Day: August 22, 2014

Letter 44 6 (April 2014)

Letter 44 #6

Alburquerque definitely does better on the art this issue. There’s not much action; there’s some running, when the landing party returns to the spaceship, and they don’t look good but there’s no other action.

Soule deals with the political stuff and the human interest story for the crew of the spaceship. The President has a really good scene and there are a few developments with the space side, but nothing significant on the latter. Or the former, really. Soule is sort of soft resetting the series, getting it ready for the next arc. It’s unclear why this issue is the end of an arc, however. Things have changed, yes, but the character development is all forced.

Still, there are some decent moments and a couple surprises. The surprises aren’t great, but one is for the characters so Soule is at least thinking about them.

It’s just an artificial pause point.

B- 

CREDITS

Writer, Charles Soule; penciller, Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque; colorist, Dan Jackson; letterer, Shawn DePasquale; editors, Charlie Chu and Robin Herrera; publisher, Oni Press.

0

Stray Bullets: Killers 6 (August 2014)

Stray Bullets: Killers #6

Well, it’s far from the worst issue of Killers. It’s more with Virginia and her mostly lame boyfriend Eli; Lapham does very little to show why Eli’s any good as a boyfriend other than he’s usually sweet to Virginia.

This issue has him not being sweet for the first time and it’s an awkward scene. Usually outburst scenes in Stray Bullets lead to some kind of murder scene. This time it leads to teenage angst.

It’s also one of the first issues–Killers or regular series–where something turns out not to be the worst possible scenario. Except maybe some of those early Virginia issues where Lapham frequently threatens her to keep the tension high. It’s a Stray Bullets comic without the big finish. Very odd.

The art’s really lazy at times; Lapham rushes through the talking heads sequences and it hurts the comic. Ditto the narratively pointless hallucination subplot.

B- 

CREDITS

99 Percent; writer, artist and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, Image Comics.

0

The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 30 (December 1984)

The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #30

It’s another messy issue from Cavalieri. Firestorm gets arrested–I can’t believe they didn’t go with it for the cover–and then gets beat up in jail. He’s recovering from the brainwashing, so there’s not a lot he does in the comic. Instead, the lame villains are back. There’s Mindboggler, who’s doing all the brainwashing–only she’s supposed to be slightly sympathetic because her evil boss (in a hooded robe) energizes her powers through torture.

Then there’s a guy who can transform himself into anyone and then a street gang. Cavalieri takes the time to include the street gang’s leader is also brainwashing him.

These villains do not make an impressive rogues’ gallery. They’re bad.

There’s some subplot movement with the woman planning on suing Firestorm getting a job at Ronnie’s dad’s paper. Contrived doesn’t begin to describe it.

Worse, Tanghal doesn’t ink Kayanan very well. The weaker art significantly outweighs the stronger.

C 

CREDITS

The Depths of Despair; writer, Joey Cavalieri; penciller, Rafael Kayanan; inker, Romeo Tanghal; colorist, Nansi Hoolahan; letterer, John Costanza; editors, Janice Race and Gerry Conway; publisher, DC Comics.

0

The Multiversity 1 (October 2014)

The Multiversity #1

If Grant Morrison needs help breaking the fourth wall–he does it poorly in this first issue of Multiversity–he should have asked John Byrne. But with the exception of Captain Carrot, Morrison’s references to other comics are all mocking and derisive.

Whatever he says he’s doing with the comic, Morrison is actually trolling for fanboy outrage. Superman isn’t just black, he’s Obama. And all the other superheroes are black. Flash and Green Lantern are gay. Marvel Comics are stupid. Real stupid. Especially the Ultimates, Fantastic Four and Infinity Gems. There are probably a few more.

It’s all very contemporary and hip, but I assume Morrison will get around to throwing poo at Alan Moore and Mark Millar.

There are some amusing moments with Captain Carrot and Ivan Reis and Joe Prado do well on art.

Unless someone’s researching for a book about Morrison’s ego, there’s no worthwhile reading here.

C- 

CREDITS

House of Heroes; writer, Grant Morrison; penciller, Ivan Reis; inker, Joe Prado; colorist, Nei Ruffino; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Ricky Purdin; publisher, DC Comics.

0

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: