Comic Review – Punisher: Frank Castle #75, The Walking Dead #66 and Gravel #14

So. Apparently, this is the end of Punisher Max, or Punisher: Frank Castle, or Punisher: vol. 23 or whatever it is Marvel is calling this comic these days. On Garth Ennis’ run, I think it was Punisher Max, but they decided to add the “Frank Castle” on the title for no good reason. And apparently, the new “Punisher” title will be reset to issue one and will be called…

“Punisher Max.”

I quit this shit.

Anyway. Issue 75. Five writers, five artists, five stories, acceptable results. None of the stories are great — some are good, some are overly sappy. Let’s go one by one:

The first story, “Dolls”, is written by Tom Piccirilli with art by Laurence Campbell and colors by Lee Loughridge. The premise is interesting — Frank Castle is interrupted when he’s about to execute someone with a sniper rifle. The interruption consists of a little girl who got lost in the streets and needs help finding her father. Castle decides to help her before carrying out the execution, to avoid doing it in front of her.

Not that that would have been a real obstacle. He could have simply asked her to close her eyes. Then he’d kill the bastard with the silenced rifle and help her. Instead, he decides to do it after finding her dad — and upon doing this, he uses his shoulder as a support for the rifle and kills the bastard anyway. Which kind of invalidates the whole point of the story, which, nevertheless, has some good moments — like a poignant flashback shot of a doll fallen on grass. Still, in a certain moment of the story, Castle says, “All little girls should have wonderful birthday parties.”

Let’s put it this way:

“All little girls should have wonderful birthday parties” – Frank Castle, aka The Punisher.

Doesn’t really work, does it?

Still, Laurence Campbell’s art is vastly superior to his previous efforts (Punisher #61 – #65, a horrendous arc written by Gregg Hurwitz), and has some memorable panels and very good coloring by Lee Loughridge, so visually, at least, the story works well.

The second story, “Gateway”, is written by Gregg Hurwitz, with art entirely by Das Pastoras. Surprisingly — considering Hurwitz is responsible for the worst arc in this series — the story is very well balanced. It deals with a “middleman” who believes himself to be nothing but a tool, despite knowing perfectly well he’s helping known criminals comission hits. I especially like the one-way conversation between Frank and a friend, with Frank lying on a hospital bed. It gets the point across without being melodramatic.

Das Pastoras’ art has several highlights, but his art is far too colorful, almost appropriate for a children’s book. That, and some panels are plain mediocre (like the last one, which has a very badly drawn Punisher). Still, all in all, his art is pleasing to the eye.

The third story, “Ghoul”, is by Duane Swierczinsky, with art by Tomm Coker and colors by Dan Freedman. The idea is excellent — a man has gotten hold of the Castle family’s possessions on the day they were attacked during the picnic which Frank was the only survivor of. This same man is selling this stuff online for outrageous prices — until Castle finds out and decides to do something about it. But unlike the first story, “Dolls” — which is a good idea badly-executed — Swierczinsky develops the plot very well, his only moment of weakness being the scene the man says “Oh, God” and Castle replies with a cliche, “It’s not God”. Despite this brief flaw, the story is good and Tomm Coker’s heavily shadowed art, darkly-colored by Dan Freedman, is very suitable and aesthetically efficient.

The fourth story, “Father’s Day”, is by Peter Milligan with art by Goran Parlov and colors by Lee Loughridge. It’s basically the highlights of Garth Ennis’ run, with a caption reading a letter from Castle’s daughter, Lisa, to him. This could have worked very well if it wasn’t for the letter — which is not convincing as the work of a little girl. In some moments, she displays childish writing, in others she uses metaphors (her references to what’s “in the dark”). Also, Milligan tries too hard to touch the reader’s heart strings — something the last page, in my case, accomplished, but this is because of Goran Parlov’s art.

Goran Parlov is one of this series’ best artists, a genius regarding visual storytelling and facial expressions. In the last page of this story, he and Lee Loughridge simply own. Castle is riddled by bullets, badly-injured and near-death, but his face, instead of expressing despair or pain, shows simply disillusionment — like Castle is slowly realizing that a long, normal life with his family was, after all, simply too good to be true. That is a beautiful page, and while it’s mostly Parlov, Milligan deserves credit too, even though the rest of the story is weak (except, of course, for Parlov and Loughridge’s beautiful art).

And finally, there’s “Smallest Bit Of This”, by Charlie Huston, with art by Ken Lashley, inks by Rob Stull and colors by Edgar Delgado. Utter waste of time. Huston simply shows Castle fighting a guy after a long firefight, adding some pseudo-meaningful captions. Ken Lashley’s art is terrible (the only example of bad art in this issue), so there isn’t much Stull and Delgado can do. The only truly bad story in this issue.

Also — I know it’s a sneak peek, but I have to comment on the Punisher Max #1 preview — Steve Dillon’s art is beautiful as always, and it’s wonderful to see it colored by the excellent Matt Hollingsworth — not only because he’s a brilliant colorist, but because it brings me warm memories of “Preacher” (my all-time favorite comic and blah blah blah you know the drill by now).

What bothered me here is that writer Jason Aaron is apparently going for a Max version of the Kingpin. I’ll save my final thoughts for the complete story, obviously, but so far? Pathetic. I hate this shortcut: using established characters and changing them to adequate the mood of your story, instead of creating your own character. And the idea behind Aaron’s plot (the creation of a fake target for the Punisher) would have been good enough to work without the Kingpin. But hey… too early to judge.

“Punisher: Frank blah-blah-whatever #75″ has its ups and downs, but on average, it’s worth a read. The art is more consistent than the writing, but the writing itself, except for Huston, is not bad — at most, it’s flawed, and at best, it’s fine. The whole thing is very efficiently lettered by the competent Cory Petit — especially the caligraphy used in Lisa’s letter, on “Father’s Day”, which looks handmade but is still very readable.

(an extra note — each story’s individual credits should have included the colorist, and it’s ridiculous their work has been neglected despite being vital for the visual of the stories. In order to see who colored each one, you have to go back to the first page and check the credits — and meanwhile, the writer and the artist are credited in each story)

“The Walking Dead #66″ wraps up this arc quite well, despite one recurring problem in Kirkman’s writing — overusing splash pages. In this case, double page spreads, one of them used simply to show Rick giving an order. And in that same panel, Adlard decides to go Eduardo Risso on us and signs the panel, something I always found ruins the immersion.

Despite the exaggeration, though, the story is well-written. It wasn’t exactly clear what they do to the villain, though — apparently they torture him, which is inconsistent with Rick saying they did not like doing that. If they didn’t, they could have just shot him dead. The rest of the plot has several good moments, however — I especially like how Kirkman inverted expectations regarding the conversation between Dale and Rick. I really don’t have much else to say, though — “The Walking Dead” remains on the same writing standard of the last issues. As I’ve already stated, this series is lacking impact, and this issue has not changed my opinion. The way Kirkman uses double-page spreads twice just on this episode hints at the possibility of him being aware of this, but trying to solve it the wrong way — trying to force impact on something that isn’t that impactful.

