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Criminal: The Sinners 2 (November 2009)
Brubaker opens the issue with some terrible adjective use, so I started out ready to nitpick. Of course, he didn’t have to prove me right… but he went ahead and did so anyway. I really loathe these types of reviews, because I really do love Brubaker’s work. It’s just… fallen off since he’s gotten to… 📖
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Criminal: The Sinners 1 (September 2009)
I guess Brubaker thought Criminal was out of control too, because for the Sinners, he returns to his most solid protagonist–Tracy Lawless (from the second arc of the first series). For a while it works. We catch up with Tracy. In the year since the last story took place, he’s become a hitman with a… 📖
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Nice Guy Johnny (2010, Edward Burns)
I really wanted Nice Guy Johnny to be Ed Burns’s best film. It’s his best made film. His composition of the Hamptons landscapes are singular. The incorporation of PT Walkey’s music is sublime. Burns even uses sped up film (or video) to great effect. If Burns did shoot Johnny on digital video, he and cinematographer… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #512
Colan and Janson are back in sync, which is good because Conway’s overwriting the dialogue again. It’s like he can’t decide if Batman is supposed to think or talk his plans for athletic feats. This time I was actually wondering if Batman was talking to the villain, since his expository dialogue to himself comes in… 📖
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Batman (1940) #345
Where to start…. Colan’s pencils must have been really hurried here, because it’s all inks. Except it doesn’t even look like strong Janson inks. The weak art is quite a shock given the artists. The story is generally solid. Batman and Robin go after a new criminal mastermind, Dick and Bruce both have romances developing,… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #7
Maybe I just put it out of my mind, like I didn’t want to believe Brubaker was capable of writing such a stupid reveal. I mean, I knew he was capable of stupid endings–Sleeper provided that one beyond a shadow of a doubt, but…. Really, Ed? Fight Club? That’s the best you could come up… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #6
Okay, I’m mildly amused–back when I started reading Criminal again, I misremembered the first arc as this arc. Brubaker’s really running into some pacing issues here. What’s old hat in a film noir–around an eighty minute narrative–does not work in comic book form. Brubaker also doesn’t have enough exposition to keep the reader’s reading speed… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #5
Ah, the five minute read. Nothing like the five minute read. For a five minute read, this comic isn’t bad. It’s got beautiful Sean Phillips art and it’s not a terrible all action issue. But it’s really light and really boring. Brubaker’s pacing here is for effect, everything is hurried to get the reader anxious.… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #4
This arc of Criminal–I can’t remember if I’ve read it or not, I think I’ve read this issue because it seems familiar, but I’m not sure about the rest–is Brubaker’s first attempt at using a non-criminal as his protagonist. The guy used to be a criminal, but he’s since reformed. And he was never a… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #511
Conway finds the right mix of Batman and Bruce Wayne antics for this issue. Robin’s in it too, which means there’s even less page time for Batman–Conway gives Dick his own subplots to deal with. It’s too soon to tell how they’ll tie into Bruce’s subplots, which here are concern for Jim Gordon’s career, the… 📖
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Detective Comics 512 (March 1982)
Colan and Janson are back in sync, which is good because Conway’s overwriting the dialogue again. It’s like he can’t decide if Batman is supposed to think or talk his plans for athletic feats. This time I was actually wondering if Batman was talking to the villain, since his expository dialogue to himself comes in… 📖
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Batman (1940) #344
Oh, neat, Colan and Janson are a regular team? My only complaint about the synthesis is some of the close-up panels–sometimes they’ve got all the Colan detail to faces, sometimes they don’t. The story is solid enough except Conway has one thing he never explains–Batman keeps showing up to haunt Poison Ivy and no one… 📖
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Batman 345 (March 1982)
Where to start…. Colan’s pencils must have been really hurried here, because it’s all inks. Except it doesn’t even look like strong Janson inks. The weak art is quite a shock given the artists. The story is generally solid. Batman and Robin go after a new criminal mastermind, Dick and Bruce both have romances developing,… 📖
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Muppet Snow White (2010) #4
Now… this issue is an unmitigated disaster. Snider and Storck cut loose–free of the Snow White plot, shattering the fourth wall as the book entirely loses track of itself–and it’s bad. I don’t know if I’d come back for another Muppet book with the same writing team. It’s more a failure in editing, since some… 📖
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Criminal 7 (November 2008)
