Bloodshot 11 (May 2013)

272534 20130524204040 large I like the way Valiant–or Swierczynski in this case–is handling the Harbinger Wars crossover. He’s using this issue of Bloodshot to flush out the relevant scenes in the main book; it’s expensive if a reader buys all the issues, but it also means it doesn’t have to be expensive. Each piece of the puzzle isn’t integral to getting a story.

As for the story here? There’s not a lot. It’s an all-action issue, though Bloodshot is also arguing with the evil little boy who lives in his head and tells him what to do. The art from Kitson and Gaudiano is so downbeat, the scenes don’t even play goofy.

Speaking of the art, the savage action violence gets a lot of focus here. Swierczynski seems to go for the grossest scenes possible for Bloodshot and he’s regenerative powers.

There’s not much to the comic, but it’s fine.

CREDITS

Writer, Duane Swierczynski; penciller, Barry Kitson; inkers, Stefano Gaudiano and Kitson; colorist, Brian Reber; letterer, Rob Steen; editors, Jody LeHeup and Warren Simons; publisher, Valiant Entertainment.

Ultimate Spider-Man 125 (October 2008)

522884 I’ll bet the flying guy is Ben Reilly. Maybe. It’d make sense, at least in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Still not getting why Bendis thought he had a story here. Is it an adaptation of the video game or something else? I know the game’s in continuity so is it a sequel? An aside? Does it matter? No, it doesn’t, because Bendis never made Peter getting reattached to the black costume a thing when it obviously should have been a thing.

The whole approach can be filed under “dangers of complicated flashbacks”. It takes place better Kitty, which means before Harry came back, before Nick Fury disappears, but after Gwen died. I’m not reading it and remembering all the clues Bendis put into the series contemporaneously. Because he didn’t.

Even if Bendis didn’t forget he had to tie in to the game, it sure feels like it.

Pointless, but nice art.

CREDITS

Writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Stuart Immonen; inker, Wade von Grawbadger; colorist, Justin Ponsor; letterer, Cory Petit; editors, Lauren Sankovitch, Lauren Henry, Bill Rosemann and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

2000 AD 21 (16 July 1977)

144911 It’s not the worst issue but there’s sure nothing to recommend it. Not even Dredd. Gerry Finley-Day writes both it and Invasion. Neither stand out except by not being as bad as the rest of the entries. Good twist at the end of Dredd though.

Oh, wait, Shako. It has some really nice art from Arancio. It’s beyond dumb–it’s the adventures of a mean-spirited, fugitive from the CIA polar bear–but it’s well drawn dumb.

Harlem Heroes and Dan Dare both stink in uninteresting ways. It almost seemed like Heroes was going to end, but then Tully finds a way to keep it going. Presumably forever. The main characters barely appear this story. I can’t even remember Dare.

M.A.C.H. 1 is a strange one; it’s not good, but the idea of the Probe character doing private investigation work isn’t a bad one. Carlos’s art isn’t terrible either.

CREDITS

Invasion, Sandringham; writer, Gerry Finley-Day; artist, Mike Dorey; letterer, Peter Knight. Shako, Part Two; writers, Pat Mills and John Wagner; artist, Arancio; letterer, Jack Potter. Harlem Heroes, Part Twenty-one; writer, Tom Tully; artist and letterer, Dave Gibbons. Dan Dare, Hollow World, Part Ten; writer, Steve Moore; artist, Massimo Belardinelli; letterers, Knight and Bill Nuttall. M.A.C.H. 1, Recluse; writer, Nick Allen; artist, Carlos; letterer, John Aldrich. Judge Dredd, The Solar Sniper; writer, Finley-Day; artist, Ron Turner; letterer, Potter. Editor, Kelvin Gosnell; publisher, IPC.

Prisoners (2013, Denis Villeneuve)

Director Villeneuve takes a very interesting approach to how a thriller works with Prisoners. He ignores it. During the first act, there are quite a few flirtations with thriller standards. But the film almost always immediately dismisses them–like Villeneuve and writer Aaron Guzikowski are holding up a standard, tossing it away. Jóhann Jóhannsson’s music helps them through these quick examinations, as does Roger Deakins’s photography. Villeneuve gets some truly astounding shots with Deakins. Many are so good one wonders how Villeneuve resisted showing off. He never does.

That restraint carries over to the performances as well. Prisoners is constantly difficult. In theory, the four primary actors should be Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Viola Davis and Terrence Howard. They play two couples who have had their daughters abducted, they should be the leads. Well, them and Jake Gyllenhaal as the primary detective.

But no. And there’s another break–Gyllenhaal doesn’t have a partner. When’s the last time a movie cop didn’t have a partner. But Jackman takes matters into his own hands and the film juxtapositions his pursuit against Gyllenhaal’s. They aren’t alter egos; Guzikowski wouldn’t never be so simplistic. The script’s phenomenal.

Both Jackman and Gyllenhaal are amazing. Gyllenhaal wins out. He has a more complicated role and more screen time.

Great supporting work from Davis and Wayne Duvall. Bello and Howard have the least to do in the film, another of Villeneuve and Guzikowski’s plays on expectations. They’re both good. There’s no weak performances.

Prisoners is truly exceptional.

Ultimate Spider-Man 124 (September 2008)

520128 Wait a second, is the the arc Bendis wrote to tie into the “Ultimate Spider-Man” video game? I thought he delayed it for years and years and then finally did it.

He should have waited longer.

So, Eddie Brock is gone as a narrator now, which makes no sense. Eddie’s narration last issue was the present and this issue Bendis is kicking around two flashbacks. First with the Rhino and then Firefly? Or some guy in a Firefly-like suit; he doesn’t have a name yet.

