In Excerpt

  • Sparta U.S.A. 5 (September 2010)

    With one issue left, there’s no way Lapham is going to be able to explain everything. Especially not after this issue, when he reveals the bad guy to be the Pied Piper. Well, I suppose he could reveal it all to be a dream of Colin Farrell’s, which would make it the greatest comic book… 📖

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  • Sparta U.S.A. 4 (August 2010)

    Maybe Timmons just really wanted to draw swastikas? Lapham has gone far without explaining anything at all about Sparta‘s setting; it’s modern day but there aren’t any cellphones so far and there’s no internet. So when the bad guy shows up at the end with a bunch of Nazi stormtroopers, I’m not sure what to… 📖

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  • Sparta U.S.A. 3 (July 2010)

    Lapham doesn’t really increase the cast numbers here, but it all of a sudden seems a lot more complicated. The comic relies a lot on the logic of the place and Lapham’s plotting this issue concentrates the attention on that logic. He should be skirting over it, since it’s not particularly comprehensive… at least not… 📖

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  • Sparta U.S.A. 2 (June 2010)

    Well, I’m still completely confused–there’s a lot of magical stuff going on, fairy-tale type stuff (I think that’s Baba Yaga making an appearance in one panel)–but it’s really quite good. I’ve sort of ignored Lapham’s output since he’s slowed or stopped Stray Bullets (does anyone know for sure?), but there’s something really nice about Sparta… 📖

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  • Sparta U.S.A. 1 (May 2010)

    Talk about going into something cold. I had less than no idea what Sparta U.S.A. is about before reading this first issue–I also didn’t know the lead character is played by Colin Farrell (someone needs to hire artist Johnny Timmons to do licensed comics; if he can do Farrell without it being based on a… 📖

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  • The American (2010, Anton Corbijn)

    If someone had told me, I don’t think I would have believed Anton Corbijn got his start directing music videos. His direction of the American is so gentle and deliberate–so forcibly detached from his characters–it just doesn’t seem possible. Maybe they were all really well-directed music videos. I hadn’t originally planned on rushing to see… 📖

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  • Detective Comics (1937) #503

    Now there’s a done-in-one. Wow. Conway fits a ton into the issue, which boils down to another poisoned Batman goes after the Scarecrow story, but with all sorts of decoration. It opens with Batman–Bruce mooning over Selina no less–going about his routine. He gets a mysterious dart shot at him and strange things start happening.… 📖

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  • Detective Comics 503 (June 1981)

    Now there’s a done-in-one. Wow. Conway fits a ton into the issue, which boils down to another poisoned Batman goes after the Scarecrow story, but with all sorts of decoration. It opens with Batman–Bruce mooning over Selina no less–going about his routine. He gets a mysterious dart shot at him and strange things start happening.… 📖

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  • Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)

    Besides Al Pacino, there are other actors in Dog Day Afternoon. Some of them give fantastic performances too. But, even with those fantastic performances, every time Pacino is alone on screen, whether closeup or not, monologue or not, it feels like there’s no one else in the film besides him. He doesn’t command it or… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #12

    This issue is probably the most straightforward, action-packed thriller issue of the series so far. And, wow, does Dysart really ruin any visceral thrill. He manages to remove all the excitement from it, turning every success into failure, making every mistake a fated inevitability–Moses’s weaknesses doom him to those mistakes… and the issue ends with… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #11

    Eleven issues in and Dysart’s back to basics a little–it’s strange to refer to the return of the first six issue’s principal characters as “back to basics,” but I suppose it’s only natural in the era of story arcs and trade-waiting. Moses, Sera, Jack and Margaret Wells are all back this issue, all of them… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #10

    In this issue’s conclusion, Dysart juxtaposes the bickering of adults–sure, it’s dramatic and violent, but they’re arguing over ideas–with children making friends with each other. It’s a profound little moment, creation versus destruction. It might be the most profound moment in Unknown Soldier so far. There’s a lot Dysart can go wrong with this issue,… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #9

    Dysart gives ex-CIA guy almost the entire issue. His name’s Jack, which I can’t believe I forgot. This issue is both prequel and sequel to the previous one, following Jack instead of Moses. What’s neat–I may have made this observation before–is how Jack is less easy for the reader to identify with than Moses. At… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #8

    Hmm. I wonder if anyone’s told Angelina Jolie about Unknown Soldier, specifically the idea she’s help Africa a lot more by being murdered…. Jolie’s Unknown Solider stand-in shows up for a minute this issue, but the plot to kill her is introduced a little later. Moses has hooked up with some pan-African freedom fighters and… 📖

