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Nov. 19th, 2004 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenygalLots of good comics this week.
BIRDS OF PREY #76--Interesting start to this arc; in one issue Simone introduces and develops a good, unusual vigilante, and makes good use of Helena's background in passing. And the art works much better than it often has. And yes, the Dick/Babs stuff makes me weepy. But at this point, Dick saying that he has a plan strikes fear into my heart. (Offpanel chicks: I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one going "she's going to get help from Hector? Oh, god, she's doomed," right? ;)
EX MACHINA #6--And the world's only combination of superheroism and New York mayoral politics keeps right on ticking. (And now somebody will cite all the places it's been done before...) Mitchell is paranoid about the CIA, bored with weddings, and goes into more detail about some of his political opinions. Which to be honest I find more interesting than the Something Nasty going on in the sewers, but on the other hand the line about yeti gentrification was one of the better laughs of the week. And the end...oh, the end. I know it's all going to go horribly wrong, but I don't care; I'm too busy being happy that Vaughan's going to do a gay marriage story (which in the current political climate might actually be brave of him, given Mitchell's apparent views on the subject).
FANTASTIC FOUR #520--In which Sue gets Johnny's power, and Johnny gets the Power Cosmic, and both of them deal...badly. This story is generally hovering around the level of "entertaining," and Waid's done better on the title--but Waid being entertaining is not something I'm going to complain about, either. "I'm from out of town" cracked me up so very hard... And I like the idea that Johnny's power is harder to control than he makes it look. (Of course, my knowledge of the Fantastic Four is pretty minimal, so perhaps that's totally untrue. But as an idea, it seems good.) The idea that Reed can at any time switch any of the team's powers, though--I've been thinking about it, and I'm thinking somebody had better stick qualifiers on that in a hurry. (Like, the process can only be used a couple of times on any given person or there are nasty side effects.) Otherwise, I start wondering why Reed hasn't volunteered to take the Thing power, even temporarily.
MADROX #3--Okay, here's the thing--and as a reader of superhero comics this is mildly embarrassing to admit--I just cannot believe you can fatally cut someone's throat by throwing a playing card at them. Yes, yes, I know Bullseye's done it, and you know what, I can't believe that either. I tell myself he carries around special weighted cards in order to deal with it. And even if I believed it of Bullseye, that's his specific ridiculous thing, that he's meant to be able to do stuff like that (and he is, as far as I know, the only person in the MU that's done it). There's already plenty that's ridiculous about Jamie without adding that in. So Jamie's already gotten onto angsting about it (which was good, a nice quiet holding-it-together freakout) and I'm still going, "On instinct you grabbed a playing card and slit his throat? Where the hell did you get an instinct for something that weird? And how did you even do it?" ...yes, yes, I know, comics, physics violations, they go together. I'm just saying, it threw me out of the scene. And I feel guilty for going on about this as long as I have, because this is a good issue of a good miniseries. There's a nice noir plot going on with a semi-startling plot twist, PAD is getting all sorts of mileage out of exploring Jamie's powers and what they do to his head--is he the only writer who's ever done anything interesting with this character, or is it just me?--and the scene with the Mutant Town mother was wonderful. How's this book selling? Because I'd buy an ongoing.
MANHUNTER #4--I've been staying on the fence, but now I'm decided: I really like this book. We still desperately need an explanation for how this woman has gotten the skills to go run around on rooftops with the bad guys, but that aside, Kate is shaping up into a character I believe in (I don't like her, necessarily, but that's a separate issue), the supervillains appear to have personalities and relationships, and the idea that your kid will find your vigilante weapon and hurt himself with it is exactly the kind of sensible exploration of a concept that I really, really like. But it was this issue that sold me--I'm just charmed by poor Dylan Battles, Techie To The Supervillains (and I'm also taking note that while this issue sets us up to sympathize with him, he isn't necessarily a very nice person either); he's going to be a good addition to the supporting cast. Yeah, this one's going on my pull list. (Oh, and Kate is a female character wearing a full-body costume, which right now is enough to endear her to me no end.)
TEEN TITANS #18--Yeah, well, probably my least favorite of the lot. I'm not immune to some of the moments, but...it's just so calculatedly melodramatic. Oh my god, the future is horrible, our future selves are all evil and psychotic, oh no! As a darkverse AU, it's okay; as a plausible future for our team...not so much. (And not just because I know perfectly well we're not going anywhere like this in canon.) And Geoff is just destined never to do anything I like with Deathstroke. Rose/Bart is sweet, though.
