Blah Blah Freakin’ Blah.
Comments Off | Posted: May 18th, 2006 | Filed under: UncategorizedRandom new comics commentary? I can rock it like that.
So, apparently the Superman that occupies the All Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder universe is back to his 1930s roots, considering the fact that we saw him running over water instead of flying. That sort of makes sense, actually, as Miller’s All-Star Batman is a modern punching-and-murdering machine that inhabited the first few adventures that Bob Kane and Bill Finger cranked out in the Golden Age. (Yes, I know that Wagner’s doing some modern retellings of those old stories, but we’re talking about attitude instead of action.) I cackled quite a bit over Robin’s reaction to the ultra-deluxe-mega Batcave that Jim Lee needed a quadruple fold-out to display and found it amusing to peek into Batman’s head when he’s trying so damned hard to be Broody and Dark.
Yes, I know you don’t like the comic. That’s fine.
I know that BOOM! employs me and Birdie to do Nitroglycerin, but I have to say that I would have enjoyed the premise of Talent just fine without such a connection. I’ve never been a big fan of Golden’s or Sniegoski’s comics work, but a good premise – a sole plane crash survivor absorbing the abilities of the other passengers – and solid art by Paul Azaceta (who is the only reason I’m still reading Image’s Grounded) made this a slam-dunk for me. I am a bit worried about the larger conspiracy angle that seems to borrow a bit too much from the current pop zeitgeist that makes people think The DaVinci Code is like, really, really deep, but I’m definitely sticking around to see how it plays out.
Am I the only one that actually pays attention to DC’s house ads when they’re placed in a bundle in the back of a comic? I caught myself spending a minute or two hovering over them when I finished the latest issue of Sgt Rock: The Prophecy and actually thought something along the lines of “Hey, maybe I’ll look at that new JLA book,” which is just plain weird.
The second issue of 52 featured Morrison’s Doc Magnus (Tomorrowtech! Red Inferno! Mad scientists!) and that was good. What was sort of clumsy was the Booster Gold and Renee Montoya pieces, even if I quite like this take on The Question. What was bad? “So say we all.” Christ, somebody likes Galactica a little much, don’t they?
Wood and Burchielli turn in another quality issue of DMZ. It’s nice to see our protagonist smarten up a bit. Wood took his time with this one, deliberately building to Matty’s realization that he’ll need to completely change his operating methods in the new Manhattan, which is a nice departure from the “Now I Am A Complete Badass” one-issue turnaround that most comics use. I’m now actually excited about the next issue, which is sorta rare on a Vertigo book.
This is what I know about the video game that Rival Schools: United By Fate is based on: people beat each other up using improbable martial arts moves. This is about all I need to know, apparently, as the comic involves just that: people beating up each other while using improbable martial arts moves with names like “Super Guts Bullet” and “Burning Vigor Attack.” Fun, stupid material that lets Corey Lewis cut loose. What I’ve noticed is that his art is a bit tighter now, cutting out the confusion that bugged me a few times in Sharknife and Peng.
Some very dodgy printing plagues the new issue of Jack Staff, but once Alan Moore shows up (as Morlan The Mystic,) I just didn’t care. I was laughing so freaking hard. In public. It was embarrassing.
Anyway, Grist’s usual technique of cutting between parallel plots didn’t work as well as usual for me; the transitions were jarring and uneven, even if the individual pieces were really well constructed, especially the cover character’s.
About that Batman: Year 100. Wow. The motorcycle chase, the final confrontation, the reveal….it was just about perfect. Maybe I wanted a little more explodo, but that’s just me being fussy. I’m like that.
That’s it for the floppies. I’ve got the new Fantagraphics anthology Hotwire, along with Castle Waiting and….er….Firestar to read in the next few days.
Go and be productive now, citizen.