Despite signing his artwork twice in this issue (I don’t like when Risso does it either), Charlie Adlard’s art is beautiful as always. He’s especially successful at shadowing, and even though the double page spreads are unnecessary, Adlard renders them amazingly well. Cliff Rathburn’s grey tones add visual depth to Adlard’s work, but I wonder how well his art would stand on pure black-and-white. However, letterer Rus Wooton has ups and downs — I like the font he uses, but I don’t like how he makes the balloons jagged to denote shouting, instead of increasing the font size — a much more efficient method.

“Gravel #14″ wraps up a “meh” story arc. This has been a formulaic plot, schematic and most of all, unremarkable. The previous issue left so little impression in me I thought, upon reading this one, that I had missed it.

This one, though, has some highlights, since it’s a climactic conclusion. I like how Gravel turns the entire city against his enemies, and Mike Wolfer and Warren Ellis’ dialogue is always interesting enough, but I’m afraid that’s it. I know it sounds like I’m too tired to write a proper review, but the truth is I found “The Walking Dead #66″ to be more of the same (which is not necessarily bad, considering it’s a good series) and “Gravel #14″ is simply the end of a frankly boring story arc. It’s just “alright”. All I’ve said about previous issues, from the writing, to the art, to the colors — is still valid, so I’m afraid repeating everything would be an exercise in pointlessness.

Comic Review – No Hero #06, The Punisher #72 and Prototype #04

(Trying out a looser, economic, less tight review style)

“No Hero” has been an infuriatingly inconsistent series. The first two issues seemed to be leading into a cliched “rookie-sees-that-his-idol-is-actually-an-immoral-cunt” story, and the other two issues fortunately started going on a new direction, even if they featured a protagonist who could talk perfectly well without any lips and didn’t seem to have a personality. In fact, a lot of the characters didn’t either.

And then, on issue #05, the plot just went bananas. Turns out Carrick Masterson IS an immoral cunt, which I wasn’t sure of since he oscillated so much between “sweet-talking, wry-smiling bastard” to “concerned, responsible leader”. And Josh Carver trying to save a falling plane was just a disastrous scene since it went completely against the realism the series has fought so hard for: what kind of even-barely-sane person tries to stop a plane by ramming HEADFIRST into it at full speed? What part of “planes have weak, fragile, vulnerable-to-inertia people in them” is hard to understand?

On that same scene, Digikore Studios fucked up the coloring by forgetting that Josh’s hands bleed while he tries to save the plane — another inconsistency in the writing (or Ryp’s artwork, I dunno whose idea it was), since pulling on a beam makes Josh’s hands bleed, but ramming them onto the front of a falling plane apparently causes no harm at all (except on the plane) — and when he’s back on the ground, his hands seem fine. Of course, they could regenerate quickly, but where did all the blood get to? And if they can regenerate quickly, why wasn’t that mentioned? In fact, why do we learn Josh can fly only when he’s about to go save the plane? Is it his first time flying? Don’t we get to see him training this skill first? And wasn’t he completely insane on issue four? What, he’s perfectly fine now?

Nitpicks like this haunt “No Hero” and, added up, become one big glaring flaw. And now, on the sixth issue, Warren Ellis goes for two of the most obvious twists he could have chosen and Juan Jose Ryp forgets how to draw faces. The latter can be painfully verified on the last panel of the first page. Which is a shame, since Ryp’s art was starting to become narratively better and more consistent, and here it suffers again from a lack of clarity and some poor facial anatomy. But otherwise, the level of detail is staggering, and some pages look simply amazing (and the colouring by Digikore Studios does not have any problems this time, being efficient).

The writing inconsistencies also plague this issue — Josh Carver says that the FX7 shows you who you think you should be. Wait a second — he knew this, Carrick didn’t? Carrick MADE the fucking drug. He watched several people being transformed by it. And yet Carver figured it out? The same guy who tried to stop a plane by ramming into it HEADFIRST?

And is Carver crazy or not? After spending two issues talking like a mongoloid (but intelligibly, despite having no goddamn lips) or not at all, on the fifth he seemed perfectly articulate all of a sudden. In fact, on this issue, he even grew lips — something he didn’t have on the last panel of the previous issue, so he basically grew lips while going back to Carrick’s mansion. And now, he’s part of a twist that I expected but hoped wouldn’t come because it was just the most obvious path to take. In fact, I’m surprised Carrick himself didn’t see it coming, something that is made even more hilarious by the page where he asks himself WHAT WENT WRONG.

Excuse me, are you retarded? What’s the new factor? When did things start going wrong? What did Mandy AND Marsh warn you against, one right after the other? Are you really a genius scientist?

To make things worse, it seems Carrick is not only just another immoral cunt, he’s a typical comic book villain who controls the world and wants to keep hold of it. To see him make a speech about how the world is his was just painful to read. Especially because a lot of the things he describes, like Bin Laden being dead or there having been an institution of black states, were not established on any of the previous issues and for that reason, feel like cheap shots at impressing the reader with a parallel world.

To make things EVEN worse, a recurring problem in Ellis’ writing — expositional dialogue — is back. The moment Josh explains why he thinks his penis fell off during the transformation, it becomes clear, judging by the way he says it and the way the other person is not exactly in a state to pay any attention, that Josh is explaining it to the reader, not to the person. And it’s just there for Ellis to shock most readers with “wound fucking”.

Speaking of fucking, we get to the last page, which…

…

… is so ridiculously over-the-top that I pretty much gave up expecting any further realism, or sense, from this comic. The plot might even MAKE sense, something that’ll be established on the next and final issue, but it’s poorly-structured and poorly-told. None of the characters have actual personalities, the dialogue is either expositional or exaggerated in its attempts to sound clever (“Well, I’ll take my silver linings wherever I can find them. Even if they look a little bit like duct tape gleaming from the wrists of a forcibly restrained patient”) and there’s far too many nitpicks and inconsistencies that add up to problematic story-telling. After issue five, “No Hero” could either blow my mind or shoot its own foot. It shot its own foot. With a rocket launcher.

On the other hand, “The Punisher” has been a nice surprise. After Garth Ennis left the series with sixty magnificent issues under his belt (not to mention the amazing specials), I really couldn’t think of anyone who could keep up that standard, so I hoped the next writer would understand that he shouldn’t try to top Ennis’ work, just do his own job as best as possible. I was prepared to accept someone else’s Punisher as long as it was, you know, The Punisher.

What I got, at first, were five horrendous issues. Not only Gregg Hurwitz tried to bring Jigsaw into the Max series (c’mon, everyone’s tired of that prick), he explored every cliche in the book regarding The Punisher and the final issue was just FUNNY, with Frank Castle actually managing to throw an object across the air and hit a switch with it that made a crane drop a container on a bunch of bad guys. Yes, he’s a natural born killer. No, he’s not Bullseye.

And that artwork by Laurence Campbell was just a fucking joke.

