Kill or Be Killed (2016) #17

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Does writer Ed Brubaker actually not see the possibilities he raises with scenes? It’s fascinating. For the second or third time, Brubaker’s started an issue completely invalidating a possibility the previous one raised. There’s an anecdote about a short story being a room in a house, a novel being a house. Maybe Gordon Lish (but probably not). Brubaker keeps staring out the window in Kill’s room without opening it. It’s restrained in all the worst ways.

However, this issue’s the best in a while.

Dylan speaking directly to the reader is… problematic, but at least Brubaker’s not prostrating himself trying to obscure the narration device. It’s a simple issue. Dylan’s going to off the rapey mental hospital orderly, who looks just like the rapey mental hospital orderly from Terminator 2. He’s got to figure out how to kill the guy and whether or not he wants to confirm the guy’s a creep.

In the background, Dylan’s thinking about the copycat vigilante in New York and his roommate going to the cops (though Dylan can’t know the roommate’s going to the cops yet, which he awkwardly comments on). In some ways, Kill or Be Killed feels like Brubaker trying to take what he’s learned from doing pulp-influenced comics for fifteen years and apply them to a more traditional comic book character.

If the series is a big creative swing from Brubaker, it doesn’t work out, which is too bad. Or it’s just a half-assed attempt at a comic in search of a movie or streaming deal, which makes more sense with the art. Artist Sean Phillips feels like he does not have time or care for Kill or Be Killed. Everyone this issue’s got big head issues; looking like Phillips taped the heads onto the bodies and didn’t take the time to get the scaling right.

Seeing as how the comic’s finally a little more sturdy thanks to Brubaker not having to as constantly deceive the reader, who knows how the series would’ve played straight.

But it’s nice for one of the issues not to be lousy. It’s been so, so long since I thought this book had even a minimal chance, and, at least now, it’s not going to finish as unpleasant as it could.

Knock on wood.

Kill or Be Killed (2016) #16

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Well, writer Ed Brubaker is not overcomplicating matters with a last-minute reveal. He’s just stumbling along, as usual, the comic suddenly with far less momentum as Dylan’s in a mental hospital.

The slowing down makes sense—after confessing to being the vigilante and finding out there’s still a red-masked vigilante in New York (a copycat, Dylan’s sure), the doctors put him on tranquilizers. He’ll get off the tranquilizers eventually—the passage of time does matter to the bigger story, but Brubaker doesn’t address it—and realize there are bad guys even in the hospital he can take out.

There’s a lot of action, quite a bit of Dylan’s head being disproportionate to his body—I swear, if that detail’s addressed, Kill or Be Killed might be brilliant—and a lot of treading water. Brubaker’s trying to wait out the issue. It’s not a bridging issue because those involve movement from A to B; there’s no movement here, just continued braking.

The end’s simultaneously cryptic and not. Is Brubaker going to try for a Fight Club ending? It’s not impossible. He wrote it for a movie adaptation, so he had to be thinking second act reveal, and we’re closing in.

I’m trying to remember the last time the comic didn’t feel a combination of stale and desperate, like an Entenmann’s coffee cake on remainder. I think it’s been six to eight issues. It’s been ages.

Sean Phillips is fine with everyone else’s head size this issue, which is a plus.

The issue’s other problem is its genericness. It’s a series of mental hospital tropes from other media; there are inanely written psychiatrist sessions, sad visits with the family (all done in montage to avoid character development), and even Dylan’s new target is a trope. In a better comic, it’d be embarrassing. In this one… I just hope Brubaker doesn’t finish too badly.

William Gibson’s Alien 3 (2018) #2

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Apparently, William Gibson’s Alien 3 was going to be one of those sequels where the franchise lead spends a bunch of time off-screen or unconscious; Ripley’s knocked out this issue, so Sigourney Weaver would be doing the Jamie Lee Curtis Halloween II thing in extremis. We get a couple scenes with Newt, but some more significant ones with Hicks. Sort of. He’s not allowed to phone home and debrief, so he spends the issues asking the same questions over and over. Well, at least in his few scenes.

The longest scene involves the U.P.P.—the future Soviets—discussing how they’re going to return Bishop the android to the Americans—the Company—forcing them to reveal they want to use the alien for biological warfare. It’s four pages, with a couple of them recapping everything we already know about the alien thanks to having seen Aliens. The scene’s long, redundant, and a potential waste of time. It provides context for later on when the Soviets call the Americans, but that call suggests it’d be more compelling if we didn’t know there was a scheme.

Otherwise, the comic moves between the various crew members of the space station as they deal with two sets of unexpected visitors: the Aliens survivors and the Company biological warfare team. Writer and artist Johnnie Christmas does a good job making everyone visually distinct, but their characters are all pretty bland. There are about fifteen characters in the comic already; it’s way too many, especially for a sequel, especially when Christmas isn’t doing any character setup. People have personality traits to get them through scenes, but it’s setup.