Maybe I just put it out of my mind, like I didn’t want to believe Brubaker was capable of writing such a stupid reveal. I mean, I knew he was capable of stupid endings–Sleeper provided that one beyond a shadow of a doubt, but…. Really, Ed? Fight Club? That’s the best you could come up… 📖
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Criminal 6 (October 2008)
Okay, I’m mildly amused–back when I started reading Criminal again, I misremembered the first arc as this arc. Brubaker’s really running into some pacing issues here. What’s old hat in a film noir–around an eighty minute narrative–does not work in comic book form. Brubaker also doesn’t have enough exposition to keep the reader’s reading speed… 📖
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Criminal 5 (September 2008)
Ah, the five minute read. Nothing like the five minute read. For a five minute read, this comic isn’t bad. It’s got beautiful Sean Phillips art and it’s not a terrible all action issue. But it’s really light and really boring. Brubaker’s pacing here is for effect, everything is hurried to get the reader anxious.… 📖
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Criminal 4 (July 2008)
This arc of Criminal–I can’t remember if I’ve read it or not, I think I’ve read this issue because it seems familiar, but I’m not sure about the rest–is Brubaker’s first attempt at using a non-criminal as his protagonist. The guy used to be a criminal, but he’s since reformed. And he was never a… 📖
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Muppet Snow White (2010) #3
Remember when I said Snider and Storck were going to run into major pacing issues? They spend half this issue (or thereabouts) on a rock concert for the Electric Mayhem (who are the dwarves in Muppet Snow White) being threatened by one of the Queen’s assassins. Maybe both of them, I couldn’t keep track because… 📖
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Detective Comics 511 (February 1982)
Conway finds the right mix of Batman and Bruce Wayne antics for this issue. Robin’s in it too, which means there’s even less page time for Batman–Conway gives Dick his own subplots to deal with. It’s too soon to tell how they’ll tie into Bruce’s subplots, which here are concern for Jim Gordon’s career, the… 📖
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Muppet Snow White (2010) #2
I’ve decided Paroline’s art works well for Muppet Snow White. The book doesn’t require any suspension of disbelief–it’s hard to use that term when talking about a Muppet story–as the reader is constantly reminded it’s the Muppets doing a Snow White “performance,” as opposed to it just being Snow White told with a Muppet cast.… 📖
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Muppet Snow White (2010) #1
Snider and Storck take many four pages in the middle of this issue as an aside. Yes, they introduce Snow White and her prince, but it’s mostly just them having a lot of fun with the script. When the comic opens, it’s very much in the vein of the Muppet Treasure Island movie, down to… 📖
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Batman 344 (February 1982)
Oh, neat, Colan and Janson are a regular team? My only complaint about the synthesis is some of the close-up panels–sometimes they’ve got all the Colan detail to faces, sometimes they don’t. The story is solid enough except Conway has one thing he never explains–Batman keeps showing up to haunt Poison Ivy and no one… 📖
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Muppet Snow White 4 (July 2010)
Now… this issue is an unmitigated disaster. Snider and Storck cut loose–free of the Snow White plot, shattering the fourth wall as the book entirely loses track of itself–and it’s bad. I don’t know if I’d come back for another Muppet book with the same writing team. It’s more a failure in editing, since some… 📖
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Muppet Snow White 3 (June 2010)
Remember when I said Snider and Storck were going to run into major pacing issues? They spend half this issue (or thereabouts) on a rock concert for the Electric Mayhem (who are the dwarves in Muppet Snow White) being threatened by one of the Queen’s assassins. Maybe both of them, I couldn’t keep track because… 📖
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Muppet Snow White 2 (May 2010)
I’ve decided Paroline’s art works well for Muppet Snow White. The book doesn’t require any suspension of disbelief–it’s hard to use that term when talking about a Muppet story–as the reader is constantly reminded it’s the Muppets doing a Snow White “performance,” as opposed to it just being Snow White told with a Muppet cast.… 📖
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Muppet Snow White 1 (April 2010)
Snider and Storck take many four pages in the middle of this issue as an aside. Yes, they introduce Snow White and her prince, but it’s mostly just them having a lot of fun with the script. When the comic opens, it’s very much in the vein of the Muppet Treasure Island movie, down to… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #510
There are two Mad Hatters? I’m now incredibly confused. According to this issue, there was an original Mad Hatter and then a replacement and then the original came back. At least in the eighties. The Mad Hatter story–which gets the cover–is sort of a fake A plot, since the issue mostly concentrates on the Gotham… 📖