The next five issues, however, were surprising, since writer Duane Swierczinsky wasn’t afraid to try a different tone while doing the most important — staying true to the main character. “Six Hours To Kill” was an enjoyable (and darkly funny) arc with exceptional artwork by Michel Lacombe. I thought it would be a quick highlight on a series that would resume inevitable mediocrity.

Fortunately, writer Victor Gischler has proved me wrong so far. “Welcome To The Bayou” shows Frank Castle in new territory — dealing with redneck white trash. While this isn’t much of a plot, Gischler writes it with such charm and wit that it’s surprisingly interesting, and manages to add his own style. His Frank Castle has a sense of humour that, fortunately, never goes overboard and is never gratuitous, something writers like Matt Fraction got horribly wrong on “Punisher War Journal”.

And it’s great to see Goran Parlov back, aided by the ever-efficient colourist Lee Loughridge. I consider Parlov’s sketchy, but narratively perfect artwork to be superior to Sean Phillips’, which is saying a lot. In this comic, he continues not to disappoint, drawing clear action scenes and never making me stare in doubt at what I am seeing (something Juan Jose Ryp isn’t very good at, although, let’s be fair, I really DID NOT expect the last page of “No Hero #06″).

Gischler stays true to Castle’s careful methods and strategies, especially during a well-written brawl. This is not the Garth Ennis Punisher and I’m okay with that, as long as it continues to be this entertaining (and well drawn) and maintaining a level of coherence.

Finally, “Prototype #04″.

“You’ve all read the brief”, a soldier explains to his team in an elevator. And then, he proceeds to repeat the brief he just said everyone in that elevator ALREADY KNOWS. This is textbook expositional dialogue, and man can it turn me off. Witty dialogue during action scenes also annoy me — when your life is at risk, your priority is not thinking of clever things to say. And yet, we have a guy running from a monster in this comic who claims he’d love to be saved by “half-naked roman gladiators at this point”.

I have to confess I gradually lost interest in this book written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. But despite the dialogue, the action scenes are well-written, dynamic and especially, well-drawn by Darick Robertson and Matt Jacobs. Wes Hartman’s colours also deserve special mention in their good detail and lighting. It’s an eye-candy, entertaining book, but whatever interest I truly had in the plot has vanished. It lost momentum. Also, it doesn’t help to see a character who, as far as I know, is a phisically normal human dragging a DEAD LION with ONE HAND across SNOW.

Fun book, very pretty, above-average for a videogame-inspired comic. Some thought went into this, and some of the dialogue is interesting and well-researched — but it just overall lost momentum.

Comic Review – Batman And Robin #02, Gravel #12, Crossed #06 and The Boys #32

Batman And Robin #02

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Frank Quitely

Colours by Alex Sinclair

Lettering by Patrick Brosseau

Published by DC Comics

In a nutshell: this sequel to Morrison’s horrendous run on Batman is just as forgettable, with annoying characters and a tone that feels too much like “All-Star Superman” instead of a Dark Knight story.

I was prepared to give Morrison another chance to shine writing anything related to Batman, even though this story contains something I consider a flaw in the character: Robin. Batman as a loner is much more interesting and coherent than having a brightly-coloured kid as a partner.

And when Morrison’s Robin is the most annoying kid in the recent history of comics, you cannot make me like this fucking book.

The story is… well, after not acting according to plan while trying to stop an attack on a police station performed by tipically Morrison-esque characters (a guy with his head on fire, a hugely fat lady and… clones), Robin decides he won’t be Robin anymore. No, there’s nothing to distinguish this from all the million other similar plots in any narrative medium you care to name. And this isn’t even motivated by a good reason, just by Robin’s immense arrogance that keeps making me wish he gets in the way of a wrecking ball. And meanwhile Nightwing/The New Batman keeps moping about how he sucks as Batman and blah-blah-blah. Of all the ways this story could have been handled, this is the most predictable and generic.

Not to mention Morrison still can’t decide on the tone — this Batman feels more like Silver Age Batman, not the Batman that should exist today — the one seen on mature, complex pieces of work like Azzarello’s “Joker”. And Morrison’s eccentric dialogue and characters just contribute to make this book look as far as possible from the dark, gothic Gotham City I’ve come to love and that has always held great appeal for me. And yet another problem Morrison hasn’t bothered to fix: Batman and Robin continue to show super-human strength, like the moment where Robin is thrown against a wall and cracks it with ridiculous force, instead of the wall cracking his spine.

And the usually reliable Frank Quitely provides a sketchy, confusing artwork that is especially flawed in the unclear action scenes. None of the beautiful clean lines and great narrative seen on “All-Star Superman”, just muddled, lacklustre work. All of which is made even worse by Alex Sinclair’s coloring, which invests in a varied, bright palette that has nothing to do at all with Batman or Gotham City — but, well, when the writer himself is doing his best to get away from that as much as possible, can I blame the colourist for following his lead?

I guess not. This book’s problem really is Morrison, which just proves to me every month he’s the most overrated comic writer in the industry. And this book, on its second issue, is turning out to be even worse than the pathetic run that originated it.

Gravel #12

Story by Warren Ellis

Written by Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer

Art by Mike Wolfer

Colours by Juanmar

Lettering by Avatar Press

Published by Avatar Press

In a nutshell: even though it’s clearly following a formula since issue one, it’s still an entertaining and occasionally creative read.

The first seven issues consisted in William Gravel murdering the members of the Minor Seven, usually one per issue. And as the formula for a first, opening arc, that was more than acceptable, especially since it was written with wit, charm and Gravel’s typical anti-hero charisma. But now, on this second arc, Gravel is once again murdering someone per issue, in this case, members of the MAJOR Seven — while recruiting people for his own team of magicians, which is a welcome addition to a plot that is quickly wearing out.

With Avatar Press, Warren Ellis has done the exact opposite of what Garth Ennis has done — instead of using the publisher’s exceptional creative freedom to develop his ideas as much as possible, his stories for Avatar have been more like half-developed, if enjoyable, ideas. Only “Doktor Sleepless” shows more depth, since “Wolfskin”, “Blackgas” and “Black Summer” present some good concepts that are never explored to their full potential.

And William Gravel is a great character who hasn’t yet reached his climax. He’s smart, tough and a bastard, but still not fully-rounded as a character, possibly to keep him unpredictable — which also keeps him distant from the reader. He’s intriguing to follow, but his decisions rarely, if ever, impact on me.

Mike Wolfer, however, does his best to add whatever depth he can to the protagonist, and in this issue he succeeds via a conversation he has with one of the Major Seven, who outwits Gravel using only words and no violence. And while this conversation was planned by Warren Ellis, since he developed the story, the details are likely Wolfer’s, and his dialogue is interesting without trying to be too witty — a problem Ellis has and that constantly deprives his dialogue of character voice, although this has been much less present in his recent work.

