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COMICS – QUICK TAKES 10/5/04

I’ve been on “late” for a couple of weeks at work, and it’s tougher for me to post as regularly due to timing, but I hope to get a few good posts in this week. I’ve seen some troublesome TV this week that I need to address, which includes a really off episode of Las Vegas, and the 60 Minutes analysis of the “Echo Boomers” that I feel I need to comment on. But, to get something up, here are my takes on various books (mostly comics) from this week.

ADAM STRANGE #1: The art works so well, that it covers up the wonkiness of the beginning of the story. I’ve got to start commenting on how well colored some of DC’s books are because, although the line art here is really great, the colors are truly striking (if I was one of those people who referred to visual stimuli as “scrumptious” I would do so). The interrogation room thing didn’t have the “verisimilitude” that Diggle was going for, and it was annoying that the cops were so incredibly hot to send him to the loony bin (they weren’t interrogating him like they actually thought he was crazy – but I guess, in Gotham, threatening Arkham is a good way to get information). But once Diggle gets the police procedural bug out of his system, things start to take off, and at least we don’t have to see 6 issues of homeless Adam Strange coming to grips with his sanity of some similar bullocks. When we buy Adam Strange we want the BIG ADVENTURE, with a tinge of longing for temporarily lost love not the BIG LONGING. The last half of the tale hints it’s moving in the right directions. I don’t remember Strange’s guns being so blatently phallic, though (nice glans).

HELLBLAZER #200: Nice mix, here. The pacing’s a little funny, with Dillon drawn story slowly progressing, and the other two ripping along, but this was a nice sample of distinct styles, with solid structuring before the conclusion, which sets up for the next run of issues nicely. I miss Dillon when I don’t see him for a while – he’s so good at making talking head scene’s visually interesting. Is the last artist the new guy on the title?

LOSERS #16: It’s nice to have Jock back, but the title, for me, lost some momentum while he was gone. Diggle has to ramp up this plot faster to wake me up a little, or at least lay some more infrastructure to the series. Sluggish.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #512: Just read The Savage Critic’s thoughts (scroll down to Thursday, Sept 30) and chalk me up for feeling the same, but at about 80% the level. I was similarly angry at Byrne for Chapter One, but in many ways, this was worse. You hear from time to time the story of haw some younger writer at Marvel wanted to make Peter an unwed father in the 1970’s, and that essentially everyone has always been glad that they didn’t let it happen. This is uncomfortably close to that idea, and just doesn’t make emotional sense to me. I’m hoping MJ wakes up and it was all a dream. Has David Fiore has commented on these developments? I’ll have to look.

POWERLESS #4: I haven’t commented on this title before, but I really have enjoyed it both for the great Gaydos art, and for being the only halfway interesting stab at the alternate universe/what if old standby at a time when there are record numbers of these things floating around. I don’t know why this book hasn’t gotten more attention. I mean, it stars JK Simons (in his role from Law and Order not as JJ Jameson), has a Bendis family pedigree, and is actually readable in a way that makes me want to read the next issue (at least until the ending ruins the whole series for me – I’m predicting this, but I could be wrong). That being said, this issue suffers from all-middle-itis, an ailment of our times.

2099’s: Oh, boy. Where to start. You know, I think I’ll separate this to its own post.

DAREDEVIL #65: I liked the last arc more than the average blog opinion, but this was a useless hodgepodge. I couldn’t get a read on what the point was supposed to be, and the art was a disappointment in relation to the level of talent involved (uninspired).

DOOM PATROL #4: I really need to buckle down and tackle my feelings on Byrne sometime. Until then, suffice it to say that I expect to be disappointed with any of his new work now, despite the fact that I feel the urge to defend it when people lambaste him for being a hack (which reminds me, I need to tackle the George Lucas issue too). This issue was definitely an improvement on the last three with a few big ideas in the opening, and a little more passion in the art throughout. But hoser, please, you’re down to like three plots now - you just keep changing the details of and recycling (at least there’s no backwards time travel storytelling or virtual reality simulation in this arc…or did I forget some).

GUARDIANS #4: I liked the opening of this series, but now that it’s “taking off” (badum-bum), it seems to be getting a little silly and hard to swallow. What happens in Space stays in space, indeed.

MISTER MONSTER WWII SPECIAL: Is this reprint? Cause it fells exciting, cheap, and exploitative like all those indy action comics of the mid to late 80’s. Purely a nostalgia rush here, as this must be considered inconsistent by any objective standards.

posted by Todd C. Murry @ 3:24 PM