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Fantastic Four (1961) #285
Holy shit. I thought Byrne was going to do some kind of responsible story about a kid lighting himself on fire to be like the Human Torch but he does not. There’s certainly an element of that story in this issue, but there’s no responsibility. Byrne turns it into A Christmas Carol (but with only… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #4
Grant runs a subplot throughout this entire issue–riots caused by poisoned soda pop–just to fill in time and to give a sense of time progressing. It’s a technique way too nice for a Robocop comic, especially one featuring a fight between Robocop, a cyborg gorilla (what did I just read with a cyborg gorilla–B.P.R.D.: 1946)… 📖
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Robocop vs. the Terminator (1992) #2
This issue is definitely better. There’s very little of the future warrior woman’s narration and a lot of Robocop versus Terminator action. Miller’s sense of humor even works a little–even if he overwrites–with the ED-209s being, basically, Robocop’s obedient lapdogs. His exposition here is still terrible, laughable really. But he comes up with some really… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #6
Doesn’t Nick Fury want his flying car back? Incognito ends with an abbreviated fight scene (if only Brubaker and Phillips had abbreviated the one in the third issue, when everything started to go bad) and no real resolution to any of the subplots. In fact, it introduces some kind of romance between protagonist Zach Overkill… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #5
Wow, did Mark Waid read Incognito before starting Incorruptible or what? I think Brubaker ought to say something–the underage girl villain sidekick is just too much. That pithy opening, unfortunately, is the most enthusiasm I can get with this one. I could really care less at this point, so when Brubaker turns in an issue… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #4
Ok, so for whatever reason, I thought Zoe Zeppelin was Black (or half-Black) and so I was going to do another Tom Strong reference (since Zeppelin’s dad was the one who started the whole science-hero thing in the Incognito universe) and maybe even point out back in the good old (pre-Marvel exclusive) days, Brubaker did… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #3
I’ve read Incognito before so I know it eventually falls apart. I just didn’t remember where it started crumbling. Apparently, it’s this issue. Instead of his delicately paced narrative, here Brubaker dedicates the majority of the issue to a superpowered fight scene in a mall. Then he brings in Zoe Zeppelin, a superhero (with a… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #2
The way Brubaker weaves his plot and subplots (he uses a modified Levitz Paradigm) is beautiful. There’s so much nuance to it, little things being introduced, percolating gradually then rapidly (this issue introduces a Plot C and heats it to a Plot A, all while keeping other subplots cooking steadily). Brubaker’s “independent” work is so… 📖
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Incognito (2008) #1
Am I supposed to think Tom Strong when I read the term science-villains? Brubaker’s take on a “realistic” superhuman villain is nice–well, he does have to do the whole history of this universe thing, which gets tiresome since every new superhero book has to get it established–because it’s not a metaphor for anything. His protagonist… 📖
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Doctor Strange (1974) #74
What can make the Beyonder whole? Why, sitting through a partial retelling of Dr. Strange’s origin, of course! Every once and a while I’ll come across a comic where I’m completely unfamiliar–so far as I know–with the creative team. I’ve never heard of Peter B. Gillis, though maybe I’ve heard of Mark Badger, but certainly… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #3
Grant’s approach to this series–Robocop on a case–is nice. I mean, his future isn’t the greatest thing ever (again, I think it’s just rehashed Judge Dredd trappings), but there’s a procedural aspect to it. All of the Robocop thought balloons are a problem, as Grant has completely humanized the character–he’s just a guy turned into… 📖
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Robocop vs. the Terminator (1992) #1
I’m not sure what level this one is most amusing on–Frank Miller doing licensed properties? Robocop vs. the Terminator being a sequel to the dismal Robocop 3 movie? The female soldier from the future knowing everything about the past even though she wouldn’t have been born yet? All the goofy expository dialogue or all the… 📖
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A Christmas Story (1983, Bob Clark)
I don’t get A Christmas Story‘s continued success. I mean, I get its initial success (I grew up with it, on video, and remember my friends talking about it before I got to see it and the film living up to expectations), but it’s hard to believe people still like it. I mean, what do… 📖
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Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? (2010) #1
How did Marvel resist putting Obama on the cover of this issue? It’s actually–besides the awful Luke Ross art, which is just terrible–a good issue of Captain America. Bucky and the Black Widow do their thing, Steve does his (showing up at the White House looking like an Ed McGuinness drawing). There’s a nice fight… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #6