As the artist, Wolfer delivers the same solid, consistent artwork I’ve come to expect from him, always narratively clear, elegant and with an immediately recognizable style. I especially like the one with the snakes. And Juanmar’s colours complete his work well, getting the color palette and the overall tone right.

What “Gravel” needs is a more complex, interesting story that goes beyond one guy per issue getting killed. This is a formula that has gotten old but that, for now, is still kept alive by Wolfer’s writing and some of Ellis’ concepts.

Crossed #06

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Jacen Burrows

Colours by Juanmar

Lettering by Avatar Press

Published by Avatar Press

In a nutshell: like the last issue, Ennis continues to add depth to his characters, now that the horrendous world that was left after the Crossed came has already been established emphatically. Another brilliant issue.

The previous episode was disarming, but to me probably less than most people, since I have been reading Garth Ennis for years and can already see there’s much more subtlety and depth to him as a writer than at first glance. Focusing on the way nature goes on despite humanity going down the shitter, the last issue was interesting and brilliant in showing how oblivious the world is to human suffering — and the spread with the wolves was beautiful and yet melancholic in symbolizing exactly that. Ennis also took the opportunity to start adding more depth to his characters, something he was doing to a smaller degree as he portrayed the world overrun by the Crossed — and now that we’re past half of this series’ duration (nine issues), Ennis replaces our morbid curiosity in watching the apocalypse with a genuine concern regarding the main characters — something I already felt, but it’s stronger now.

Elegantly telling the backstories of two characters while moving the plot forward, Ennis resumes the violence from previous issues for the narrative’s sake, as he tells what happened to Kittrick and Geoff. And while Kittrick’s story is simply traumatic, Geoff’s verges on comedy as he reveals something about himself that came unexpectedly. But mind you, it VERGES on comedy, something Ennis never allows unintentionally, and it comes as a good narrative surprise in reminding us the existence of the Crossed does not make all the other humans saints.

Jacen Burrows’ art is as beautiful as ever, with brilliant perspective, characterization and some lighting work that Burrows doesn’t usually use but doesn’t disappoint when it’s required. Juanmar’s colours are moody and appropriate, establishing the tone well, resulting in a comic that excels both narratively and visually.

And it promises a ferocious climax. Knowing Ennis, he’ll make us care about the characters as much as possible before showing us their merciless fates.

The Boys #32

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Carlos Ezquerra

Inks by Hector Ezquerra

Colours by Tony Avina

Lettering by Simon Bowland

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

In a nutshell: an intense, explosive issue that, unlike previous ones, is focused on action and shows “The Boys” in a moment of extreme vulnerability, starting to explore the careful build-up from the previous thirty-one episodes. Ezquerra, however, isn’t up to the task.

In a complete turn of events, the member of The Boys I least expected to get beaten half to death got beaten half to death. With The Female in a hospital, the rest of the team goes to see her and find out they’re not in a hospital — she was taken to a place that could be turned into a trap. And meanwhile, Starlight deals with her new “uniform”, which is small enough to be easily stuffed in your pocket.

But Starlight is just Ennis balancing the progression of the plot, since the obvious focus is The Boys falling into a trap. It’s ironic that Ennis dislikes superheroes so much and yet can write amazing action scenes with them — a shining example being the moment the windows explode due to a sonic boom, which builds up to the following page where the fight starts.

But the real focus of this issue is truly Billy Butcher, whose dangerous nature is portrayed as strongly as ever. While Hughie is becoming less and less capable of dealing with all the violence of the world he’s gotten into, Butcher is growing angrier at the people around him and, especially, at his targets. And it’s made clear that while he’s a super-human, his killing methods are still very much human, as exemplified by the use of a belt. The action scene that dominates most of this issue is brilliantly written and shocking due to being unexpected.

However, the efficient Carlos Ezquerra (inked by Hector Ezquerra) is not efficient enough for something like this. He’s a poor artist regarding action scenes, and while he does try hard here, he doesn’t come even close to the sense of impact and danger that Darick Robertson would be capable of conveying with his artwork. However, the scenes are clear and Ennis’ writing makes up for Ezquerra’s artistic shortcomings — except on the panel where we see Butcher using the belt, which needed much more power and less action lines. But the panel showing Butcher taking off the belt in order to use it deserves credit for its good use of shadows. If there’s one artist who should be replacing Robertson, that would be Steve Dillon. Avina’s colours, fortunately, haven’t lost any of their usual quality, doing their best to enrich the artist’s work, and Simon Bowland’s lettering is noticeably more intense than normal, as can be seen on the moment Starlight yells at two guys.

Tense and impactful, “The Boys #32″ is a brilliant way to start the second half of this exceptional ongoing. It’s a shame Robertson can’t keep up, since this episode would have hugely benefited from his artwork.

Comic Review – Crossed #04 and Unknown Soldier #06

 

(Jacen Burrows — there’s nothing he can’t draw. And well.)

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Jacen Burrows

Colours by Juanmar

Published by Avatar Press

In a nutshell – Merciless like the previous issues, its small bits of humor serve as a slight relief to the opressive, claustrophobic feel of the book — the feeling that, at any given moment, someone may die — and it can be anyone. And did I mention the visuals are pretty fucking great, too?

“Don’t be making more of ‘we’ than there is”. This line, said by Cindy to Stan, perfectly portrays what I love in Ennis’ work: a subtlety that completely makes up for the brutal events he writes. It’s this kind of line that makes me interested in the characters of this book: Cindy, who stripped herself free of any emotion in order to lead the group to survival and, most of all, protecting her son (an interesting paradox, to lose all emotion in order to save someone you love). Stan, who works closely with her, an all-around nice guy who seems passive, but snaps into action whenever it’s needed. Thomas, who takes care of Kelly — a girl who went blind when a nuke went off in her field of vision.

These aren’t faceless meatbags waiting to be killed in some creatively horrible way. These are people, wanting to survive in the hope they’ll find safety, something that passes for a life, maybe even witness the start of a new world, a world without the Crossed. And it’s heartbreaking to see how unlikely this new world is, and how they still cling so bad to their lives even though death seems more and more like a better alternative, every day. And it’s this kind of narrative depth that makes Ennis a truly amazing writer and explains, partially, why I enjoy his work so much.

It’s also what makes the violence in “Crossed” an important aspect of the story: to witness the brutality of this world is vital to understand how dangerous it is, how suddenly ANYONE in the group can die. Stan, Thomas, Cindy, Cindy’s son, anyone can just die at any given moment. It makes “Crossed” a constantly intense read, but it doesn’t stop Ennis from adding a bit of his typical humor here and there — like a crossed whose weapon of choice is unusually organic.

The crossed, by the way, continue to be fascinating — not only to the reader, but to the characters as well, who are noticing their evolution into beings that don’t just kill — they find new and worse ways to kill for their own amusement, which make them even more threatening. And this varies from crossed to crossed — some act on impulse, some actually think how to do things another (horrible) way. As Cindy puts it, “You’re looking for a rulebook that isn’t there”. And this adds yet another quality to “Crossed” — unpredictability. 