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Batman (1940) #343
Yuck. Conway’s Detective is so good and his Batman is so bad. And he’s even got Gene Colan and Klaus Janson on the art here. With Janson’s inks, Colan doesn’t exactly look like himself. Everything’s a lot sharper, a lot more defined. It’s a good looking issue, but I don’t know if there’s a single… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #3
I’d like to say Brubaker has some kind of magic where he’s able to escape all the traps of a guy writing female narration. But he doesn’t. It’s still a really good issue and Brubaker doesn’t make the frequent mistakes of female narration–he’s got a really good plot and he sticks to the events and… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #2
What Brubaker does here–a sort of prequel to the second arc of Criminal and a concurrent, companion story to the previous issue–is even better than the previous issue… which I didn’t think Brubaker could do. Brubaker had a hard time working out the setting for Criminal in the first arc and wisely left it mostly… 📖
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Detective Comics 510 (January 1982)
There are two Mad Hatters? I’m now incredibly confused. According to this issue, there was an original Mad Hatter and then a replacement and then the original came back. At least in the eighties. The Mad Hatter story–which gets the cover–is sort of a fake A plot, since the issue mostly concentrates on the Gotham… 📖
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Criminal (2008) #1
Such a good issue…. Brubaker’s able to get more content in because he’s got an increased page count but also because he’s concentrating on doing a standalone story. It turns out it’s not exactly standalone, but the issue has a beginning, middle and end. There’s no messing around with being deceptive in the narrative, to… 📖
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Batman 343 (January 1982)
Yuck. Conway’s Detective is so good and his Batman is so bad. And he’s even got Gene Colan and Klaus Janson on the art here. With Janson’s inks, Colan doesn’t exactly look like himself. Everything’s a lot sharper, a lot more defined. It’s a good looking issue, but I don’t know if there’s a single… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #509
Conway really lays on the melodrama for his resolution to Bruce and Selina’s romance–Catwoman’s still too much in the picture for her to be able to stick it out–but it still works somehow. The major part of the story is Catman coming back for revenge on Batman and Catwoman. This issue might be the first… 📖
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Detective Comics (1937) #508
I’ve been trudging through Conway’s Batman comics the last few days–maybe the Irv Novick art on Batman is getting me down–so it’s nice this issue of Detective Comics is fantastic. It’s a completely absurd story about one of Bruce Wayne’s egyptologist friends going nuts and kidnapping Selina Kyle because he thinks they’re reincarnated Ancient Egyptians… 📖
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – N-Vector (2000) #4
Jeter runs out of space here a little. He’s got an exciting conclusion, but then he’s also got a big special effects conclusion (Cypress is disastrous as rendering it, unfortunately) and some more talking heads stuff. Also–and here’s why I was confused last issue. He’s got the station commander–Major Kira (you can’t refer to “Deep… 📖
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Criminal 3 (April 2008)
I’d like to say Brubaker has some kind of magic where he’s able to escape all the traps of a guy writing female narration. But he doesn’t. It’s still a really good issue and Brubaker doesn’t make the frequent mistakes of female narration–he’s got a really good plot and he sticks to the events and… 📖
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Criminal 2 (March 2008)
What Brubaker does here–a sort of prequel to the second arc of Criminal and a concurrent, companion story to the previous issue–is even better than the previous issue… which I didn’t think Brubaker could do. Brubaker had a hard time working out the setting for Criminal in the first arc and wisely left it mostly… 📖
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – N-Vector (2000) #3
This issue is the all action issue. Or close to it. I think N-Vector is most useful–not to discount its success as an episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” it’s a fine episode of that television program–as an example of how television pacing can be adapted to comic books. The problem, of course, is… 📖
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – N-Vector (2000) #2
Did Wildstorm not get the likenesses in their “Star Trek” license or something? At first I thought it was just Cypress’s style, bringing a scratchy indie feel to a completely mainstream release, but now I’m wondering if it’s just because he couldn’t draw the actors. His artwork is a little static at times, especially for… 📖
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – N-Vector (2000) #1
So this series is a continuation of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” I guess I’m glad I don’t care about the ending of the series being spoiled for me. I decided to read it because of Jeter, who’s a science fiction novelist of good repute, and because I didn’t realize–on seeing it in his bibliography–N-Vector… 📖