Day: July 15, 2014

The Mice Templar Volume II: Destiny 8 (April 2010)

The Mice Templar Volume II: Destiny #8

Glass has a lot to deliver with the resolution to this series and he knows it. This issue is just he and Santos upping the ante over and over. They already have a difficult setup and they try for more.

Cassius meets up with his men as he invades the palace. It gives him a bunch of Templar on his side, but it also give Glass more opportunities for swashbuckling and plot twists. Speaking of plot twists, the resolution to the one from the previous issue has a lot of unexpected turns–Glass excels at never taking the predicted route but always taking the more sensible one. Even if the sensibility isn’t clear.

There’s also Karic’s attack with the zombie cat and his friends and family’s side of the story. Not to mention the evil king’s plot coming together with everything else.

It’s awesome; I just hope the finish succeeds.

A 

CREDITS

The Festival of Samhain I; writer, Bryan J.L. Glass; artist, Victor Santos; colorist, Veronica Gandini; letterer, James H. Glass; editor, Judy Glass; publisher, Image Comics.

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Infinity Man and the Forever People 2 (September 2014)

Infinity Man and the Forever People #2

I was having trouble keeping track of what happened this issue until I realized the problem–nothing happens this issue. Didio and Giffen aren’t good at the banter with the marooned New Gods–or are they New Gods on their pilgrimage to Earth; it doesn’t matter. The banter’s lame. Four of the five leads are lame. And the last one is apparently a werewolf with some Wolverine influences.

At least he’s not lame.

The story has the team going to investigate some crop problems. There, they have an uninteresting battle with some soldiers from Apokolips. Why are they on Earth? No idea; it’s not as important as giving the titular Infinity Man–who looks like a Tron reject–a dramatic entrance.

There’s nothing terrible about the comic and nothing good either. Tom Grummett and Scott Hanna’s art looks less Kirby influenced than Byrne; strange. It’s all painfully indistinct and unimpressive.

C 

CREDITS

Wake Unto Me; writers, Keith Giffen and Dan Didio; penciller, Tom Grummett; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Mike Atiyeh; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Kyle Andrukiewicz and Joey Cavalieri; publisher, DC Comics.

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The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 3 (August 1982)

The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #3

Conway lays on the melodrama a little thick this issue with Ronnie getting cut from the team, slapped by his dad (in front of his best friend) and dumped. Why? The same reason every other superhero got dumped at one time or another–significant others just don’t understand a person disappearing in the middle of a crisis. Well, for the last of that list. The other two are just the time constraints.

Except Conway hasn’t shown enough of Ronnie’s regular life to get away with these big events. Maybe if he’d opened the series with them, starting one of his characters down, it would have worked.

But the rest of the comic–again, especially the interplay between Ronnie and the Professor–works great. The villain–Killer Frost–is a little talky, but her ice kingdom version of New York is when Broderick gets creative again.

He’s the other problem–he tries, but doesn’t succeed with melodramatics.

B 

CREDITS

A Cold Time in the Old Town Tonight…; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Pat Broderick; inker, Rodin Rodriguez; colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Todd Klein; editors, Carl Gafford and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

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Ghosted 11 (July 2014)

Ghosted #11

It’s kind of a fill-in issue, with Williamson doing the origin of Agent Anderson (I think her name’s Anderson), only it has original artist Goran Sudzuka. So it’s not exactly a fill-in. It’s definitely filler, with Williamson spending most of the issue telling the story of an utterly unlikable character.

There are also some problems with Williamson’s first person female point of view. They might not stand out if the story itself were okay. But it isn’t. The series isn’t oriented well for this kind of issue; Williamson writes big, this issue is small and contrived–bikers who are human traffickers? How original.

Then the comic changes gear to reveal the context of Anderson’s monologue and I just realized it would have worked had Williamson really written it as a conversation. There’s something missing–the banter between her and the protagonist.

It’s a bad issue, but the series’s fine.

CREDITS

Writer, Joshua Williamson; artist, Goran Sudžuka; colorist, Miroslav Mrva; letterer, Rus Wooton; editors, Helen Leigh and Sean Mackiewicz; publisher, Image Comics.

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