could possibly FORCE them to do the work (it is a very nice scene).
Or the Punisher's particularly brutal end to the bad guy situation.
Some really interesting stuff.
Leandro Fernandez' art, by the by, is quite good, and I have to continue to give Scott Hanna SO much credit for making Fernandez's art look so darn good...all the excesses of Fernandez's art disappear under Hanna's pen. I want Hanna to always ink Fernandez, consarnit!
Recommended!
Ultimate Fantastic Four #22
This comic was decent.
So Ultimate Reed Richards is transported to an alternate Marvel Universe where all the superheroes are zombies, and they all try to bite him to turn HIM into a zombie.
The only people still not zombies are Magneto and a handful of humans.
In probably the best line in the comic, we learn that this all happened in about three days.
But beyond that, it is a LOT of pages of just Greg Land drawing zombie superheroes, which I suppose has SOME aspect of coolness to it, but not enough to win me over.
In addition, Land gives Johnny Storm the weirdest hair style you will ever see on Johnny Storm, Ultimate universe or not.
As a kicker, Rich Johnston shared with us in his latest Lying in the Gutters, a few neat tricks you can do with Greg Land pencils and stills from movies.
For instance, turning Brad Pitt from Troy into Magneto.
And turning Topher Grace into Ultimate Reed Richards.
Funny stuff.
In any event, not much happened in the issue, and the photo-shopped art was pretty good, but that, and a few clever Millar one-liners just aren't enough for me this month.
Not Recommended!
Now on to the books that I did not read, so I was hoping you might have read them and could tell me what I missed out on:
Majestic #8
Terra Obscura Vol. 2 #2
Ferro City #1
Thanks!
Special All Marvel Edition!
New Warriors #3, The Punisher #24 and Ultimate Fantastic Four #22 spoilers ahead!
New Warriors #3
I thought this was a strong issue.
First of all, obviously, Skottie Young's art is a polarizing force among anyone who picks up the book, so I will state right off the bat that some of you will just not like the art. In that sense, I do not recommend the book to you.
However, if you DO like Young's art (or don't mind it), then you would be interested in whether the story was good, and I think that it was.
Zeb Wells gets continuity heavy without appearing to be continuity heavy, which is the coolest way of doing that, as you please older fans without alienating the newer ones.
The framing sequence that Wells uses for this "How did the team get together?" story is that of unseen casting footage, as Night Thrasher goes to each member and convinces them to join up.
This is all viewed by the network executives who ultimately determine whether to pick up the New Warriors reality show.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are having a problem with a flat tire in their van.
The stories of each member joining up are handled well, and the commentary from the executives are quite funny. Like when one executive asks if they can give Nova a southern accent..."You DO know that he is a real person, right?"
Good stuff.
There was little action, except for some flashback fight scenes (including one cool one of Namorita beating up a big sea monster), but overall, I think that the issue was strong.
So, if you can't stand Young's art, Not Recommended!
If you CAN, then Recommended!
The Punisher #24
What's this?
A Timothy Bradstreet cover that is sorta kinda tied into the events of the issue?!
No way!!
You may not believe it, but it be so.
This issue is the finale of the storyline, so I will forgive it for, unlike the other issues, not being able to be really enjoyed on its own.
However, it is still an interesting Ennis Punisher story.
Which, by the by, is a LOT different from Ennis on other titles. On other books, like Hitman or Hellblazer, Ennis seems to actually care about the characters.
Not the Punisher.
Here, every character is just a means to an end, even Frank Castle himself.
There is no real sympathy for the character in the comic, and I think that is probably a very smart move by Ennis because, well, let's be honest. The dude dresses up in black with a big skull on his chest and goes around murdering people - not the most sympathetic character out there.
So Ennis makes up for that by just having lots of cool stuff happen, and that is what occurs in this issue.
Lots of cool stuff.
Like a crazy old fat incestuous lady trying to stab Frank and some other woman to death.
Or a bunch of mobsters refusing to do the dirty work of a mob guy, because the Punisher has killed everyone who could possibly FORCE them to do the work (it is a very nice scene).
Or the Punisher's particularly brutal end to the bad guy situation.
Some really interesting stuff.
Leandro Fernandez' art, by the by, is quite good, and I have to continue to give Scott Hanna SO much credit for making Fernandez's art look so darn good...all the excesses of Fernandez's art disappear under Hanna's pen. I want Hanna to always ink Fernandez, consarnit!
Recommended!
Ultimate Fantastic Four #22
This comic was decent.
So Ultimate Reed Richards is transported to an alternate Marvel Universe where all the superheroes are zombies, and they all try to bite him to turn HIM into a zombie.
The only people still not zombies are Magneto and a handful of humans.
In probably the best line in the comic, we learn that this all happened in about three days.
But beyond that, it is a LOT of pages of just Greg Land drawing zombie superheroes, which I suppose has SOME aspect of coolness to it, but not enough to win me over.
In addition, Land gives Johnny Storm the weirdest hair style you will ever see on Johnny Storm, Ultimate universe or not.
As a kicker, Rich Johnston shared with us in his latest Lying in the Gutters, a few neat tricks you can do with Greg Land pencils and stills from movies.
For instance, turning Brad Pitt from Troy into Magneto.
And turning Topher Grace into Ultimate Reed Richards.
Funny stuff.
In any event, not much happened in the issue, and the photo-shopped art was pretty good, but that, and a few clever Millar one-liners just aren't enough for me this month.
Not Recommended!
Now on to the books that I did not read, so I was hoping you might have read them and could tell me what I missed out on:
Majestic #8
Terra Obscura Vol. 2 #2
Ferro City #1
Thanks!
posted by Brian Cronin at 8/17/2005 03:06:00 AM
5 Comments:
Majestic #8:
This issue ties Majestic to the first Majestic series by
a) bringing back Desmond (though it seems that the artist in question, mr. Neil Googe who does a good job of this issue doesn't seem to realise that Desmond is in his late 40s by now, not his early teens)
b) Mentioning Majestic's status as galactic guardian at the end of his last series. (Though it is in the likes of "not anymore" without any fuirther clarification. Fair enough let's not bog down the issue with too much backstory.)
The plot is simple: Majestic returns at the exact point he was taken to the DC universe and destroys the portal after his previous self goes through it. He then returns to duty and most of the issue is him fighting a big robot.
The fight is done well and unlike most comics these days it also has a lot of plot apart from the fight.
The thing that possibly could annoy me is that it seems like D&A go in thematically in the opposite direction of Wildcats 3.0 with Majestic seemingly deciding that humanity isn't ready for all this alien-tech on Earth. As a big, big fan of Wildcats 3.0 that is not a direction I would want this series to take.
Anyway, I would certainly recommend this title.
If Land was doing this over art of comic artists, instead of movie stills, wouldn't everyone call him a hack?
Oh well I still call him a hack...
He is just a popular pretty sort of hack.
It's Topher Grace as Reed, actually.
It WAS Topher Grace?
Okay, I wasn't sure (as it looked like Maguire to me).
I'll change it now.
Yeah, I'm dropping Ult FF but not for Land's photo swiping abilities. Granted its not the most admirable way to make comics, I do believe it works from time to time. I think he has a good way of portraying certain scenes, such as the multiple panels he used in Endsong when Wolverine killed Jean Grey.
As for Johnny Storm's hair, that's straight up something out of Laguna Beach. Around here in upper class suburban Southern California, that shit is all the rage.
The reason I'm dropping this is Millar. But I wonder. If Alan Moore were to do a story with Greg Land on art, would everyone complain? Or complain as much?
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