Jacen Burrows’ artwork is amazing as always — drawing backgrounds with excellent details and perspective, and expressive characters that display their emotions with subtlety (Stan’s face after Cindy says the line mentioned in the first paragraph is downright perfect). Like Ennis, he does not spare the reader, and his visual narrative is always clear. Juanmar’s colours are appropriately bleak and cold.

As you can probably tell, I’m loving “Crossed”. What a surprise, me loving something written by Ennis, with art by Jacen Burrows and published by Avatar Press. 

 

(good concept, bad execution continue to plague the covers of this excellent ongoing)

Unknown Soldier #06

Written by Joshua Dysart

Art by Alberto Ponticelli

Colors by Oscar Celestini

Lettering by Clem Robins

Published by DC\Vertigo

In a nutshell: a great conclusion to a brilliant first story arc that makes “Unknown Soldier” one of the most promising ongoings of late, despite the weak artwork.

Setting a story in the middle of a real, problematic place like Uganda can be incredibly dangerous: it can be seen as a cheap attempt to give the plot some relevance, as exploiting the suffering of real people for entertainment purposes — or it can be seen as a valid attempt to draw attention to a real issue and doing it through a well thought-out, brilliant story. Fortunately, Joshua Dysart has hit the jackpot with the latter and did so practically alone, since Alberto Ponticelli’s sketchy, laughably poor artwork and Oscar Celestini’s measly attempts at colouring do not aid the narrative, which stays upright all by itself — and, it has to be said, with the help of Clem Robins’ outstanding lettering, where the veteran proves once again how important this overlooked aspect of comic production can be.

The opening scene, the camp raid, proves both Dysart’s talent and Ponticelli’s lack of it. In the middle of all the chaos, wherein Lwanga Moses runs after the bastard Ilakut, Dysart pauses the scene briefly by adding a newspaper article describing with politeness and professionalism the brutal horror of what we’re seeing — and that’s precisely where Ponticelli and Celestini fail. In a far, overhead shot of the battle, you can clearly see how off the perspective is, and even some people that look like cardboard cut-outs, and Celestini’s colouring is as basic as it gets, without any ideas of its own.

Dysart proceeds to solve all the loose ends while setting up the new story arc. Lwanga Moses seems to have disappeared under his bandages, both phisically and emotionally, and we only see him instead of the Unknown Soldier for a very brief moment, when his wife talks to him.  And she continues to be portrayed as a faithful, but strong and determined woman who does what needs to be done. Jack Lee Howl is the funny kind of spook bastard who will clearly show up again in the future, and the reporter is introduced as a pacifist counterpoint to Moses’ destructive plans. The dialogue is good as usual, and even when Howl says something that is clearly an attempt by Dysart to bring another African fact to the attention of the reader, it is done with Howl’s usual charm. “It’s something I take pride in” is one of his best lines in this episode.

But… yeah. Ponticelli and Celestini. It’s like Ponticelli sketches the entire issue and before he can add details, the pages are yanked from his hands by Celestini, who colours the basic tones of the entire issue and before he can add details, the editor yanks the pages from him and gives them to Clem Robins for lettering. Robins, as usual, manages to convey feelings and intensity with his work, and his balloon placement is impeccable — although Ponticelli’s art is so poor you could place the captions right over the character’s faces for all the difference it’d make.

I look forward to the next story arc, and hope for a new visual team.

Catching Up With The Last Weeks – Apologies, Reviews and Rantings

Sorry.

See, I’m on new meds. And the scary thing is that they’re actually working. Although I’m still feeling exhausted for no reason, it no longer impacts my productivity — so in the last few weeks, I’ve been overwhelmed by an urge to create. If you’ve seen my Flickr account lately, or if you follow me on Twitter, or if you’ve been to the Whitechapel Forum, you’ll see what I mean.

So I kinda forgot the blog. No worries. I’ll make up for the lack of reviews with capsule reviews of the comics I missed, and, on a new post, actual reviews of this week’s comics. More movie reviews, flash fics and Pitch Black strips to come soon.

(I had actually written most of the comic reviews two weeks ago, but I was hit by a wall of tired and collapsed halfway through it. Upon returning, I tried to continue it but you know when it feels like you’re trying to bring a long-dead body back to life? Yeah. So. Capsule reviews.)

THE BOYS #28 – It brings the usual goods (great writing and dialogue, good characters), plus it’s a especially intense issue with an interesting cliffhanger. John Higgins’ art is not as good as in his first guest appearance, but it’s still competent — and Tony Avina and Simon Bowland (colorist and letterer), as usual, don’t disappoint.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER #5 – Same excellent writing, same shitty art, same shittier colours, same brilliant lettering. Despite being visually poor, the script makes up for it, resulting in a great book.

BACK TO BROOKLYN #4 – The brief drop-off in quality I mentioned on the last issue – and which I assumed to be mostly Jimmy Palmiotti’s fault – is absent here, and the book is back on track — this time, credit goes to all involved. Both the general story, the subtleties of it and the artwork are stellar.

NO HERO #4 – A book that seemed to be going nowhere new suddenly is. A story that seemed to lack depth suddenly has a lot of it. An artist who seemed to worried about the visuals and forgetting the narrative suddenly does amazing work in both fronts. A reviewer is suddenly very happy.

THE WALKING DEAD #59 – Tense, foreboding, well-paced, with good dialogue and great artwork. This ongoing seems to be done tripping on its own feet.

WOLVERINE #71 – The artwork is fucking amazing. The script continues to provide good use for it, with an interesting story.

(Encapsulated) Comic Review – Punisher War Zone #06, Crossed #03, Unknown Soldier #4 and Final Crisis #07

Not feeling too well, so this week’s reviews will be dramatically trimmed down to one paragraph each. Sorry.

Punisher War Zone #06: extremely entertaining and quite funny, it also has Steve Dillon’s stellar art – in this issue, him and Ennis absolutely rock out with amazing action scenes and splash pages — greatly-coloured by Matt Hollingsworth and lettered by Cory Petit. Brilliant mini-series.

Crossed #03: This one focuses more on the characters and the loss of morality in an apocalyptic world. Ennis and Burrows take a step back from the carnage to offer a depressing look at a new world order, one even children aren’t safe from. Burrows’ art is beautiful, although Juanmar’s colours are way too bright – contradicting the appropriate cold tones of the previous issues. Excellent episode.

Unknown Soldier #04: it continues on its way to becoming a new Vertigo masterpiece. Carefully scripted with balanced amounts of intrigue, shock and character development, it suffers only from Alberto Ponticelli’s subpar art (although he improved from previous issues) and Oscar Celestini’s simplistic colouring. Clem Robins’ lettering, however, stands out thanks to its incredible intensity and his exotic designs, along with perfect balloon placement.

Final Crisis #07: Basically convinces me this is all a ridiculous joke. Pathetic, expositional dialogue, unclear plot (plot?), plot devices (again, plot?), despite the excellent visuals.

