Mary Louise Eklund

Tag: Comic Book reviews

Comic Comments – I have No Idea What Is Going On

The title of this post says it all about these three issues – I don’t know what the heck is going on in the story. This crossover took place in Astonishing X-Men issues #59-61. This reflect the culmination scene from X-Factor at title I don’t follow. So before I attempt to explain my confusion and why I don’t care to put forth the effort to clear it up, let’s take care of technicalities.

Disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.

These credits are very complicated please excuse them but if I don’t say the credit covers all three issues: Marjorie Liu, Writer – David Lapham, Marjorie Liu, & Greg Pak, Story Issues #60 &61 – Gabriel Hernadez Walta, Artist #59 – Matteo Buffogni & Renato Arlem, Artist #60 – Renato Arlem, Klebs deMoura, Matteo Buffagni, Raul Valdes, & Carlos Cuevas, Artists #61 – Chris Peter, Colorist #59 – Christopher Sotomayer & Lee Loughridge, Colorists #60 – Lee Loughride & Chris Sotomayer with Andres Mossa, Colorists #61 – VC’s Joe Caramagna, Letterer #59 & #60 – VC’s Joe Caramagna with Clayton Cowles, Letterer #61 – Phil Noto, Cover #59 & varient covers for #60 & #61 – Giuseppe Camuncoli with Cam Smith and Rain Beredo, Covers #60 & &61 – Jennifer M. Smith, Asst Editor – Jeannie Schaefer, Editor – Nick Lowe, Group Editor – Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief – Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer – Dan Buckley, Publisher – Alan Fine, Executive Producer.

The whole concept of the title is a group of time-line jumping X-Men that keep the time-lines straight. Think Time Cop kinda thing but with mutants. I am aware of various incarnations of characters I try to ignore this but with Logan’s best friend Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) who died heroically has a doppleganger with a helpful red face tattoo to tell him from our priest Nightcrawler has been on the X-Force team (a title I followed). There’s some big shouting battle in issues #60 & 61 with a mismash of artists. I don’t know who is who since I don’t follow that title and don’t care to follow it. Then after all this of deaths of some their characters in my book it is continued out of my title somewhere else. So essentially I paid for a two issue ad for another title.

Also in issue #59 the concept of the US deporting Northstar. If you don’t know the character he’s an X-Man that’s Canadian and gay. He’s the one that got married in Astonishing X-Men #51 but the fact that he married an American doesn’t help since at that time gay marriage wasn’t federally recognized. That’s changed recently but any way, it doesn’t matter since that plot line just falls to the side and gets lost in the big advertisement for X-Force.

As for the art – I’m not a huge fan of Walta but find him serviceable. However for issues #60 & #61 it’s a mess of styles that just shocks the eye. It’s not fair to give a read on any of the artists because it’s such a mess.

Moving on to the covers – I like #59 and the variants for the other two issues because I enjoy Noto’s art. As for the non variant covers – #60 is passable but looks like a bad photoshop of various artists’s interpretation of characters pasted together. #61’s cover looks like art from the County Fair’s middle school exhibit – sure they have potential but it’s too blocky, no life in it just overly studied with tight interpretation and over-consciousness on technique. I don’t even know whose work that is given the long list of credits. What possibly happened is too many were involved that no one put their style to it thus no life was ever breathed into the work.

Overall these three issues were worthless to me. I don’t need another X title and am contemplating dropping this title completely if the current Iceman centric arc isn’t awesome (or at least good and makes sense) then I shall drop it.

After the jump are a few panels I enjoyed just for themselves.

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July 23, 2013
Comic Comments – Marvel Zombie Halloween 2012

I know I am WAY behind on my Comic Comments but I’m making effort to catch up with the list. I am seriously considering doing by issue once I get the backlog diminished significantly. Mostly because it would be easier to keep up with what I’ve reviewed and what I haven’t.

