Venom 5 (October 2011)

Wow.

The comic opens, unfortunately, with Tony Moore. He handles the Venom part, Tom Fowler handles the Flash Thompson part. My complaints about Remender waiting on establishing Flash are, it turns out, ill-founded. At least they appear to be after this issue.

It’s a depressing look at Flash’s family life, with occasional callbacks to his origins in Amazing, without going so far as to flashback (though Fowler’s Peter Parker is definitely Ditko influenced). Fowler’s lush work turns a regular kitchen conversation between Flash and Betty into the most exciting action in the comic. Fowler drawing someone cutting carrots is more visually engaging than Moore showing Venom webbing a falling chrch bell.

While Flash’s vet stuff makes it topical, Remender and Fowler transcend it (I wonder if Remender realized how edgy it was to make the homeless vet young). They make a comic about Venom as a secret agent timeless.

Venom 4 (August 2011)

Why did Tony Moore have to come back? He ruins the last scene of the comic, with Pete and Flash having their first sit down as unknowing nemeses. The scene should have been a mixture of confusing, ominous and fun. Moore ruins it.

Remender focuses mostly on action this issue. Spidey and Venom continue fighting–with some of the bad guys showing up for another action scene–and the aforementioned quiet finish.

It should have all worked well. Remender is comfortable with Flash and his dialogue is fine… so what happened?

The comic can’t hold up without compelling art. As an action comic, the art is often the only communication method for a couple pages when dialogue balloons take a break.

Remender plotted this issue, and the last two, as continuous. It makes it so Flash doesn’t have much resonance yet.

It’s also hard to return to Moore after Fowler.

Venom 2 (June 2011)

Moore really starts to hinder Venom this issue. Maybe the flashy inks (no pun intended) weren’t enough to correct his weaker impulses. There’s a scene with Peter and Betty (Remender does a good job bringing in the traditional Spidey soap opera, even if it’s Flash’s book) and Moore fumbles the entire thing. He can’t do the scene.

But the opening art, with Venom on the run from Kraven in the Savage Land, isn’t bad. The first few pages at least are decent, probably because Moore’s drawing Venom in costume. Or in alien slime.

Remender does a quick little reference or two to “Kraven’s Last Hunt” and Venom feels like a trip through Spider-Man history. Like a guided tour (but there are no reminders to check out the original stories).

But it’s surprisingly good stuff. Remender continues to write Flash quite well; he makes Venom worthwhile, overpowering Moore’s weak art.

Venom 1 (May 2011)

What a depressing comic. It’s like Rick Remender looked at some old Spider-Man comics and tried to figure out how he could make any even more depressed arachnid superhero.

Flash Thompson (the new Venom) comes into the comic a jingoist and leaves it a broken wretch. I initially had problems with Remender’s characterization because it seemed cheap–Marvel trying to sell comics to the U.S. Army. The end decidedly makes the book something quite different.

There’s a slight disconnect because Thompson’s “Agent Venom,” the worst detail in the comic is that name, comes in acting like a super-U.N. peacekeeper, but it’s soon revealed he’s just a black ops guy for the U.S. government. Neither fit into Flash’s self-image at the start of the comic.

But Flash was never smart, something Remender doesn’t shy away from.

Tony Moore’s okay enough. I think the overdone inks actually help him.

CREDITS

Project Rebirth 2.0; writer, Rick Remender; penciller, Tony Moore; inkers, Sandu Florea and Karl Kesel; colorist, John Rauch; letterer, Joe Caramagna; editors, Alejandro Arbona and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Walking Dead (2003) #6

Twd6

Oh, good grief. Well, Kirkman certainly lays on the melodrama here. I love how Rick’s wife’s little dalliance with Shane never comes up again; instead Shane seems like the obsessed psychopath. I’m curious why Kirkman didn’t develop her character, maybe because he realized he could get rid of Shane a lot easier with her being blameless.

Umm. Otherwise, I guess it’s an okay issue. It’s kind of dumb. Is Glenn still in the comic? I don’t think he’s had a line in two issues.

Kirkman’s kind of trite–like when Lori realizes things aren’t ever going to be normal again–the zombie holocaust part going over her head apparently.