WONDER WOMAN--I. I just. Did that just happen? She just did that? And yes, of course she did, because she's Diana. There are no words for how amazing Rucka's Diana is, how much strength she has. "...her champions would die a thousand times to save but one mortal life." Oh, I got chills. And I really, really want to see how this plays out. (I don't expect it to be permanent. Nothing is permanent. But I expect it to stick for a while.) And that last, joyless line, the whole presentation of the ending...it's really very true to the spirit of Wonder Woman, that victory in battle is not a good and glorious thing. It's just better than the alternatives, sometimes.
If you're not reading this book: take a look.
BIRDS OF PREY #76--Interesting start to this arc; in one issue Simone introduces and develops a good, unusual vigilante, and makes good use of Helena's background in passing. And the art works much better than it often has. And yes, the Dick/Babs stuff makes me weepy. But at this point, Dick saying that he has a plan strikes fear into my heart. (Offpanel chicks: I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one going "she's going to get help from Hector? Oh, god, she's doomed," right? ;)
EX MACHINA #6--And the world's only combination of superheroism and New York mayoral politics keeps right on ticking. (And now somebody will cite all the places it's been done before...) Mitchell is paranoid about the CIA, bored with weddings, and goes into more detail about some of his political opinions. Which to be honest I find more interesting than the Something Nasty going on in the sewers, but on the other hand the line about yeti gentrification was one of the better laughs of the week. And the end...oh, the end. I know it's all going to go horribly wrong, but I don't care; I'm too busy being happy that Vaughan's going to do a gay marriage story (which in the current political climate might actually be brave of him, given Mitchell's apparent views on the subject).
FANTASTIC FOUR #520--In which Sue gets Johnny's power, and Johnny gets the Power Cosmic, and both of them deal...badly. This story is generally hovering around the level of "entertaining," and Waid's done better on the title--but Waid being entertaining is not something I'm going to complain about, either. "I'm from out of town" cracked me up so very hard... And I like the idea that Johnny's power is harder to control than he makes it look. (Of course, my knowledge of the Fantastic Four is pretty minimal, so perhaps that's totally untrue. But as an idea, it seems good.) The idea that Reed can at any time switch any of the team's powers, though--I've been thinking about it, and I'm thinking somebody had better stick qualifiers on that in a hurry. (Like, the process can only be used a couple of times on any given person or there are nasty side effects.) Otherwise, I start wondering why Reed hasn't volunteered to take the Thing power, even temporarily.
MADROX #3--Okay, here's the thing--and as a reader of superhero comics this is mildly embarrassing to admit--I just cannot believe you can fatally cut someone's throat by throwing a playing card at them. Yes, yes, I know Bullseye's done it, and you know what, I can't believe that either. I tell myself he carries around special weighted cards in order to deal with it. And even if I believed it of Bullseye, that's his specific ridiculous thing, that he's meant to be able to do stuff like that (and he is, as far as I know, the only person in the MU that's done it). There's already plenty that's ridiculous about Jamie without adding that in. So Jamie's already gotten onto angsting about it (which was good, a nice quiet holding-it-together freakout) and I'm still going, "On instinct you grabbed a playing card and slit his throat? Where the hell did you get an instinct for something that weird? And how did you even do it?" ...yes, yes, I know, comics, physics violations, they go together. I'm just saying, it threw me out of the scene. And I feel guilty for going on about this as long as I have, because this is a good issue of a good miniseries. There's a nice noir plot going on with a semi-startling plot twist, PAD is getting all sorts of mileage out of exploring Jamie's powers and what they do to his head--is he the only writer who's ever done anything interesting with this character, or is it just me?--and the scene with the Mutant Town mother was wonderful. How's this book selling? Because I'd buy an ongoing.
MANHUNTER #4--I've been staying on the fence, but now I'm decided: I really like this book. We still desperately need an explanation for how this woman has gotten the skills to go run around on rooftops with the bad guys, but that aside, Kate is shaping up into a character I believe in (I don't like her, necessarily, but that's a separate issue), the supervillains appear to have personalities and relationships, and the idea that your kid will find your vigilante weapon and hurt himself with it is exactly the kind of sensible exploration of a concept that I really, really like. But it was this issue that sold me--I'm just charmed by poor Dylan Battles, Techie To The Supervillains (and I'm also taking note that while this issue sets us up to sympathize with him, he isn't necessarily a very nice person either); he's going to be a good addition to the supporting cast. Yeah, this one's going on my pull list. (Oh, and Kate is a female character wearing a full-body costume, which right now is enough to endear her to me no end.)