Okay my mea culpa and plans revealed let’s talk zombies! This is a one-shot that fits into the Marvel Zombie line but not into any continuity. Just think of this as a fun story, part of the fun is figuring out who is who in this post zombie apocalypse world. It’s an excellent Marvel superhero tale for Halloween.

First give credit where credit is due for this one-shot: Fred Van Lente, Writer – Alessandro Vitti, Artist – Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Cover – Jon Moisan, Asst. Editor – Bill Roseman, Editor – Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief – Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer – Dan Buckley, Publisher – Alan Fine, Executive Producer.

Next the legal disclaimer – All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.

The art is perfect for the issue. I like the ‘dirty’ line look and really suits Old Man Scratch in his appearances. It also does well with the zombies by giving suggestion without being too explicit on the details of decay. I thought it was excellent and made the tale even better.

As for the story it starts out with a definite Walking Dead (tv show) vibe but quickly becomes a Marvel tale. The premise is that a mother and son have established a safe camp in an old Victorian mansion complete with a greenhouse for safe gardening. The boy is going over the calendar and discovers it’s Halloween. After them mom explains what the holiday was and the boy wants to celebrate.

Here the tale takes the Marvel turn – they find the boy a Wolverine costume in the basement. When they head out to get candy – they encounter superhero zombies. I’ll leave it to you to discover just who these are! It’s fun to see them in that form, LOL!

Then Old Man Scratch makes his appearance accompanied by the Rolling Stone song that introduces him. The question becomes – do you want to be in debt to the devil or eaten by zombies? I’ll leave you with that only to say that in the end a black kitten makes it all worth it.

Just who are the mother and child? That’s part of the twist too! Let’s just say there is a clue in the fact Mom likes Wolverine (no he’s not the father of the boy THIS time). In the end I enjoyed the tale of Halloween during a Zombie Apocalypse, well done Marvel, well done! If you didn’t pick this one last Halloween get it in time for this one.

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July 18, 2013
Comic Comment – Returning to My Bat Roots

Maybe it’s easiest to explain my love of comics by telling you my first word was “Batman.” No really it was, just as my parents. Sure I grew out of DC and into Marvel but still the Bats has held a soft place in my heart. I didn’t jump on the New 52 bandwagon when DC did their whole redo. I just wasn’t certain what line I wanted of the Bats there were choices and I hadn’t a clue. Then on Free Comic Book Day 2011 I got a Batman. I liked it, I really liked it though I was learning the extended Bat family (the Robins have matured dead ones haven’t stayed dead etc.) So I jumped in mid arc. A big multi-title arc “Death Of The Family” Just like in the AvX Interruptus I didn’t chase the story about – I just took what crossed the ONE title I got. Which was Batman issues 13 – 17. Let me tell you I got a good ‘un.

The ever present US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.

Now credit to the creators: Written by Scott Snyder, Adam Glass, Kyle Higgins, John Layman, Scott Lobdell, Ann Nocenti, Gail Simone, Peter J. Tomasi, and James Tynion IV Issue 13 – Scott Snyder, Writer Issue 14-16, Illustrated by Greg Capullo, Eddy Barrows, Ed Benes, Brett Booth, Andy Clarke, Fernando Dagnion, Jason Fabok, Patrick Gleason, Jock, Timothy Green, Rafa Sadoval, Issue 13 – Greg Capullo, Penciler Issue 14 -16 – Jonathan Glapion, Inker Issue 14-16 – FCO Plascencia, Colorist Issue 14-16 – Richard Starkings & Comiccraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, Letterer Issue 14-16 – Greg Capullo & FCO Plascencia, Main & Variant covers Issue 13, 15, Greg Capullo & FCO Plascencia, Cover #14, 16 & 17, Trevor McCarthy, Variant Cover Issue 14, Alex Garner, Variant Cover Issue 16, Tony Daniel, Matt Banning & Tomeu Morey, Variant Issue 17- Katie Kubert, Asst. Editor- Mike Marts, Editor – Batman, created by Bob Kane.

