Category: 2009
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Maybe it was a movie script. I can’t think a time DC did one of those before–adapting a movie script into a comic when it wasn’t an adaptation–but Marvel did it with a Dr. Strange series once. It’d really explain The Mighty‘s pacing; the series probably reads great in trade, without the breaks, just because…
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Again with the terrible pacing. It almost seems like Tomasi and Champagne are happy once they’ve got one conversation an issue; everything around it is filler. And this issue is almost entirely a talking heads book (with the exception of Alpha One getting pissed off and doing something really suspicious like bury a ticking nuclear…
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First, someone made a big art decision about this issue and I can’t tell who. It’s Samnee on pencils and inks and John Kalisz coloring; Kalisz has been coloring the whole series, Samnee’s been on for an issue before this one. The coloring of The Mighty is now incredibly lush and vibrant. The story’s also…
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What an issue. The pacing is awful–I’m pretty sure it took me about three minutes to read–because the whole thing is just a conversation. After discovering, Alpha One is nuts or something, protagonist–the first time I’ve ever referred to him as such–Gabe hangs out with Alpha One in space for a really creepy moment. Then…
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For Samnee’s first issue, apparently Tomasi and Champagne aren’t going to beat around the bush. Alpha One goes from being a hero with some quirks to being an intergalactic villain. Well, maybe not intergalactic–the alien things on the last page look a lot like something out of War of the Worlds. Samnee’s art, which is…
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Ok, even if a commenter hadn’t given away the ominousness I’m feeling, this issue would have pretty much done it. There’s a lot of Alpha One being really, really weird here. As far as Snejbjerg’s art and the changing face of Alpha One, I think he’s trying to intimate there’s something else going on but…
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I’m reading The Mighty about as blind as anyone can read anything. I picked it up because of Tomasi and Snejbjerg reuniting after that angel one they did. Well, mostly because of Snejbjerg (so it’s hilarious it’s his contribution I have the most issue with, once again, his faces are way too loose, way too…
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There’s a big moment in the second issue of The Mighty directly informed, at least in the general consciousness, by Superman Returns (I’d heard it’s from an Alex Ross piece, but whatever, I’ve never seen it)–Alpha One, the superhero of the book (the world’s only superhero), is up in the rain listening for trouble. It’s…
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There have been superhero comics where the superheroes aren’t in it (just look at DC’s current Superman output), but I think I mean more like The Boys or something along those lines. These revisionist takes on superheroes, where it’s sometimes more about the reaction. The Mighty takes it a step further. The superhero never says…
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Hard as it must be to believe, but I really don’t go looking for bad comic books to read. My Dark Horse Aliens and Predator nostalgia cost me more than twenty bucks–I could have killed brain cells and had fun doing it using that money on liquor or Elmer’s glue to sniff. Either would have…
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It’s getting worse. Why does it have to be getting worse? Seriously, did anyone read Arcudi’s script here? It’s the same old rote Predator story Dark Horse has been doing for… twenty years? There’s a good Predator… gasp. I wonder how that’ll play out in the next issues. There’s also the hint someone knows about…
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I bought Predator ought of nostalgia. I grew up in the salad days of Dark Horse’s licensed property boom, back when there was only one Aliens vs. Predator series and it was a big deal. Returning to Predator, especially this series–updated to be hip and modern–it’s about mercenaries in Africa. They say Africa, it’s an…
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Langridge does a couple really profound things–wait, only one profound thing–the other thing isn’t profound as much as interesting. I don’t remember a lot of “the Muppet Show,” mostly the movies, so I don’t know if the theater’s history was ever discussed “in canon,” but here Langridge establishes the theater was around before Kermit and…
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I just read this issue and I can’t tell you a thing in it except a Pigs in Space episode–not as funny because Piggy’s not in it–something about Piggy being covered in fake jewels–and a really touching scene with Animal. The series has been full of touching scenes with Animal. It’s more of a character…
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At the end of Mother, there’s the moment where the film’s got the big moment where Bong’s either going to make something transcendent or something simply excellent. Not a strange moment, lots of films have this moment. Throughout, especially in the second and third act, Bong ratchets it up a notch or two, making these…
