Category: 2011
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It would be going far to say The Mechanic almost succeeds. There’s not very much it could succeed at–while a remake, the film could have been another in star Jason Statham’s Transporter franchise; there’s nothing distinctive about it. Except maybe Mark Isham’s awful score. The film opens with some of director West’s worst work. Luckily,…
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It ends with a quote from the Bible. And Batman joining the Justice League. His powers were only temporary back in China—those dastardly Chinese turned opium into a superpower elixir! What’s so funny—besides laughing at Guggenheim’s writing, his dialogue, his narration—is Guggenheim’s plotting. He never lets Batman uncover the mystery he’s been pursuing the last…
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Guggenheim implies he’s going to give Batman superpowers. Let me explain—in China, the superheroes Bruce Wayne runs into tell him they source of superpowers is the totem (or logo). There’s an atrocious bit where Batman’s later calling the Justice League’s logos their totems. Anyway, it turns out the Chinese are lying to Batman and you…
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Oh, wow. So this arc is actually about Batman’s first meeting with the Justice League. Now, I’m not up on my DC continuity—and is Miller’s All-Star Batman continuity now—but I’m pretty sure Batman had met Superman by year three. This story is set in year three. But no, Batman hasn’t met Superman (or Super-Man as…
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Bingham spends so much time on the flashback art—I think it’s colored ink washes—it’s like he doesn’t have the enthusiasm for the present day stuff. Especially not since Guggenheim has him matching it all, sometimes splitting the panel between past and present down the center. Both stories, past and present, are more action oriented this…
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I wanted to read this issue because it features the return of Jerry Bingham, who did some great work in the eighties. He does some good work here too, just not on the present action of the issue. There’s a flashback portion, with something approximating painted art, and it looks good. The modern stuff looks…
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From the first few seconds of The Pact, one thing is clear—McCarthy has amazing composition and editor van Zyl knows how to cut. The first half or so of the short is a conversation between a brother and sister, played by Sam Ball and Jewel Staite, respectively. Two more things become clear as the conversation…
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Swierczynski tries a little Mockingbird and Hawkeye romantic banter moment or two and he fails. It’s all right though, because he’s not really hinging much on it. In fact, he’s hinging almost nothing on those two this issue–Black Widow narrates the issue. There are still the problems with Garcia and Ruggiero. Lots of eyes getting…
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I miss Swierczynski. McCann does a decent job plotting the issue–there’s a lot of action in it, as well as the investigation into the spy stuff–but it’s a stinker. First, yeah, I think the Lopezes are trying to make Black Widow unattractive. There’s a weak romance moment for Hawkeye and Mockingbird here too. Strange how…
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So Marvel is now alternating creative teams on limited series? I’m only mildly complaining–mostly about Ruggiero and Bit’s inks on Garcia, who I thought did better work. Maybe I’m wrong. There’s a lot of problems with faces here (and eyes being totally inked over). It’s not terrible art, but it looks very rushed. As for…
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So for some reason, while everyone else gets drawn young and beautiful, the Lopezes draw Black Widow aged and weathered. She’s got more lines around her eyes than Rob Liefeld draws on a bicep. I know this book is a continuation of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, maybe making Widow unappealing is to bolster Mockingbird. Actually, of…
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I think I like Larocca’s art this issue than any one in the past. It’s literally a talking head (no one has dialogue except Tony), but Larocca does flashbacks and in these flashbacks, he relies a little less on the flash and just draws. The issue is a retelling up to now of Tony’s life,…
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All-Star Superman, the comic book, is maybe the best Superman comic book. Based on empirical observation (i.e. the other animated DC Comics movies from Warner Premiere), I assumed All-Star Superman, the animated movie, would be awful. I was wrong. It’s wondrous. It’s not without its problems, of course. The movie is based on the comic,…
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Huh. What to say. It’s very hard to say anything about this issue of Starborn because Roberson’s script is so padded, he only has about six pages of story here. There are maybe three double-page spreads (so twenty-seven percent of the issue) and then it ends on a full-page spread. The pacing is awful. Maybe…