At the end of each issue is a tie-in story featuring the Joker making plans for the finale. Issue 13 Story Knock, Knock Brought to you by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Richard Starkings and Comic Craft’s Jimmy Betancourt, Katie Kubert, Mike Marts, Cover by Capullo and Plascencia, Varient cover by Aaron Kuder and Nathan Fairbairn, Batman created by Bob Kane. Issue 14 Men of Worship Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV, Writers, Jock, Artwork, Dave Baron, Colors, Sal Cipriano, LEtters, Katie Kubert, Assistant Editor, Mike Marts, Editor. Issue 15 Red Light, Green Light Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV, Writers – Jock, Artwork – Dave Baron, Colors – Taylor Esposito, Letters – Katie Kubert, Assistant Editor – Mike Marts, Editor. Issue 16 Judgement Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV, Writers – Jock , Artwork – David Baron, Colors – Taylor Esposito, Letters – Kate Kubers, Assistant Editor – Mike Marts, Editor.

WHEW That’s some credits on who did what where!

I jumped in on the big return of Joker story-line. He looks different and through some research I learned why he looked different – he had his face cut off and now wears it as a mask. As a result he is more gruesome than ever adding to the creep factor in his “jokes.” The main story is between Joker and Batman – Joker starts leading Batman back to the places of their big battles. Except this time the Joker has the upper hand, finally in order to lure the Bats to the final finally he kidnaps a member of the Bat family. The final battle is at the Arkham Asylum where Joker was imprisoned after each caper.

I will say this is a fresh new take on the oft repeated battle between Bats and Joker. It is well written and pulls many emotional strings not just of Batman but the readers too along the way. There isn’t shying away from a large body count here of guilty as well as innocents making the stakes grow higher with each issue. In the end I felt Batman proved to be who we know him to be but instead we learned something very important about the Joker – his weakness. If DC keeps up with the power and tight writing of this story they have got fodder for many story lines to come. The Bat family has been deeply changed by the results, if not Batman himself. The Joker has shown he knows more than he lets on but his ultimate weakness kept him from using it. So I was left wanting to know – how will the Bat family be after such horrid experiences? will the Joker have the guts to use his knowledge when he returns from wounds? Because he’s gotta come back, right? I mean that’s what he DOES right?

There were more aspects to the story than the interactions between the main guys. Joker’s interactions with the various members of the Bat family appeared in their comics. The bonus story at the end of each Bat comic showed the Joker recruiting various villains to help him complete the final showdown in the asylum. It makes for an excellent two page splash piece in Issue 16 complete with Faux DC superheroes. I like the insight to each villain. I was reminded that a good villain is a hero in his own head – sure they see what they are doing as right and have to be coerced into going along with the Joker’s plan. Admittedly some needed more than others. It is interesting to see a story were both are villains. Here it leads you to wondering just what is Joker’s grand plan? When we see it, it’s chilling but follows a certain twisted logic. That’s good writing. That’s staying true to what makes the twisted mind of the Joker the best comic book villain ever. Cudos to the writers!

Now to the art – It was wonderful. I can say it supported the story didn’t make me wince or gawk, instead I saw the movie in my head. Isn’t that what comic books are supposed to do? Here the art and the story worked perfectly together. There were small touches I like – the flies increasing around Joker’s rotting skin mask. The slight touches of how Alfred puts his arms around the Robins when they are in danger. Images like that add to the story, increase the depth of the characters and make the comic experience complete.

To be my arc venturing back into the DC and Batman world I have to say this hit a home run for me. I only hope it can keep up these high standards.