I think I’m a little stunned still with Kirkman’s handling of Shane. Kirkman has lots of dialogue and lots of stupid personal history details, but none of it matters because he doesn’t keep his supporting cast consistent.

He lets them weave all over.

The Walking Dead 6 (March 2004)

Cover Image.jpeg
Oh, good grief. Well, Kirkman certainly lays on the melodrama here. I love how Rick’s wife’s little dalliance with Shane never comes up again; instead Shane seems like the obsessed psychopath. I’m curious why Kirkman didn’t develop her character, maybe because he realized he could get rid of Shane a lot easier with her being blameless.

Umm. Otherwise, I guess it’s an okay issue. It’s kind of dumb. Is Glenn still in the comic? I don’t think he’s had a line in two issues.

Kirkman’s kind of trite–like when Lori realizes things aren’t ever going to be normal again–the zombie holocaust part going over her head apparently.

He lets them weave all over.

CREDITS

Writer, letterer and editor, Robert Kirkman; artist, Tony Moore; gray tones, Cliff Rathburn; publisher, Image Comics.

The Walking Dead (2003) #5

Twd5

I figured out my lack of enthusiasm. Well, except for noticing the unoriginal parts. It’s because of Crossed. This issue they all sit down and talk about their lives before–Shane has a moment it’s clear he’s thinking about getting jiggy with Lori on the road while Rick was comatose (maybe Moore’s best quality is his ability to convey his character’s unspoken thoughts)–and I thought about the same scene in Crossed. There’s nothing interesting in this scene here, except Rick becomes less of a believable cop every issue. Unless he’s supposed to be Andy Griffith.

There’s also the whole discreet pro-gun thing. Sure, it’s a zombie holocaust, but all the arguments for the seven year old running around with a gun could be used by some white supremacist. Only they’re easily digestible here, because it’s the end of the world.

And did they make Glenn white? He doesn’t look Asian anymore.

The Walking Dead (2003) #4

Twd4

Ah ha, now we’re getting somewhere. Rick’s wife got busy with the evil friend–Shane–while Rick was laid out in a hospital bed in a coma. Unfortunately, Rick’s just going to forgive her without any drama, but hopefully Kirkman will give her the chance to do it again.

Can you tell I don’t like Rick’s wife?

But it’s also this issue where Kirkman introduces his first original zombie idea, which is a good one–and a little late, he could have done it first issue right after his 28 Days Later homage. The zombies attack by smell, specifically the lack of it. Rick and Glenn (his name isn’t Short Round after all) slather themselves in zombie stink and go gun shopping. Good stuff. Kirkman even had me thinking Glenn might die.

As far as the art, Moore has yet to make an impression on me. It’s competently illustrated, but kind of underwhelming.

The Walking Dead (2003) #3

Twd3

I think it might be me. I think I might not be suited for Walking Dead. I mean, it’s all very competently done and it’s sort of interesting if wholly unoriginal (the best friend really after Rick’s wife was no surprise, Moore’s art gave the character that body language from his first panel)–I just don’t care.

Kirkman’s characters are really, really boring. It’s like he goes out of his way to make them unoriginal–except maybe the little guy who warns Rick about his best friend, that character is interesting… since the evil friend is probably going to end up killing him.

I also don’t like the kids. They’re really annoying.

I’m sticking it through for a few more, to see if it picks up. Hopefully Kirkman will start killing off supporting cast members so I can remember their names. Also, some zombie attacks might liven the book up a bit.

The Walking Dead (2003) #2

Twd2

Wow, talk about cutting back on the drama quotient.

This issue is mostly spent on expository dialogue explaining the zombie plague to Rick. It shocks him a little but it’s all okay because he finds his family at the end. Unfortunately, as much as I love the celebratory emotional scene, Kirkman didn’t really make it mean anything. It’s not like Rick had a long, hard journey. The most traumatic thing was apparently having to jump from one building to another. Not even zombie related.

I’m rather unsold on the whole thing so far. Kirkman’s slight Southern dialect makes the characters sound forced, not real.

I don’t even know the Asian kid’s name. It’d probably be inappropriate to nickname him Short Round.

Speaking of names, we never get to find out what Rick names the horse he rides into Atlanta. It seems like a rather important detail and Kirkman skips it.