It’s so set up the cliffhanger doesn’t raise the pulse. Someone gets threatened with bureaucratic menace. It’s an inert finish, and I was hoping Christmas would figure out a better stopping point.

I just wish there was a single good character. Unfortunately, Christmas keeps pushing off character development, but only three issues are left; these interchangeable red shirts aren’t cutting it.

Kill or Be Killed (2016) #15

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But, wait, what if Dylan’s a ghost and he’s been dead the whole time?

Okay, writer Ed Brubaker doesn’t end the issue on that reveal, but he ends it on one much more similar to it than I’d have thought. It’s definitely an intriguing cliffhanger, though Brubaker’s either going to do something interesting with it, and the first fourteen issues of the comic will be—at best—a partial waste of time (unless we’re looking for clues he’s a ghost), or it’s just a way to gin up an unlikely cliffhanger, and it’s not going to be at all significant.

Honestly, I’m leaning toward the latter. I’ve no faith in Brubaker to turn Kill or Be Killed around. And not just because he makes a crack about the comic not being “epistolary,” meaning Dylan’s first-person narration isn’t to a psychiatrist, but instead a direct address to the reader. You know, the suckers who’ve been buying the comic in the first place.

And also not just because Brubaker brags about a film deal in the back matter. I’ve been avoiding the back matter in the comic for ages; I was just skimming, and it jumped out. Also jumping out is Dylan’s complaint things have gotten so bad in the world the Nazis are back when Kill or Be Killed’s colorist is… well, let’s just say the phone call’s coming from inside the house. Not to mention Brubaker sort of blew off the politics earlier in the series, and now Dylan’s telling us how the world’s so changed only he should’ve been telling us as it changed. Or, more accurately, revealed itself.

Anyway. None of those troubling elements are the main one I don’t trust Brubaker to write the book out of its hole. It just doesn’t have anywhere to go. Dylan might somehow end up vaguely sympathetic but pitiable. It’ll also raise some ableism questions. But the writing on the other characters? The other characters’ writing will always be bad no matter what happens with Dylan.

And Sean Phillips’s art is clearly never going to get over its problems. It’s a little better this issue… except when it’s not. For whatever reason, Phillips just can’t draw regular people in the modern-day. Or he can’t draw them in this comic.

There’s still a lot of Kill or Be Killed to go; this issue kicks off the last arc with Dylan in a mental hospital, the demon having hounded him into a public enough outburst he got put on a psychiatric hold.

It’s an exhausting comic and for no good reason.

William Gibson’s Alien 3 (2018) #1

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William Gibson’s Alien 3 is two levels of incomprehensible to the non-Alien franchise fan. First, you’ve got to know your Aliens, then you probably should know your existing Alien³. Familiarity with Dark Horse Comics’s original Aliens series might not hurt either, so you can better appreciate when Hicks shows up on the very last page. He was the protagonist in that series, which was a direct sequel to Aliens too.

This adaptation comes after the two or three deaths of the Alien franchise and its two or three resurrections; it depends on how you want to count them. It’s one of Dark Horse’s last Aliens licensed titles before Disney bought Fox, presumably with Newt the Disney Princess in future offings. Newt’s not awake yet in this issue. Adapter Johnnie Christmas—writing and illustrating—is just setting things up (presumably based on Gibson’s original plotting).

Instead of crash-landing on a prison planet, the Sulaco (the ship from Aliens) ends up at a waypoint station after passing through U.P.P. space. The U.P.P. is the future Soviets; I can’t remember my Alien³ trivia well enough, but I think the Berlin Wall coming down spoiled them as villains for movies set in the future. The Sulaco passes through their space, so they board it before it crosses their borders, snagging Bishop the android, who has a big alien egg growing out of him. That moment answers one of Alien³: The Movie’s more annoying questions; makes you wish they’d at least kept it from the Gibson script.

When the ship arrives at the Company waypoint station, there are already weapons department scumbags there ready to intercept. They want the aliens, as usual, only it’s illegal for them to be on the waypoint station because of treaties with the future Soviets, putting them at odds with the station crew.

The comic gets through the crew waking up the cast of Aliens, but so far, Sigourney Weaver’s knocked out, and Hicks is smoking somewhere he shouldn’t be. Where’d he get the cigarettes?

It’s a little rushed at the end and a little drawn out at the beginning—Christmas does a 2001 homage with the station boss’s meeting with the weapons division jerks, which is cute but drags. Still, it’s a compelling mix of curiosity, sequel, sci-fi, and politics. There’s not much in terms of character so far, but he’s got four issues to emphasize some of them.

Though, once again, it’s got a very limited appeal just because of the many pre-existing knowledge assumptions.