Comic Review – Kick-Ass #5, Wolverine #70, Incognito #1, Punisher: Warzone #4, Back To Brooklyn #3, The Boys #26, The Walking Dead #57 and No Hero #3

That’s what I get for skipping a week of reviews. Anyway, off we go…

Kick-Ass #5

Written by Mark Millar

Art by John Romita Jr.

Inks by Tom Palmer

Colors by Dean White

Lettering by Chris Eliopoulos

Published by Marvel\Icon

In a nutshell: Free of any boundaries whatsoever, Mark Millar continues to entertain immenselly with this not very original but fucking funny book.

“Superheroes in the real world” is to comics what “World War II” is to games. It quickly became one of the most explored trends in the medium and now, it’s starting to be despised for having been around for so long. But some titles still manage to milk out good reading from this concept – “Kick-Ass” is an unpretensious ride: a teenager who’s sick of his own life decides to take inspiration from comics and become a superhero – who, after beating up a gang of thugs (apparently the boy has a natural talent for brawling), is called KICK-ASS.

As he usually does, Millar sets the world of this book in our reality – very much like “The Ultimates” did, with Air Force One being taken down and President Bush still in it (drawn with enormous likeness by Bryan Hitch, right down to his eternally stupid expression). In “Kick-Ass”, Millar uses YouTube, MySpace and even the famous comics forum Newsarama as ways of making the reader feel as if the main character is real and could be next door. Of course, this destroys this book’s immortality – in twenty years’ time, few will remember what MySpace, YouTube or Newsarama were – but when the protagonist thinks, “Before this guy came along, I was Heroes Season One. Now, as far as the net was concerned, I’m Season fucking Two”, it’s hard not to laugh. It’s a great reference, even if one that won’t survive for long.

(I haven’t watched Season Two of Heroes, but it amazes me it was actually considered worse than Season One, which was already a bag of shit)

In fact, all the references Millar uses work – especially the moment where Kick-Ass complains about New York being so safe since Giuliani (“Why couldn’t I have been around during the shit-heap era?”, he whines). Annoyed by a rival superhero who started getting all his attention, Kick-Ass calls out on this guy and they do a team-up. This is how Millar reveals how the protagonist is, instead of a righteous crusader, more of an attention-whore – and this is an aspect “Kick-Ass” shares with Garth Ennis’ excellent “The Boys”: portraying superheroes not as good-to-the-soul knights, but more as celebrities – often stupid ones. But Millar also shows how a part of Kick-Ass takes what he does seriously, as the third-act of this issue proves. Fortunately not giving two shits about censorship, Millar doesn’t hesitate even in adding a foul-mouthed child superheroine who kills people as casually as one blinks. With two samurai swords, too.

John Romita Jr. is doing some of his best work in years – thankfully, since his art in “World War Hulk” was so terrible it seemed to have been pencilled with his arsehole. Thankfully no longer working with Klaus Janson – whom I consider one of the worst inkers in the industry and a ridiculously overrated one (“But — he worked with Frank Miller!!!”) – Romita Jr. joins the efficient Tom Palmer and is clearly at ease with this book. His visual narrative – Romita Jr.’s greatest strength – is as good as ever, and his cartoony style suits the story well. Clearly understanding the satiric tone of the plot, he doesn’t try to draw Kick-Ass as a bad-ass hero – instead, he always looks spectacularly ridiculous in those tights.

Funny and entertaining, “Kick-Ass” is good while it lasts. Half the jokes won’t make much sense in the future, but for now, it’s a good book.

Wolverine #70

Written by Mark Millar

Art by Steve McNiven

Inks by Dexter Vines and Mark Morales

Colors by Morry Hollowell and Justin Ponsor

Lettering by VC’s Cory Petit

Published by Marvel

In a nutshell: Millar reveals what made Logan sheath his claws forever, and the revelation doesn’t disappoint – mainly thanks to Steve McNiven’s phenomenal artwork.

This is McNiven’s show – Millar knows that and therefore allows for several splash pages. This issue relies more on image than words, and this is when having a brilliant artist counts.

Logan tells Clint what made him promise himself never to “hurt another living soul” – and fortunately, it’s not underwhelming. It makes sense and it more than justifies Logan’s decision. But while the script is good, I won’t waste my time talking about it – because it’s McNiven who owns this episode. His art is detailed without ever becoming a mess (yes, that means you, Geoff Darrow) and his lines are as clean as Steve Dillon’s. It’s amazing, but McNiven IS the complete package. His visual narrative is flawless, his facial expressions are excellent, his angles are well-composed and difficult to draw (not to him, though). And in this issue, he rocks out, extracting as much emotion as possible from every panel. Dexter Vines and Mark Morales’ inks, along with the color art by Morry Hollowell and Justin Ponsor, complete his artwork with sheer perfection.

After the revelation, the issue sets up a new challenge for Logan and Clint to face – a friend of mine described it as “LAME”, but I don’t mind it. It’s not terribly clever, mind you, but I don’t think it lowers the quality standard of this very enjoyable arc.

Incognito #1

Written by Ed Brubaker

Art by Sean Phillips

Colors by Val Staples

Published by Marvel\Icon

In a Nutshell: Another damn super (anti) Hero. Brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

Common Sense: Hey, Ed! You just wrote one of the best books of late, “Criminal”. What’s your next step?

Ed Brubaker: I’m thinking… mmm… maybe a supervillain-who’s-not-really-a-villain kinda book.

CS: …

EB: What?

CS: … really? I mean, you just wrote a noir in comic format – something, y’know, original for the medium – and you’re gonna write superheroes?

EB: Well, not a superhero. A, well, a superhuman with a tendency to evil but not really.

CS: Well, have you got at least something original to say in that book?

EB: Nah. Protagonist is apparently a super-strong freak who was in the Witness Protection Program, but gets tired of his boring life and decides to go back to doing what he used to do – which is… hopping around buildings and saving dames from being raped, I guess. Oh, and there’s a mad scientist kinda guy after him. And he had a twin. Who’s dead, although he’ll probably turn out not to be at some point on the book. The protagonist, not the mad scientist.

CS: …

EB: I think it’s cool.

CS: What’s the book’s name?

EB: I think I’ll call it “Incognito”.

CS: What does that mean?

EB: It’s like the X in an equation. The protagonist likes being no-one, disappearing below his disguise – which, strangely, is a mask no bigger than sunglasses, but still.

CS: That sounds…

EB: Great, right? I’ll call Sean right away. *calls*

SEAN PHILLIPS: Yeah?

EB: Hey, Sean, have you got time to draw another comic for me?

SP: Jesus, Eddie, I’m not the only artist in the fucking industry, you know.

EB: C’mon, we’re like Ennis and Dillon, Sean.

SP: Dillon gets to draw cool stuff, like heads being blown away by shotguns.

EB: I have even cooler things for you to draw.

SP: What’s that?

EB: *Explains*

SP: Another superhero book?

Common Sense: See?

ED: Shut up.

SP: What?