Almost. Brubaker almost pulls it off. Who drew the second to last pages? The War of the Worlds future pages? He had some problems but those problems were almost preferable. They had an unfinished, kind of indie feel–as indie as Marvel would get–which would have been something on a flagship title like this one. But… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #5
Seriously, an issue-long fight scene? A boring issue long fight scene on top of it? It’s like Brubaker doesn’t understand (or maybe just doesn’t care) you can’t rehash–or modernize–the old Marvel feel and draw out the fight scene. Something has to happen. Nothing happens here. It could have been done in about four pages. The… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #4
And now I’m completely confused again. If Steve Rogers’s mind is unstuck in time, how come his body comes back at the end of this issue? If you’re going to use “Quantum Leap” science, at least do the reader the courtesy of giving the “Quantum Leap” explanation–it’s okay, no one thinks you’re original anyway (kind… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #3
In what universe couldn’t Brubaker tell this story in five issues? There’s an undue amount of padding going on here and it had better be worth it when I get to the sixth issue. I don’t like how Steve’s message to the future is going to be hung over my head for at least another… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #2
And now for my next issue–with the series, I mean. We’re reading about Steve getting unstuck in time and reliving his life (kind of like that Flash Secret Origins where Barry’s death is really being unstuck in time, but getting to see it) as Bucky and the Black Widow try to resurrect him. Wouldn’t Steve… 📖
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Captain America: Reborn (2009) #1
One of the most fun things about Brubaker’s Captain America run has been how he updates the old seventies style Cap stories for the modern era. Reborn runs into a problem with this bit, however. Brubaker’s devise for bringing Cap “back,” is a very complicated time machine–the malfunction of this machine, no less, has left… 📖
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Planet Hulk (2010, Sam Liu)
I think the only reason I liked this one is because it’s incredibly harsh (no pun). Not only do they have one character–while thirteen years old–killing her parents (after they’re turned into zombies) on screen, she then kills her little brother, now a zombie too (off screen), and later having a little kid die in… 📖
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The Thing (1983) #30
Where to start? The Beyonder is suicidal this issue, which is pretty stupid. The Thing is some kind of pro-superhero wrestler, which is also pretty stupid. What else…. No, those two pretty much cover the big stupid parts. Then there’s the wrestling politics, the promotors trying to make it in that hard world, which isn’t… 📖
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Robocop: Wild Child (2005) #1
What can I possibly say about this comic book? This partial comic book (it only runs twelve or thirteen pages, though Avatar charge three bucks for it). It barely features Robocop and does so in what I assume was going to be the Avatar Robocop continuity, which never got off the ground (the company, OCP,… 📖
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Edge of Darkness (2010, Martin Campbell)
One joke–just to start. One. Was anti-Semitism a requirement for appearing in Edge of Darkness? Ok. I’m done. Mel’s return to the screen (pause–people actually saw Signs) tries hard to not be the return of a movie star. He’s got a lot of scars (the two on his forehead, are those really his?) and he’s… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #2
The Comics Code approved this one? Robocop kills people left and right throughout. Hmm. On we go. The issue ends with Robocop and Lewis making kissy faces at each other. Apparently, all Robocop writers (except the guys who wrote the original movie), want to introduce this plot element. I’m not complaining. It’s better handled here… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1947 (2009) #5
Ok, so the whole thing was all about the Professor paying more attention to Hellboy? I mean, obviously, it can’t have been, what with little Hellboy only appearing in four of the five issues… oh, wait. The final issue features an utterly useless battle between a priest and the two vampires who messed up the… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1947 (2009) #4
It’s almost over. I’m going to make it! (I never thought I’d be making that comment about something Dysart wrote). This issue has less to recommend it than the previous one and it moves even faster. The pacing is accelerating. There’s even a lot of little Hellboy in this one and, while he’s cute and… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1947 (2009) #3
I wish I’d timed how long it took to read that issue. I’m sure I’d be disappointed. Here, at the end of issue three, I’m to where the first issue should have been ending. Now the actual story can kick off. Maybe. This issue kind of ends the story’s dramatic vehicle, so I guess maybe… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1947 (2009) #2