In between fights, Peter–because he’s all of a sudden the lead with no transition–talks to Mary Jane, talks to Nick Fury. Only for exposition though, because it’s all flashback and Bendis doesn’t take any time to texture it. Probably because he forced this arc.

There’s some really nice art from Immonen, particularly during the Firefly chase, but the whole thing’s off.

CREDITS

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

Buzzkill 1 (September 2013)

22436 I kind of like Geoff Shaw’s art. He doesn’t do any action in the first issue of Buzzkill, just hints of it and a lot of talking, but I do kind of like it. It’s that hurried, lots of lines indie thing. It’s popular right now and would work a lot better if Donny Cates’s script had better pacing.

Buzzkill is about the gimmick. Imagine Superman gets his powers from drugs and alcohol. He has to be drunk or high to get them–and he’s got all the regular side effects of being drunk and high. So not much of a superpower, right?

The protagonist–Cates cutely hides his real name (and draws attention to his cuteness)–goes to an AA meeting. Of course he doesn’t tell them everything, so there’s a quick cut to non-action action from Shaw.

Cates’s script is lame, obvious, somewhat pretentious.

It’s bad stuff.

CREDITS

The Problem; writers, Mark Reznicek and Donny Cates; artist, Geoff Shaw; colorist, Lauren Affe; editors, Everett Patterson and Patrick Thorpe; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

Brother Lono 4 (November 2013)

283903 20130918153406 large Azzarello continues what one might call a peculiar approach to Lono. Nothing big happens during the issue; there might be cliffhanger–this issue has a soft one–and there’s a possibly big followup to the previous issue’s cliffhanger at the beginning, but it’s very mild otherwise. It’s horrific, sure. There are drug lords doing terrible things to one another and to regular people (this issue it’s more the hint of terrible things), but it’s almost tranquil.

Azzarello introduces another new character, yet another bad guy, and sort of follows him around for the day. When he gets to town, when he meets with a drug lord, how he spends his evening. It’s all very, very calm.

There’s a texture to Lono, a relaxed pace. It’s hard to anticipate what’s going to happen–though Azzarello does bring in a thing from the first issue–because the events don’t matter.

Good stuff.

CREDITS

!El Monstruo Del Norte!; writer, Brian Azzarello; artist, Eduardo Risso; colorist, Trish Mulvihill; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Sara Miller and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

Detective Comics 793 (June 2004)

148821 Gabrych spends about a fourth of the issue with Bruce describing the surgical procedure for a cesarean section delivery. Just before the delivery, there’s a long argument between Bruce and some Lady Macbeth crime lord. It’s different to be sure.

A little later, when Batman heads out to fight Mister Freeze, Leslie is shocked at the decision. It’s a slightly meta textual scene, with her stunned he’s all of a sudden going to bring supervillains into their real, tragic situation.

The fight scene is a fight scene–Gabrych has already done the issue’s biggest work–and the Woods art is definitely nice.

He closes off the story with Bruce and Leslie in a nice little scene together. Gabrych is trying to do something with the character.

The backup has some truly awful narration from writer Lieberman. It goes on and on and nothing happens, just setup for the next installment.

CREDITS

The Surrogate, Part Three: Deliverance; writer, Andersen Gabrych; penciller, Pete Woods; inker, Cam Smith; colorist, Jason Wright; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. The Tailor, Part Five; writer, A.J. Lieberman; penciller, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Giulia Brusco; editor, Matt Idelson. Letterer, Clem Robins; publisher, DC Comics.

Mission to Mars (2000, Brian De Palma)

If it had been made earlier–even with the same flawed script–Mission to Mars would probably have been more successful. Many of its failings relate to the CG special effects. Stephen H. Burum is incompetent at lighting them, but they also bring an artificiality to the film’s tensest sequences. So, while Ennio Morricone might have a fantastic piece of music for a suspense sequence and De Palma might be directing it fine, it doesn’t work out right because of the CG and Burum’s ineptness.

Mars has a lot more problems–Connie Nielsen being one of the bigger ones, the plot, De Palma’s inability to create a transcendent scene (it’s more literal than a grade school documentary about helium balloons), some other terrible supporting performances–but there are a lot of strengths. At the center of the picture are Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins and Don Cheadle as three NASA buddies. All of them are fantastic. Even with Sinise inexplicably wearing eyeliner. His hairpiece, while awful looking, is more understandable.

And the film does have a certain amount of earnestness and general wonderment. It takes De Palma about a half hour before he lets the film have that wonderment, which is a poor choice since he’s already taken it to Mars once without any grandeur. It’s a gee whiz adventure picture from someone who doesn’t know how to feel gee whiz.

Jerry O’Connell is good; otherwise, the supporting cast is lousy.

Mars fails, but does so very unfortunately and very interestingly.

Ultimate Spider-Man 123 (August 2008)

516136 Oh, no, Bendis is going off the rails again. I thought last issue was a fluke, but now it’s a definite thing. This whole issue is Eddie Brock sitting at a park bench, telling people his story, then eating them.

Bendis is demure about the eating thing until the last panel.

Immonen does really good with the art, which makes me think maybe Bendis knew he could branch out more with him on the book but it’s a mistake. It removes Peter from being the center of the book and then you’ve just got Ultimate Spider-Man without its star.

Worse, Silver Sable is back again. Not one of Bendis’s better Ultimate creations. Not as annoying as last time, but only because Eddie’s narrating the thing.

I guess Bendis trying to making Eddie somewhat sympathetic, but he doesn’t at all. Not even with all the sad panels Immonen can muster.

CREDITS