Day: October 2, 2013

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 15 (March 1984)

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Herb Trimpe and Vince Colletta on art. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen more rectangular, two-dimensional headed people.

They actually don’t too bad. They don’t do well, but not too bad. Michelinie over writes Indy’s thought balloons for the action scenes, trying to make everything seem logical, so at least one can read instead look at the art.

The story involves Indy running afoul the Japanese navy–it’s pre-war so the animosity is there but not the hostility–which is cool. Sadly, he also runs into some very unlikely pirates. Michelinie would have done far better with just one villain.

But Michelinie does do really well giving Indy a sidekick in Captain Katanga, the smuggler from Raiders. The two men prove a fine pair. Michelinie really does do a good job developing the characters from the source material.

It’s nothing to get excited about, but okay.

CREDITS

The Sea Butchers, Chapter One: Island of Peril; writer, David Michelinie; penciller, Herb Trimpe; inker, Vince Colletta; colorist, Robbie Carosella; letterer, Joe Rosen; editor, Eliot Brown; publisher, Marvel Comics.

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Harbinger Wars 3 (May 2013)

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Why am I reading this comic book? I mean, Dysart does script a good issue. It’s a little light, he’s split between way too many things and the issue isn’t oversized, but why am I reading it? It’s not escapism. It’s painfully realistic superhero comics. Introduce this likable character to kill them–seeing terribly abused kids murdered by paramilitary, blood hungry goons–fun times.

Dysart’s relentless with it too. He gets in one joke, from Bloodshot. Otherwise it’s all set up for something terrible to come, with the bad guys revealing in their badness, then showing it off as they kill kids. Then there’s the regular Harbinger duped into attacking Bloodshot and his gang of kids. Awesome.

But there isn’t an inherent seriousness to the series. It’s still kind of an X-Men knockoff, just a desperately upsetting one. Bad corporations killing dumb teenagers. Rock on.

It’s just too much.

CREDITS

Writers, Duane Swierczynski and Joshua Dysart; artists, Clayton Henry and Pere Perez; colorist, Brian Reber; letterer, Dave Lanphear; editor, Warren Simons; publisher, Valiant Entertainment.

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Ultimate Spider-Man 130 (March 2009)

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It’s a fast-paced crossover mess of a comic book but it’s not terrible. Bendis gives May a couple good scenes–even though she’s sort of Gordon from Dark Knight Returns in how she’s saving people on the street.

There’s a nice moment for Kitty, a hint of a nice moment for Gwen and Mary Jane. What’s so unfortunate about this crossover hitting now is Bendis finally had his ducks in a row. He had all his characters set up for a nice, memorable run of issues–and Immonen had hit his stride with offsetting the teens against the superheroes too. The characters suffer the most from his elongated pacing; Bendis doesn’t respect his characters enough.

Peter gets nothing to do except swing around in a disaster movie and telepathically chat at Professor X. Serious tone or not… it reminds of goofy Marvel crossovers of the past.

It’s a shame.

CREDITS

Writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Stuart Immonen; inker, Wade von Grawbadger; colorist, Justin Ponsor; letterer, Cory Petit; editors, Lauren Sankovitch and Mark Paniccia; publisher, Marvel Comics.

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Suicide Risk 6 (October 2013)

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Apparently all Carey needed to do with Suicide Risk to sustain the comic was send it to Mexico. This issue is another strong one, maybe even the best so far in the normal series. I even remember the lead’s name is Leo; I usually forget somewhere during the issue.

There are more bad guys who show up, but Carey doesn’t go overboard introducing them. There’s not a lot of nonsense with Leo as a cop, just as the protagonist in over his head. Carey’s not trying too hard to fit in the exposition. And the annoying family is only in it for a few pages.

The issue hints at a whole lot. The super powered people are maybe shadows of other people–their real selves–something along those lines. Hopefully it’s not The Matrix. There’s a demon from Hell, however, so who knows… anything’s possible.

I hope Carey can maintain.

CREDITS

Writer, Mike Carey; artist, Elena Casagrande; colorist, Andrew Elder; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editors, Dafna Pleban and Matt Gagnon; publisher, Boom! Studios.

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