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  • Unknown Soldier (2008) #7

    This issue is something of a texture piece. While it does further the story (Moses gets a radio and a translator by the end while starting the issue with neither), it’s really about someone else. The issue’s protagonist is a college student who returns home, only he’s returning home to a war zone. He makes… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX (2010) #4

    I think I might just give up on PunisherMAX right here. It’s clear Aaron doesn’t know how to write a good Punisher book and doesn’t even want to write a serious one. It’s funny to think if I was under a rock, comics-wise, and hadn’t heard of Scalped, and read this comic, I’d think Aaron… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX (2010) #3

    Wow, Aaron hasn’t just seen The Usual Suspects, he’s seen A History of Violence too. I wonder if he’ll work in some other incredibly well-known film’s concept in the future. Maybe send Frank back to the future in a DeLorean. Except of course, Frank’s still not the protagonist. Dillon’s drawing him a little more age… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX 4 (April 2010)

    I think I might just give up on PunisherMAX right here. It’s clear Aaron doesn’t know how to write a good Punisher book and doesn’t even want to write a serious one. It’s funny to think if I was under a rock, comics-wise, and hadn’t heard of Scalped, and read this comic, I’d think Aaron… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX 3 (March 2010)

    Wow, Aaron hasn’t just seen the Usual Suspects, he’s seen a History of Violence too. I wonder if he’ll work in some other incredibly well-known film’s concept in the future. Maybe send Frank back to the future in a DeLorean. Except of course, Frank’s still not the protagonist. Dillon’s drawing him a little more age… 📖

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  • Last Action Hero (1993, John McTiernan)

    Though pre-Internet, one can still find all sorts of trivia about why Last Action Hero supposedly failed. Apparently the studio rushed the release, not allowing for editing or proper post-production. That rush might explain why some of the special effects appear far cheaper than one would expect (I’m thinking of the magic beams appearing drawn… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX (2010) #2

    Kingpin narrates the issue. I’m not sure why they call it PunisherMAX, since it’s really KingpinMAX. Aaron comes up with all sorts of awful gritty, “real” things for KingpinMAX to have done, but really… he’s just ripping off the Usual Suspects. It’s not a particularly fast read either. So when I get done with it… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX (2010) #1

    Bringing in Steve Dillon to do the sequel to Ennis’s Punisher MAX series might seem like a no brainer but after one issue, I hate it. Dillon did all Ennis’s jokey Punisher stuff and it’s hard not to think of that approach when reading this issue. There’s the additional issue of realism. I’m not sure… 📖

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  • Robocop (2010) #1

    I think Dynamite has succeeded where Marvel, Dark Horse and Avatar have failed… they’ve made the worst Robocop comic ever. Given a relatively free slate, Dynamite has come up with a setting for their Robocop sequel no one even slightly competent might have expected. If I remember right, the TV show had better ideas. Most… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX 2 (February 2010)

    Kingpin narrates the issue. I’m not sure why they call it PunisherMAX, since it’s really KingpinMAX. Aaron comes up with all sorts of awful gritty, “real” things for KingpinMAX to have done, but really… he’s just ripping off the Usual Suspects. It’s not a particularly fast read either. So when I get done with it… 📖

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  • PunisherMAX 1 (January 2010)

    Bringing in Steve Dillon to do the sequel to Ennis’s Punisher MAX series might seem like a no brainer but after one issue, I hate it. Dillon did all Ennis’s jokey Punisher stuff and it’s hard not to think of that approach when reading this issue. There’s the additional issue of realism. I’m not sure… 📖

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  • Robocop 1 (January 2010)

    I think Dynamite has succeeded where Marvel, Dark Horse and Avatar have failed… they’ve made the worst Robocop comic ever. Given a relatively free slate, Dynamite has come up with a setting for their Robocop sequel no one even slightly competent might have expected. If I remember right, the TV show had better ideas. Most… 📖

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  • Orc Stain (2010) #2

    This issue, Stokoe does quite a bit. Primarily, He introduces a crisis and resolves it. If he ever starts working for the big two, he’ll have to learn he’s not allowed to have an issue with so much content. But he also starts exploring orc culture–especially at the end of this issue, with the orcs… 📖

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  • Orc Stain 2 (March 2010)

    This issue, Stokoe does quite a bit. Primarily, He introduces a crisis and resolves it. If he ever starts working for the big two, he’ll have to learn he’s not allowed to have an issue with so much content. But he also starts exploring orc culture–especially at the end of this issue, with the orcs… 📖