ED: Not you, sorry. C’mon, Sean. You’ll get to draw a woman having sex with a guy in a Santa costume.

SP: *Sigh* Okay. Tell Joe to send an extra check to my mail.

ED: Will do. *hangs up*

CS: Why does nobody listen to me?

ED: Hey, at least I’m not like Grant Morrison. He rapes you every time you show up at his doorstep.

Punisher: Warzone #4

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Steve Dillon

Colors by Matt Hollingsworth

Lettering by VC’s Cory Petit

Published by Marvel Knights

In a nutshell: Ennis +  Dillon + Hollingsworth + Punisher + Dark Humor = Buy This Fucking Book.

With Schitti’s ear having been accidentally injected with some kind of drug, Castle drags him along as he tries to find Ma Gnucci (or at least one of them). Meanwhile, Molly Von Richthofen finds herself trapped in a bad situation.

As you can see, Ennis continues to take care of the supporting characters as well as the main one. Focused on his unpretensious, dark-humored style (among the many he has), the Irish writer comfortably moves the plot forward with excellent dialogue (“Who’s gonna really need the refrigerator here?”) and good characters. He even finds some gaps between the moments of pitch-black comedy to add some low-key drama – like in the scene a character loses his temper and says Castle’s kids are in Hell – to his face.

Steve Dillon’s art – no, no need to say anything more about the script, since I would merely be repeating my points from the previous review – Steve Dillon’s art is… actually, no need to say anything about the art either, since it’s still… Dillon, therefore exceptional. Especially with Matt Hollingsworth coloring it.

Really, nothing else to add. Continues to be a fucking great book.

Back to Brooklyn #3

Written by Garth Ennis, with story by Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti

Art by Mihailo Vukelic

Additional Coloring by Bryan Free

Lettering by Simon Bowland

Published by Image Comics

In a nutshell: cliched and Mihailo Vukelic’s art has dropped in quality like a fucking cliff, but guess what: Garth Ennis makes it work.

Jimmy Palmiotti isn’t a good writer. All I’ve read by him was cliche, or silly or downright mediocre. And now that “Back to Brooklyn #3″ – a story mainly conceived by him – reaches its third issue, the flaws on the plot start to make themselves clear – the cliches start to creep up. No, Jimmy Palmiotti isn’t a good writer.

But Garth Ennis is a brilliant one. So he makes it work, as he always does. He steamrolls over the cliches with his sharp dialogue and good characterization, which make “BtB” an above-average story, even if not one of Ennis’ best by far.

This might sound weird, considering I was singing my praises for the second issue of this very book not long ago. Well, I might worship Ennis but I’m not blind – what seemed like forgivable, not-worth-mentioning problems in the previous issues have evolved into considerable ones. Churchill – the psychopath who’s after the protagonists – is completely devoid of any originality. Ennis tries, but can’t seem to make him interesting – the writer has created far better psychopaths in the past, so Churchill is no more than a faint shadow of them. There’s the old-friend-who-offers-refuge-to-the-protagonists-and-ends-up-killed-by-the-villains, the worst cliche of this book. And there’s the three main characters – while Bob Saetta is a good one, Vinnie is The Sidekick and Maggie is The Ex-Girlfriend – potential stereotypes.

I say “potential” because Ennis manages to avoid these faults in Palmiotti’s work and milk out a tense story out of this. Yes, Churchill’s monologue in the beggining of the book fails to be truly threatening, but the argument between the Comissioner and the Fed is depressingly hilarious and Maggie and Vinnie’s reactions to Bob Saetta’s violent world are plausible and sensitive. It’s interesting to notice how Maggie doesn’t want anything to do with Bob’s problems until he mentions there’s a kid involved – it’s also worthy of note how Vinnie, not Maggie, weeps when they watch a terrifying video – a lesser writer would make MAGGIE cry, because she’s a woman – but Ennis always wrote characters, not stereotypes, so they react like their personalities would make them.

Mihailo Vukelic’s art… I have no idea what happened. It went from excellent to decent in a single issue. His backgrounds are badly-detailed and blurred, as is the overall artwork. Even with additional help from Bryan Free, and even with the good visual narrative, the art is not a reason to buy this issue.

Ennis is. As always. But it’s sad to see that not even him could save this issue from some bad flaws. Let’s hope the next two live up to the potential of the first two.

The Boys #26

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Dar… er, John Higgins

Colors by Tony Avina

Lettering by Simon Bowland

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

In a Nutshell: interesting, funny and with a strong, dark ending – also, John Higgins manages to keep up with Darick Robertson’s usual art, not disappointing in the slightest bit.

Hughie takes a break from spying on G-Wiz (a task that is finished, but that he wants to draw out a little longer out of curiosity) to see Annie, Mother’s Milk continues his investigations and Butcher finds out what seems to be a horrible secret. A lot of stuff happens in this episode, presented with Ennis’ usual mix of dark humor, subtle romance and good foreshadowing. Hughie and Annie’s relationship is believable and never resorts to cheap romantism to touch the reader – Ennis portrays them both without pulling any punches, showing them both naked in the woods (something reminiscent of Jesse and Tulip on their bed, in Ennis’ magnificent magnum opus “Preacher”) and talking to each other naturally. Meanwhile, Butcher has some fun with a cat (oh, how I laughed when he says the “magic words” to his dog Terror…) before doing something quite unexpected that sheds some light on his true personality: Butcher is far from being as mentally balanced as he seems.

While some would say the G-Men are a cheap satire of the X-Men – which they are – Ennis expands his horizons further, adding several groups that form the G-Men, like G-Wiz, G-Style and etc., which don’t keep good terms with one another (“Throw them a basketball?”). Still, Ennis can’t resist taking the piss, like when this book’s version of Iceman kind of exaggerates on his power when tryng to freeze a can of beer.

John Higgins replaces Darick Robertson on this issue, and he doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. Nailing all the characters, Higgins has excellent narrative and lines, and Avina’s colors are, as usual, impeccable. I especially like the last page.

“The Boys #26″ is… well, guess what. I’ll happily keep reading.

Written by Robert Kirkman

Art by Charlie Adlard

Grey tones by Cliff Rathburn

Lettering by Rus Wooton

Published by Image Comics

In a Nutshell: Yep. “Walking Dead” is back on track.

It fills me with joy to see that, finally, Kirkman has written two excellent issues in a row. In this one, the group’s making their trip to Washington – until they get to an interstate, when they decide to stop and see what to do. Rick and Carl team up with Abraham to go look for supplies and run into serious trouble – and Rick’s reaction is one of the best scenes since the moment Rick found out who it was on the phone, about six issues ago.

In a fairly lengthy issue with great dialogue, Kirkman is in no hurry and builds the relationship between Rick and Abraham with plausibility. They might dislike each other, but they’re both adults and therefore act like it, cooperating with one another even if cursing under their breath. And the way they bond when they get into trouble comes naturally and leads up to a very good final page.