A Walk Through Hell (2018) #6

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Either writer Garth Ennis or editor Mike Marts doesn’t know corpses don’t grow hair.

At least Ennis ought to know corpses don’t grow hair.

Google’s free, people. I’ll bet it’s even on Bing.

The issue opens with McGregor noticing he’s got facial hair, which would’ve taken a few weeks to grow, meaning they’re still alive somehow. Only Shaw hasn’t had her period, so time’s not passing; corpses just grow hair. I suppose they could be going for Shaw being wrong, not knowing some very basic “old wives’ tale” human anatomy stuff you’d hope an FBI agent would know. But McGregor doesn’t know anything about it either.

Anyway, it’s not really their issue; it’s their boss’s issue. Their boss, Driscoll, gets to the warehouse two hours after they went in. Still no sign; the cops aren’t willing to go in. So she goes in on her own and starts having a weird text exchange with one of the other FBI agents. It’s middling at best and nowhere near creepy enough to maintain its own subplot. Especially since it’s not part of the cliffhanger.

The cliffhanger ties into a story Driscoll tells McGregor and Shaw about a Nazi she once knew, who told her an anecdote about Notre Dame during World War II. The scene–Driscoll framing the story for McGregor and Shaw, the Nazi in the flashback–is one of the better ones in the series. It’s simple and peculiar but sincerely presented. Here’s this information, it’ll be relevant, who knows how.

The rest of the issue’s bridging. Shaw and McGregor, mildly angry bantering, walking through the Hell warehouse towards a light. It’s tedious.

Gorman Sudžuka’s still got his thin lines, which aren’t as noticeable this issue. They don’t slow the comic down like before; they’re the new, unfortunate normal. But he does an all-right job overall.

The cliffhanger suggests something’s finally going to start happening, but six issues is a way too long lead-up.

A Walk Through Hell (2018) #5

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The art changes so much in the first few pages I thought Goran Sudžuka either left the book or got an inker. Nope, he’s just doing a slightly different style. His lines are thinner, sharper, and with less personality.

The end of the issue promises we’re going into “Book Two” next, which will apparently be more of the same. Again, FBI agents running around an empty warehouse, discovering various horrors, convinced it all has something to do with a probable child murderer.

The issue opens with a new character, Goss, who we’ve seen in some flashbacks. He’s the dopey white guy FBI agent with the Black partner, who tries to go along and get along, putting him at odds with the protagonists. Well, McGregor anyway. Goss probably doesn’t get along particularly well with Shaw because she’s a lady. Though it actually never comes up, just the other FBI agents make fun of Goss for not hating Twitter.

Profound cultural observation from writer Garth Ennis this issue. Hell’s about as deep as a puddle.

We find out Shaw’s big secret, which comes with Sudžuka’s skinny lines. The lines aren’t at fault for the scene, which is a ho-hum, heavily foreshadowed reveal. Ennis wasn’t saving anything for it. Ditto Goss, who’s running through the warehouse scared of unimaginable childhood horrors. Sudžuka eventually imagines them. They’re not particularly exciting, kind of interestingly designed, and not poorly executed, but not an unimaginable horror.

Most of the issue is Goss running and the narration explaining he’s a coward. Or it’s McGregor and Shaw bickering about their current situation, including Shaw very obviously lying to McGregor, which doesn’t help her confession seem legit.

I think we’re far enough to assume Ennis is never going to crack Hell. There’s nothing to crack, just a product to churn.

A Walk Through Hell (2018) #4

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So, this comic has an editor (Mike Marts). He looked at this script and said, “yep, that’s a comic.”

Here’s the story: FBI agents Shaw and MacGregor are sitting in the hell warehouse, where Shaw is going to tell MacGregor a secret about their investigation into a child murderer. There’s going to be a scene where Shaw reminds MacGregor he helped her frame the guy, which should be some kind of reveal but isn’t because writer Garth Ennis’s script is plotted so poorly. But the whole thing is about Shaw telling MacGregor something he doesn’t know and him telling her everything she’s telling him he already knows.

Spoiler, no spoiler: she never gets around to telling him anything new this issue. She just reminds him of various events he participated in or witnessed, while he protests he already knows all about them. Over and over again.

It’s not decompressed storytelling, it’s not a bridging issue, it’s craven water-treading. I guess it’s only a four-dollar comic. For some reason, I was expecting it to be five dollars for absolutely nothing.

I guess there’s some decent art from Goran Sudžuka. Still, it’s not four dollars worth of art, especially not when the story is telling you to hang on another month for what’s already going to be a scant detail and nothing actually important. Not the way this comic’s paced.

It’s not a good sign Ennis is doing a “blathering” issue four in. He obviously didn’t have enough story for twelve issues, but does he even have enough for six. It’s not tripe; Sudžuka’s too good, and Ennis’s writing on a handful of scenes is okay. It’s just literally, intentionally a waste of time and money.