TEEN TITANS #18--Yeah, well, probably my least favorite of the lot. I'm not immune to some of the moments, but...it's just so calculatedly melodramatic. Oh my god, the future is horrible, our future selves are all evil and psychotic, oh no! As a darkverse AU, it's okay; as a plausible future for our team...not so much. (And not just because I know perfectly well we're not going anywhere like this in canon.) And Geoff is just destined never to do anything I like with Deathstroke. Rose/Bart is sweet, though.
WONDER WOMAN--I. I just. Did that just happen? She just did that? And yes, of course she did, because she's Diana. There are no words for how amazing Rucka's Diana is, how much strength she has. "...her champions would die a thousand times to save but one mortal life." Oh, I got chills. And I really, really want to see how this plays out. (I don't expect it to be permanent. Nothing is permanent. But I expect it to stick for a while.) And that last, joyless line, the whole presentation of the ending...it's really very true to the spirit of Wonder Woman, that victory in battle is not a good and glorious thing. It's just better than the alternatives, sometimes.
If you're not reading this book: take a look.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 10:15 pm (UTC)But I'm curious. Was it just me, or did it seem like the gratuitous porn-site conversation was mostly there so that when Vaughan gets the inevitable WTF Gay marriage Not appropriate for kiddie books OMG responses he can point and snigger? I mean, not that I wasn't amused and alll...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-20 05:11 pm (UTC)Hmm. You know what I bet he'll be slammed for? Using the heroes of 9-11 to push his own personal agenda.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-20 10:58 pm (UTC)I wasn't lying when I said I was amused, but it *was* more of a WTF sort of amusement that half knocked me out of the story. So part of my mind was busy trying to figure out the purpose of that scene - so far in Ex Machina, there haven't been any truly irrelevant scenes, (unlike many other series I might name) - and after reading the end that was the only thing I came up with. Shrug. Which totally tripled the amusement value for me...
Hmm. You know what I bet he'll be slammed for? Using the heroes of 9-11 to push his own personal agenda.
'Cause *everybody* knows that heroes aren't gay. *rolls eyes*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-21 06:14 pm (UTC)The first thing that came to mind when I read the end of the book was this article (http://www.lmfct.org/news_manlikeeverybodyelse.htm). It wouldn't actually surprise me if Vaughan was thinking of the same couple. Still, there's an argument--and I've heard it made with respect to 9-11, although not on this particular issue--that it's disrespectful to insert fictional characters into a real-life situation, and he could be opening himself up for that one here.
Then again, is anybody actually reading EX MACHINA? Maybe it'll just pass straight under the controversy radar. (And anybody who was offended by the use of 9-11 presumably dropped it with the first issue, anyway.)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-24 06:26 pm (UTC)Hmm. I'm never sure *quite* how the September 11th attacks resonate in America, but it seems to me that changing something that *big* would be less offensive than, say, introducing Mayor Hundred, hero of Columbine. I wonder if the *comic-book fans* the title is aimed at would bother getting upset about a story which is obviously, "What if there was a Superhero in *this* world, or something close enough to?" (Whereas one might expect a huge public outcry at a movie with the same basis.)
Ignoring the long and ignoble tradition of inserting comic book heroes into wartime situations, Marvel at least has had its characters involved in the September 11th, 2001 aftermath. I'm not sure if DC did or not (please, please tell me?), but I'm kind of hoping not (as I imagine it would end with Superman or Green Lantern or one of the various other similarly powerful characters snagging the planes from the sky and then rushing off to fight a space monster. If, you know, they were going for realism. Er. Such that it is).
According to my comic shop, Ex Machina is doing pretty well... for a low selling title. About the equivalent of a Vertigo bestseller.
Me: ...
Me: What does *that* mean?
Madrox #3
Date: 2004-11-20 09:55 pm (UTC)As for Titans... eh. I'm really not sure why I'm even buying the book anymore.
And Newsarama has a great interview with Rucka that talks about Wonder Woman. And yeah, I'm glad I saved that book for last. Nothing could have topped it.
Re: Madrox #3
Date: 2004-11-21 05:55 pm (UTC)But it's just a playing card. They flutter in the air and bend when they hit things. I could conceivably have bought Jamie grabbing the guy and slicing his throat with the card (it still would have raised an eyebrow, but...) but I just can't see how he could throw it and get sufficient impact to break the skin.
As for Titans... eh. I'm really not sure why I'm even buying the book anymore.
I'm buying it because I like the characters, and I like some of the stuff that Geoff is doing with them (the parts I don't hate with a fiery passion). But it's probably the book I'm closest to currently dropping.
Re: Madrox #3
Date: 2004-11-21 09:03 pm (UTC)