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  • Orc Stain (2010) #1

    I’ve been hearing about Orc Stain for a while. But I had no idea what to expect. I knew Stokoe worked hard on the art for each issue, but knowing he inked and colored his pencils himself didn’t tell me anything about the content. I didn’t even know there were orcs in it, not really.… 📖

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  • Magnus, Robot Fighter (1963) #2

    For the second issue, Magnus has much more reasonable villains. Someone figured out how to make robots look like humans and is trying to take over the government. Manning sets it up pretty well–there’s lots of action, lots of big fight scenes, but he does take a moment for Leeja and her senator father to… 📖

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  • Magnus, Robot Fighter (1963) #1

    Manning neglects to establish one important point in Magnus‘s first issue. Are robots sentient? Evil or not, Magnus is smashing up a lot of robots here and the heroic little kids throw one off a roof just because they can. It’s rather important. Maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but the dying robots certainly… 📖

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  • Orc Stain 1 (January 2010)

    I’ve been hearing about Orc Stain for a while. But I had no idea what to expect. I knew Stokoe worked hard on the art for each issue, but knowing he inked and colored his pencils himself didn’t tell me anything about the content. I didn’t even know there were orcs in it, not really.… 📖

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  • Magnus, Robot Fighter 2 (May 1963)

    For the second issue, Magnus has much more reasonable villains. Someone figured out how to make robots look like humans and is trying to take over the government. Manning sets it up pretty well–there’s lots of action, lots of big fight scenes, but he does take a moment for Leeja and her senator father to… 📖

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  • Magnus, Robot Fighter 1 (February 1963)

    Manning neglects to establish one important point in Magnus‘s first issue. Are robots sentient? Evil or not, Magnus is smashing up a lot of robots here and the heroic little kids throw one off a roof just because they can. It’s rather important. Maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but the dying robots certainly… 📖

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  • Criminal (2006) #5

    Turns out some of my major assumptions about the plot and its twists and turns were wrong. Unfortunately, just because the girl doesn’t double-cross the hero, Criminal doesn’t retroactively make intelligible sense. After spending almost five entire issues glamorizing crime–in the most negative way of course–Brubaker ends with a really pat “crime doesn’t pay” message.… 📖

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  • Criminal (2006) #4

    Finally, a good issue. Maybe if Brubaker had opened with this issue–with some structural editing, of course–I’d feel a little different about Criminal. For the first time, in issue four of five, he shows the reader something about the likely unreliable narrator instead of telling the reader all about him. As much as I hate… 📖

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  • Criminal (2006) #3

    Well, there certainly are a lot of developments here. There’s a super villain introduced and he’s, no shock, a psychotic. The girl seduces the brainiac protagonist, who’s spent the first part of the issue thinking he needs to think things through better. Oh, and the cute old man the protagonist looks after–he’s got alzheimer’s and… 📖

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  • Criminal (2006) #2

    I’m still not enthusiastic. Even though I don’t remember the specifics of the events, even though I’m sort of fresh reading it, I don’t really care at all. I remember it ends terribly so going through the issue, I’m finding myself concentrating on things besides the story. First and foremost, the artwork. Phillips is mostly… 📖

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  • Criminal (2006) #1

    I remember thinking about early seventies Springsteen the first time I read Criminal and I did again this time. Brubaker’s opening narration makes some pretty clear references to Springsteen and then it disappears. I don’t think it ever comes back, but it’s right there on the second page. I always get hung up on whether… 📖

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  • Criminal 5 (February 2007)

    Turns out some of my major assumptions about the plot and its twists and turns were wrong. Unfortunately, just because the girl doesn’t double-cross the hero, Criminal doesn’t retroactively make intelligible sense. After spending almost five entire issues glamorizing crime–in the most negative way of course–Brubaker ends with a really pat “crime doesn’t pay” message.… 📖

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  • Criminal 4 (January 2007)

    Finally, a good issue. Maybe if Brubaker had opened with this issue–with some structural editing, of course–I’d feel a little different about Criminal. For the first time, in issue four of five, he shows the reader something about the likely unreliable narrator instead of telling the reader all about him. As much as I hate… 📖

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  • Criminal 3 (December 2006)

    Well, there certainly are a lot of developments here. There’s a super villain introduced and he’s, no shock, a psychotic. The girl seduces the brainiac protagonist, who’s spent the first part of the issue thinking he needs to think things through better. Oh, and the cute old man the protagonist looks after–he’s got alzheimer’s and… 📖

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