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This issue has almost no Muppet Show stuff, as in sketches. Instead, Langridge is developing the Peg-Leg Wilson story. It’s a different, very successful approach (I just expected him to open the series with it). This issue is more akin to one of the Muppet feature films. There’s lots of plot. There are a couple…
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Animal’s getting smarter, Rizzo and the rats are digging for treasure in the studio and Kermit’s acting very strange (leather jacket and shades). There’s also a ninja hanging around. While the series has a subtitle, suggesting a unifying theme (at the least), Langridge is really just doing another Muppet Show comic, with bits from the…
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Ok, so I’m not sure it’s really a “versus” book. I mean, sure, it’s got the Atlas guys fighting the X-Men, but it’s really just an Agents of Atlas issue with an X-Men crossover (much like the New Avengers crossover early in the Atlas series). Parker does an unsurprisingly fantastic job, though I wish there’d…
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The first time I read this issue, it sort of shocked me. I mean, Carey spends the issue rewriting history; or something close to it, anyway. He spends the issue looking at how the way writing and writers work in The Unwritten has effected other writers, not just the characters in the main story. It…
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The fourth issue–I’m trying to remember if something magical is revealed each issue, but I don’t think so, just the first and second–ends on a wacky cliffhanger. I mean, it ends on a very dramatic, horrific note, but then on this, well, sweet one too. The potential for The Unwritten is just amazing–if Carey pulls…
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The third issue drastically changes pace. Instead of it being a summary of events, it’s more “real time,” with Tom’s trying to figure out the variety of weird things going on. Not the weird things overall, just the weird things going on since the end of the last issue. There’s a lot more humor this…
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The second issue introduces magic to the protagonist for the first time. Unfortunately, it’s one of the issue’s weaker moments, because his reaction is nowhere near intense enough. The series has become, at least for the moment, a quest story–the quest for knowledge–and it’s definitely an approach Carey is comfortable playing with. The revelations we…
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The premise of The Unwritten is simple–what if a Harry Potter-like character turned out to be real–but the way Carey weaves the story, the intricacies, the endless setups, makes The Unwritten so much more than its concept, it’s hard to remember the premise was ever simple. Carey introduces maybe nine things this issue–protagonist Tom Taylor’s…
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Has there ever been a major studio ninja movie before? As far as I know, no. There were the Cannon ones in the eighties, but those, obviously, don’t count. Actually, I didn’t even know Ninja Assassin opened theatrically. I’m slow keeping up with what qualifies one film to be released theatrically while another not. The…
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The second issue starts real strong with Bertozzi’s perv Watcher intro and then immediately drops. Tony Millionaire’s Iron Man manages to be a wee bit learned to be effective. Maybe I just don’t see Iron Man as ripe for humor, except maybe drunk jokes–regardless, grafting absurdism with Marvel heroes doesn’t work in the story. Johnson’s…
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I think Strange Tales is a bad title for this one (I know, it’s a traditional Marvel title), just because they aren’t strange tales, they’re funny ones. Wait, the Japanese one is strange (Spider-Man in a town of spider-people feeling inferior to Mary Jane). Anyway, the funniest is Nicholas Gurewitch’s one page Wolverine strip. He’s…
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The series isn’t terrible; it has cute finish. Not a particularly successful one, but a cute one. There’s a lot of goofiness, not just in the narrative but in the handling of it. For example, when Disney gave Boom! the kids comic license, were they aware Boom! was going to do a page and a…
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Beedle comes closer to–no pun intended–making a bullseye this issue than the previous two suggested he was capable of doing. There’s some of the silly anachronisms, but even they don’t stand in the way of it finally turning into a Robin Hood story. I can’t remember if the archery contest is a Robin Hood standard…
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The second issue is more of the first, but with more of the primary Muppets. What’s with Gonzo, by the way? It seems like no one can draw Gonzo to really resemble the actual Muppet? The best thing about this issue are Johnny Fiama and Sal. Johnny’s playing the evil prince and Sal’s there too.…
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I guess they don’t get it. I mean, maybe they do, but maybe not. Muppet Robin Hood reminds me of one of those licensed properties where they have a partial license, like when Dark Horse had The Terminator but not Terminator 2 and so couldn’t refer to it. Muppet Robin Hood plays like an overlong…
The Stop Button 