Okay you know what comes next… scans from the comics

I’m gonna be spoilery

So if yo don’t want to be SPOILED

STOP

Scrolling

NOW! (more…)

June 5, 2013
Comic Comments – AvX Conclusion

So I’m getting back in the blogging saddle with comics. They are comforting and I have a box to review. Before we get on with that I want to thank you for all the support from friends during our family’s losses. Of course after such an emotional blow our immune systems were low and we battled the cold from hell. Never bad enough to toss in the towel and go to bed but bad enough that life was work and sleep until we healed. We are well now, Spring is attempting to spring and life is blooming again.

Now to the comic – a limited series to wrap up the Avengers vs X-Men shenanigans or as I liked to call it AvX Interruptus because many good titles were interrupted in their strong story lines to tell this weak story that was an excuse to undo M-Day. Honestly this was a weakly veiled Marvel marketing ploy to sell more comics trying to get people to buy comics across titles. Unfortunately the title samples they are buying weren’t as strong as the story that was interrupted by the ploy. Don’t get me wrong I like a well done cross title story (see House of M and M-Day, Don’t see Civil War or World War Hulk) but forcing one at least once a year not to expand the universe but to push sales is lame and gives you at best something like Civil War that started out strong and ended weakly or just stupid.

I wasn’t going to get this title due to my avoiding of the whole cross over except when it intruded into my normally subscribed titles. Yet I saw a few sample scans of the scenes between Logan and Scott and wanted see how they played out. I do like how they officially switch roles. Yes it had happened with Schism but this solidifies it with Scott truly a criminal and Logan the experienced headmaster proving to be Xavier’s real disciple.

Now for the credits: Kieron Gillen, Script – Tom Raney, Art Issue 1 – Steve Kurth, Pencils Issue 2 – Scot Eaton, Pencils Issue 3 – Mark Books, Pencils Issue 4 – Gabriel Hernandex Walta, Art Issue 5 – Jim Charalampiois, Colors – Allen Martinez, Inks Issue 2 – Andrew Hennessy, Inks Issue 3 – Mark Brooks & Andrew Hennessy, Inks Issue 4 – VC’s Clayton Cowles, Letters – Patrick Zircher & Dommo Sanchez Aymara, Cover Art Issue 1 – Paolo Rivera, Varient Cover Issue 1 – Ron Garney & Jason Keith, Cover Art Issue 2 & 3- Shane Davis, Danny Miki, & Morry Hollowell, Variant Cover Issue 2- Adi Granov, Variant Cover Issue 3-5 – Salvador Larroca & David Curiel, Cover Art Issue 4 & 5 – Jordan D. White, Assistant Editor – Nick Lowe, Editor – Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief – Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer – Dan Buckley, Publisher – Alan Fine, Executive Producer.

The ever present US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.

WOW! Look at the artists that contributed to this 5 issue run. Lots of them and honestly I don’t have a complaint about any. They all have their own quirks and styles but I like them. They aren’t overly stylistic so that it becomes painful (yes I’m thinking of the first few issues of Wolverine and the X-Men, OUCH) nor are they too cartoony. All these artists hit that balance I look for in a comic, realism with just a toe over the line to make it fantasy (trust me boobs don’t do that on their own). So reading this I didn’t cringe and cling to the script for the story nor did I stop astounded at the artistic beauty. The art completed the tale, added dimension, and made it a full experience. I have my personal favorite Tom Raney and personal least favorite Gabriel Hernadez Walta. But still I enjoyed them all. Cudos all the way around!

Now the story – or stories I should say. It’s a follow up on the Phoenix 5 focusing mainly on Scott in jail. We get glimpses of other aftermath but the central thread is Scott Summers. We see Tony Stark dealing with the illogic of the Phoenix. Hope Summers try to be a typical girl who goes out to hunt for her partly cyber foster father from the future. Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost exchange zingers at each other. We learn what the fugitives Namor, Magneto, and Magik are up to. Also get the low down on Agent Brant and Hank McCoy’s relationship status. We see Colossus dealing with part in the whole thing, poor woobie. Oh and Danger the AI droid from the previous declared “totally separate” Ultimate universe is here throwing in with the fugitives. (I hate hate hate that Ultimate has crossed into 616 cannon really enjoyed the separate takes for separate generations of fans). Storm takes her place at the Jean Grey School and Logan chats with Capt America. (does Steve Rogers ever get out of costume? I think he wears it like Bobby Drake runs around iced up in every day life)