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Well, Waid has his big reveal… and it’s utterly predictable, which might have been his point. More importantly, the ending seems to be setting up the next issue to finally reveal what all the characters have to do with one another. It’s a brief read–Waid has a lot of pointless conversation and it fills pages…
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But first, I want to talk about the art a little. Pugh has some really stunning panels this issue, even better than usual. There’s a lot of action and it’s all very well executed, but there are these occasional, amazing panels. It’s like he knew he didn’t have enough space and used particular panels to…
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And here’s where the Lopezes just can’t hack it. The issue is all about Clint’s angst. And Jessica Drew coming on to him a little. But mostly it’s about his angst. The Lopezes drawing an angst-ridden Clint bellyflops. It’s not their style (Javier Pulido, Cliff Chiang, Cameron Stewart all could have done it). It’s like…
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Even though it’s still modern, lazy Chaykin, Follow the Money is somewhat better than his usual attempts. I think it’s because—even though he has some rather bad pages in here—he also has a lot more mediocre ones. The mediocre ones sort of even everything out. He does have jump cuts, however, something I’ve never seen…
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Fraction sets up this issue in two parts–first the present, with Tony tracking down Peter Parker to talk about some designs Tony forgot about, and second the future. In the future, Tony’s kid is fighting the Mandarin, who has taken over the world thanks to Tony’s technology. Fraction plays the future as full action. There’s…
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Cornfields. It ends in a cornfield. I’m not sure there’s anything more perfect. Well, obviously, not being canceled would be more perfect, but for what they have to do… Langridge and Samnee end it beautifully. The issue does not play like a final issue (I’m assuming Marvel did not give them time)—the big bad is…
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It’s hard not to be depressed. And not just because Langridge ends on the series’s first (and last) real cliffhanger. This issue is the second-to-last Thor: The Mighty Avenger. Langridge opens the issue with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beeker (I suppose Samnee does have something to do with it). Things weren’t working out in the…
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The issue ends with Thor and Jane’s first kiss. I wasn’t sure it was going to because Langridge was hinting at it a couple times and it didn’t happen. The last few pages, leading up to the kiss, are some great talking heads stuff. Except Samnee doesn’t just do talking heads, he does these medium…
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Interesting, we never get the saboteur revealed. This issue is a lot of setup after the action stops—Fraction goes back to the old way of writing Invincible, where Tony is narrating it. It means we get a recap of the last few issues, but it’s nice to have the narration back so who cares if…
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In what I can only describe as a Jeff Parker moment, Fraction reveals—in the backup, illustrated by McKelvie—Pepper’s suit, J.A.R.V.I.S., has the hots for her. It’s cute (and ties into that next big crossover event). The main story is Tony and Team Iron Man (I can’t imagine that name sticking) battling the drones of Hammer.…
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I think this issue must be Bendis’s best-paced ever. Lots happens here… Let’s see, very big battle scene, followed by a fight scene. Before the battle scene there was some stuff, including Steve and his elf girl. Really wish Brubaker would bring her into the regular title (or whoever’s writing it once Steve’s Cap again…
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Does the Twilight Sword Hela kills Enchantress with—oops, did I spoil that? I’m sure she’ll be okay—have anything to do with the Twilight movies or is it established in Thor canon? Why does every Thor comic need footnotes and never have them? This issue has a full-on Bendis conversation where we discover Thor bedded Hellcat.…
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There are countless issues with Starborn. I mean, the thing opens in an alien council—it looks like a mix of Star Wars and fantasy (some big minotaur looking thing)—but my major problem is buying into the story requires the reader to buy into the protagonist’s stupid sci-fi enthusiasm. The gimmick (the protagonist’s dumb sci-fi novels…
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Most of this issue is completely awful. Some of the fault is David’s, some of it is Pierfederici’s, some is Marvel’s. The adaptation clearly needs three issues, not two–David manages to get the comic back on track in the last pages, adding some sense of reason to the final events (something the movie skips over…
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I couldn’t resist. The idea is just too strange–a comic book adaptation of a twenty-eight year-old movie (yes, I know, IDW does these things, but this release is from Marvel)–and with Peter David writing. Whatever his problems, David is a far better writer than Tron writer Steven Lisberger. So how is Tron as a comic…
The Stop Button 