There’s no setting. It’s messing up the pacing. As much as I dislike comparing one thing to another for the purpose of a “review,” it’s pretty clear this series is breezing by because there’s no setting. It’s some guys in France. There’s nothing to the town–nothing about the French recovering from the war, for example;… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1947 (2009) #1
I don’t have an opinion yet. Of the story, I mean. The art is wonderful, obviously, it’s Bá and Moon. But the story… is a pickle. It’s not the Professor’s story, it’s the story of his agents, his agents who are very likely expendable. So we open this new story knowing the four men we… 📖
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Secret Wars II (1985) #5
I kind of remember this issue. It ends with the Marvel heroes beating up on a melancholy, downbeat Beyonder. He shuffles off while they bicker over what to do. One of the benefits to running a company and writing its big crossover is no one’s going to tell you you’re an idiot. Shooter’s got a… 📖
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Robocop: Killing Machine (2004) #1
Avatar was charging three bucks for twelve pages of story? When’s Marvel going to get on that bandwagon? Amusingly enough, Killing Machine‘s about the best Robocop story I’ve read from them. It’s just a simple adventure of Robocop. It establishes its ground situation, it aggravates the situation, it just works. More, there’s even some actual… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #1
Alan Grant wrote Judge Dredd, which probably explains some of his Robocop. His Robocop is talkative and makes occasional jokes; neither facet particularly works. But Grant’s Robocop isn’t terrible. It’s a sequel to the movie and, while some of the other film characters do appear, Grant’s taking things in his own direction. He’s got evil… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1946 (2008) #5
Mignola, Dysart and Azaceta pull it off. They don’t exactly pull it off the way I expected (I’d forgotten the conclusion) but they still come through. Instead of doing something collected, they go all out with a Nazi space rocket and vampires fighting robot gorillas. Let’s not forget the cybernetic Nazi monkey, he was kind… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1946 (2008) #4
I’m going to have a hard time on this response. There are monster gorillas at the end. Monster, cybernetic, Nazi gorillas. It must have been murder waiting for the final issue. The thing I like most about this issue is when the soldier, the regular soldier, finally loses it on the Professor. He gets knocked… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1946 (2008) #3
And, after the glorious response to the previous issue, this one…. It’s a very confusing, all action issue. The writers now expect the reader to remember all the disposal army guys, but additionally some Russian ones too. There’s still a lot of content for Azaceta to make fit. But he has to sacrifice establishing panels,… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1946 (2008) #2
The cartography of this issue is simple. It opens in this secret Nazi asylum, then they go to a bar, then they go to a house, then they go back to the asylum. However, a whole lot happens at the bar, even though it’s all in conversation (the army guys come to respect the Professor),… 📖
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B.P.R.D.: 1946 (2008) #1
I’ve read this series before and mostly remember it (no, I don’t), but I’m shocked how little reaction there is from the Professor over his Russian counterpart, Varvara (who’s apparently a little girl). It’s a strange scene, the most striking before the last one and the last one is a lead-in to a cliffhanger. Seeing… 📖
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The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009, Grant Heslov)
The Men Who Stare at Goats, as a film about men–their relationships with each other, in an Iron John sort of way–comes up lacking. There really isn’t any personality in the friendship between Ewan McGregor and George Clooney and there would have to be for it to work. In a lot of ways, Goats is… 📖
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The Avengers (1963) #261
This Secret Wars II tie-in is a regurgitation of all the other Secret Wars II tie-ins–well, maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. It’s the Beyonder trying to understand the human experience, this time playing with the Avengers. It’s as lame as his costume on that front. And his costume is really… 📖
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Spider-Woman (1978) #5
Wolfman edited Spider-Woman too? I guess I hadn’t paid much attention. Now a lot more makes sense. Without any editorial oversight, Wolfman can keep going with whatever he thinks works (to be fair, Spider-Woman did run fifty issues–five years–so he must have been in sync with readers) and what does he go with? A dream… 📖
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Spider-Woman (2009) #5
In this five minutes of comic book reading–it took a little longer because I was actually expecting the crooked cop to be a Skrull–Bendis does it again. It’s one thing to bring back a c-list character who has a lot of fans and do a shitty job on her title, but to bring back a… 📖