There’s not even a police procedural angle because Shaw’s not narrating it for expository reasons—MacGregor already knows it all, and she knows he knows it all. I hope the creators at least enjoyed whatever they bought with their paychecks since they didn’t give a crap about the comic they were making.

Hey, maybe next issue. But, also, maybe not.

If Ennis keeps it up another seven issues, though, just more and more filler, it might be impressive. Like as a gag.

A Walk Through Hell (2018) #3

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If it weren’t for the Goran Sudžuka art, you could probably convince me I was reading a Warren Ellis Avatar comic from the early aughts. It’s a time-warped FBI procedural with a supernatural but not ghost element. I keep waiting to see when it will feel like a Garth Ennis comic, and there’s nothing.

It feels, actually, like Garth Ennis trying to convince someone he can write a Netflix show. Like a supernatural “Mindhunter”-type deal. It’s thorough and competent, writing-wise, but it’s also desperately dull. It takes until the last page for anyone to show any enthusiasm in the dialogue; I had to reread the word balloon three times. It’s not even good dialogue; it’s just got oomph.

Or more oomph than the rest.

Though Ennis introduces the tough-as-nails FBI boss lady, who our heroes both admire, it’s weird how woke dude McGregor genders it. Beyoncé’s everyone’s Beyoncé, bro.

The issue opens with McGregor and Shaw still trapped in the weird warehouse of horrors, talking about what they’re going to do next, arguing. They talk around last issue’s cliffhanger, which had Shaw getting a terrifying message about someone they both know—a suspect, presumably, in their child abduction cases.

It takes this issue about half its pages to give the name of said person, which is not a particularly exciting name. He gets introduced right at the end of the issue for the cliffhanger. The flashbacks are pretty good police procedural; the lady boss is fighting with the beancounters, giving briefings, and if Garth Ennis wants to write “Criminal Minds: Dublin” or whatever, they’d be lucky to have him.

The warehouse back and forth is less engaging. It’s a lot of padded, mysterious exposition as Ennis tries to drag this series out to twelve issues. It’s early days, though. It’s not impossible Ennis will surprise me. When he flops, it’s usually after a strong start, not a tepid one.

The book also might click more if Sudžuka got to draw something besides a cop procedural. He’s real good at it; we got it. Now, something else, please.

There’s also a horrific gross-out thing going on (a la Se7en), and it’s entirely pointless. Again, feels like an aughts Avatar, just without the blood and guts.

I wish Ennis would find something to get excited about other than making the plot points run on time. Unfortunately, he’s not just wasting his own time or the readers’ time; he’s also wasting Sudžuka’s.

A Walk Through Hell (2018) #2

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It’s a better issue. There’s character work, not development because it’s flashback, but now MacGregor is a white gay man FBI agent who doesn’t understand he works with a bunch of bigots and, in flashback, is worried about the 2016 election. In the present, election’s already happened. We find out the white lady partner, Shaw, doesn’t vote, knows white guys are bigots and doesn’t complain about anything. They have these conversations while investigating missing children cases, which are taking place around the Southwest, but centered in L.A.

The investigation figures into the present day, starting with MacGregor and Shaw waking up in a warehouse without any pulses. They then discover one of their fellow agents is similarly without a pulse but has had a different experience—and reaction—than they’ve had. The entire present action takes place in the warehouse, lights out, mysterious figures and noises down the aisles, the partners finding themselves without pulses, then finding their colleague. At the end of the issue, there are some crossovers between the two storylines, which writer Garth Ennis toggles between.

As a comic, manipulative content concerns aside, it’s a technical success. Ennis and artist Goran Sudžuka do a good job with it. The flashbacks are visually without dread, but there’s foreboding on a couple fronts. First, the looming election, second, the criminal investigation. Even without knowing it might figure into the present, the investigation in the past is slightly uncanny. It’s not supernatural, but it’s discomforting as the agents expound on it, and the incongruities stick out. Again, good writing from Ennis. Like, he does the work to get the right effect.

To what end? We’ll have to wait until next time because Ennis finishes the issue ends with a revelation cliffhanger, one the agents know about, but the reader doesn’t. Yet, presumably.

I’d be really impressed if Ennis doesn’t address it.

While I’m still not enthusiastic about A Walk Through Hell, it does appear Ennis knows how to do what he’s doing. And Sudžuka’s art is excellent. Wish he was doing a different book—heck, wish he and Ennis were doing a better book together. The plotting with the reveals is a little off; the series runs twelve, and I’m guessing I’ll be griping it didn’t just run eight by the finale. This issue is stretched out to delay the plot from fully starting, which means there will be at least three issues before Ennis establishes the ground situation. Trade-write much?

But whatever. It’s an improvement I wasn’t expecting.