Since I’m a Wolverine fan you’ll know I’ll spend the most time there. I liked the dynamic between Logan and Scott. It was interesting to see reluctant partners with totally different approaches in life, personal life differences, still go after agreed upon goals for the common good. But as they matured and one lusted after the other’s wife you knew it wasn’t going to work long term. As a Logan gal I can see how Xavier’s dream appealed to the man who had high goals and morals but always fell short of them. Honestly you take in the whole of Logan’s path and Xavier gave him a way to mature as a man into the son of John Howlett not the biological pup of Thomas Logan. When you get down to it that’s Logan’s story nature vs nuture. He chose to be more than his genes. Xavier helped him see how to do that. While Scott always lived the good boy dream raised to be a superhero, and was the expected heir. I’d say he rebelled when he dumped Jean for Emma. That he was always prone to rebel to the dark side as part of his growing. So no surprise he’s now thrown in with Xavier’s arch nemesis Magneto. I can see the progress of the two down these paths. I could also see how it could have gone the other way with Scott never rebelling and Logan becoming say a Nick Fury like black ops go to guy for mutant issues. But then neither gets much character growth from that scenario. I always contended once Logan got back his memories and processed them he’d have to be more mature than any of the other X-Men because you can’t have over a century of life experience and not become more than what those with less than half a century are. So it makes sense that out of the two Logan would be the most mature adult about dealing with things.

It’s not that Logan doesn’t deal with the feelings. He admits to Capt America that his emotion is to deal with Scott by killing him but he learned from Xavier what he should do and that’s why he gave Xavier’s eulogy. He can be what Scott called in issue 5 “the better man” but it’s a struggle. That’s why I like Logan he’s honest about his internal struggle between wanting to just go with base reaction rather than reason. Yet he has matured enough to know when that’s called for and when it’s time to grow up and do what you should instead of what you want. Which is what leads to the Issue 2 and the conclusion note to Logan from Scott in Issue 5. It’s previews of those two scenes (you’ll see a my preview choices from them below) that drew me to purchase the arc. Both characters make choices that if they hold as long as Jean’s death, Logan having his memories back, and a few other things have these developments will change the characters significantly. I also like it because it follows what has been my impression of the characters for years. It also nicely mirrors the Xavier/Magneto split of the generation before, former teammates now arch enemies. I wonder who will be the two for the next generation- will Quire follow in Xavier/Logan footsteps or Magneto/Scott? Who will be his balance Evan? or have we not yet met the two future leaders?

That leads me to say to be an all around trying to gather up loose ends and point to the new directions and arcs of multiple titles the writing in this is good. Gillen succeeds in his labor intensive task of staging the relaunch/launch of many titles under the Marvel NOW! banner. Not only does he achieve his corporate directive but he writes some great scenes that redefine characters as well as give them the starting point for new growth down divergent paths. As a writer who knows the difficulty of fusing your contractual assignment with the art of writing I give him praise for taking what could just be a through the paces move characters about to get them where they need to be for the title launches into a true story that can be used a defining moments for the storylines to come.

Over all if you are into the Marvel universe and want to keep abreast of what changes were wrought by the AvX Interruptus these 5 issues are for you. They are not the jumping in point for those who aren’t familiar with the characters. It for those of us who know the characters and want to get insight into where they are now.

Next up from the Review Box – Astonishing X-Men Issue 57-58 a mini arc that centers on Warbird.

Below here there maybe SPOILERS in scans

You have been warned

Don’t want to see then stop scrolling

Really this is your last SPOILER ALERT. (more…)

April 29, 2013