Day: December 11, 2013

The Boys 68 (July 2012)

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I don’t think I’ve ever quite read something like what Ennis is doing with The Boys. He’s making the reader feel bad about liking the comic. It’s a crazy thing, full of hostility.

There’s also some other stuff. Some good stuff. Well, the one good moment where the Female finally talks. It’s an awesome moment, really subdued. Ennis delivers that moment. The crazy stuff with the cliffhanger? Not so much.

But he’s operating on two levels simultaneously. He’s rewarding the reader for his or her patience while also chastising him or her for liking the characters. It’ll be interesting to see where he takes it. Maybe not good or even engaging, but interesting.

The opening, full of exposition as Hughie reveals the plans he’s discovered–but Mother’s Milk stays oddly quiet as to why he’s on board with Hughie–is a mess though. Ennis just can’t hide his boredom anymore.

CREDITS

The Bloody Doors Off, Part Three; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Russ Braun; colorist, Tony Aviña; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.

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Pretty Deadly 2 (November 2013)

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I want to see DeConnick’s script for this comic, just because I want to know how much Rios comes up with on her own and how much is already in the script. Because there’s a lot I can’t imagine someone getting from just the text of a script. There’s a big action sequence too and that action is very straightforward (compared to the rest of the comic) but the scenes leading up to the action? They’re bewildering.

As a rule, Westerns tend to be obvious. Probably because the genre started in mainstream filmmaking. Pretty Deadly isn’t just revisionist because it’s about women or non-whites; DeConnick and Rios are trying tell their story in the most confrontational way they can find. Not just for a Western either… it’s hard to think of another comic demanding so much of its reader.

They’re successful in their efforts. Maybe not entirely, but enough.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick; artist, Emma Rios; colorist, Jordie Bellaire; letterer, Clayton Cowles; editor, Sigrid Ellis; publisher, Image Comics.

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Batman 377 (November 1984)

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Moench runs directly into that Bruce Wayne problem he’s been having for a while. He has to have Bruce decide he wants to sneak around with Nocturna; it comes after a lengthy conversation with Alfred. Moench does fine with that conversation–the art from Newton and Alcala is fantastic, Newton’s compositions this issue are amazing–but he hasn’t established any of Bruce’s romances well.

It doesn’t help the issue starts with an absurd courtroom scene with Bruce acting nuts.

As for Nocturna–who Bruce apparently picks over Vicki (who he hasn’t seen romantically in five or ten issues) and Alfred’s daughter (Moench avoids a mention of her when Alfred’s talking to Bruce)–Moench basically just makes her Catwoman. The back and forth about her life of crime sounds like Batman and Catwoman.

Moench’s digging himself a deeper hole, but Newton’s apparently more than capable of getting him out of it.

CREDITS

The Slayer of Night; writer, Doug Moench; penciller, Don Newton; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterers, Ben Oda and Alcala; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

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