The credit also goes to Charlie Adlard, who draws the shit out of aforementioned scene – including a very threatening, barely recognizable Rick. Both writer and artist are on top of their games here, and “The Walking Dead” seems to have returned to its usual brilliance.

I hope it stays there.

(Larger image I could find on short notice – quit complaining, you can see it, can’t you?)

No Hero #3

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Juan Jose Ryp

Colors by Digikore Studios

Published by Avatar Press

In a Nutshell: “No Hero #3″ takes a turn for the best and surprises me with a good change of pace – it’s now oficially interesting and worth a read.

At first I wasn’t liking “No Hero” – now, it’s turning out to be way less predictable than I thought, with the sudden death of a character and a questions some of them ask about the protagonist, who at first was very much against drugs but didn’t even flinch in taking FX7 (the drug that turns people into superhumans).

Creating a good feeling of tension, Warren Ellis seems to be returning to his usual self – the dialogue is great, no longer the same for every character, and the narrative is intriguing and flows well, starting with a very mysterious interview. The protagonist, Joshua, is left aside and the supporting characters dominate the narrative, revealing other facets of their personalities that make them more interesting and tridimensional – especially Carrick Masterson, whose desperation in a certain scene of this episode comes as a surprise.

Juan Jose Ryp is also sharp, and while his facial expressions still need some work, his narrative and detailed artwork are pure eye-candy. He refrains himself from overdoing it, and keeps a steady balance from beggining to end, aided by good coloring by Digikore Studios.

Yes, “No Hero” is very interesting all of a sudden – and being a fan of Warren Ellis, it makes me happy to say this.

James Cameron Is Back

James Cameron saying something to Sam Worthington in the sets of “Avatar”, his new sci-fi scheduled for December 2009.

Twelve years after “Titanic”. Goddamn, James, you took your time. Welcome back.

Comic Review – Crossed #02, The Boys #25 and Batman #682

Crossed #02

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Jacen Burrows

Colors by Juanmar

Published by Avatar Press

In a nutshell: realistic, ruthless and brave, it pushes the boundaries of the genre with its fully intelligent but utterly psychotic “zombies” while never forgetting the human factor and the little subtle narrative nuances.

One of the many reasons I consider Avatar the best comics publisher in the industry today is that they give full creative freedom to the writers. It’s wonderful to see talented people like Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis being given room to fully develop their concepts however the fuck they want to, and it’s stuff like this that makes a book like “Crossed” possible. After all, it’s about creatures that go far beyond the mere label of zombie. They THINK, they SCHEME, they do everything in their power to kill people in the most horrible, evil way possible – they even turn on themselves from time to time, as this issue implies, simply to satisfy their overwhelming need to hurt. They’re fascinating and much more threatening than the typical zombie – which makes the small group of humans followed by this issue more vulnerable to our eyes.

Always a master in developing his characters (especially through dialogue), Ennis writes scenes that are powerful in their simplicity, being capable of conveying feelings in a single panel, like the moment Stan offers Cindy’s son a piggyback ride, or when Stan and his friend desperately try to make “fuck you” sound as shocking and rude as it did before the crossed appeared. And it’s touching to see Stan smile, almost amused, when he sees the crossed doing something that brings a fun memory back to his mind – even if it’s the crossed doing it.

Cindy is captivating due to the wall she builds around herself – and the characters acknowledge this (“Minimal use of personal pronouns”, one of them says). But that is counterbalanced by her son, who she tries to protect in every way possible – to the point of prohibiting people to curse in front of him, even as the world around him goes to hell. The characters are compelling and human, which just makes it sadder when the crossed manage to get to them somehow.

At the same time, Ennis never holds back when it comes to portraying the world around them – be it via flashbacks or present events. There’s a particularly striking moment involving a car parking lot, that is almost morbidly poetic. There’s quite a lot of blood and guts, which not only is more than appropriate for a story like this – they’re well-balanced with the narrative in order to paint a truly depressing, suffocating picture of post-apocalypse. And intriguing, too: after all, what ARE the crossed?

Jacen Burrows’ art- suitably colored by Juanmar with dark, melancholic tones – is superb as usual. I’d go as far as to rival his visual narrative with Steve Dillon’s, and that’s the greatest compliment I can offer an illustrator in that aspect. In the other aspects, he also does exceedingly well. His facial expressions are spot-on (the crossed always look raving mad) and the violence is realistic even when completely explicit – a good example would be a headshot that, instead of blowing the whole back of the head out, blows a simple hole – and it isn’t less shocking because of that. Burrows is especially talented with backgrounds and perspective – never failing to place the characters in a proper environment.

“Crossed #02″ is another excellent issue of the series. I always wanted to read a zombie story by Garth Ennis, and I’m glad he’s not limiting himself to the conventions of the genre.

The Boys #25

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Darick Robertson

Colors by Tony Avina

Lettering by Simon Bowland

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

In a nutshell: funny, entertaining and relatively rich, it keeps the high standard of the series.

A word people don’t use to describe Garth Ennis is “subtle”. Except for me, of course. Just pay attention to the conversation this issue starts with. Notice how the man from Vought-American and the other character thank the waiter all the time. These are men who are clearly complete bastards – and yet, they thank a waiter for every drink he brings them. What immediately sprang to my mind was “bullshitters”. No need for an entire scene to prove this point – just a line of dialogue.

After that intriguing conversation (which serves as foreshadowing), we are better introduced to Goldolkin’s G-Men – and Garth Ennis went wild with his satire. I absolutely love his version of Wolverine (“GONNA!”) and Professor Henry McCoy (known here as “Critter”). But these spoofs take a backseat to the story, fortunately, and it’s nice to see Hughie in action, planting the bugs like the professional he’s quickly becoming. Always compelling, he also shares the reactions of the reader – like his bewilderment at seeing his “mates” entertaining themselves in front of a home theather. I also like how the Female got a panel of her own, hanging upside-down, which made me wonder – why was the “camera” focused on her? More foreshadowing, possibly. I love that. Also, notice how Frenchie can give Butcher a sitrep simply by glancing at The Female’s reactions, and you’ll see how smoothly they work together.

We also get more insight on Mother’s Milk and his new friend, Roger. Especially, on how Mother’s Milk got involved with the Boys in the first place (“His war turned into my war.”). And, of course, Monkey makes a fantastic appearance that builds up to an absolutely perfect final page.

Darick Robertson’s art is brilliantly sharp. Putting special effort on facial expressions (Butcher’s face in the last page is magnificent), Robertson emphasizes the humor and the nuances, always using little hints and touches to further develop the characters (notice Hughie’s eyebrows, constantly arched in surprised, as opposed to the rest of the Boys, who are way more experienced). Tony Avina’s coloring once again fails to disappoint, and Simon Bowland’s lettering is efficient – maybe because there’s no Legend in this issue (that font size thing does bother me).

An excellent week for a Garth Ennis fan like myself.

Batman #682

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Lee Garbett

Inked by Trevor Scott

Colors by Guy Major

Lettering by Jared K. Fletcher

Published by DC Comics

In a nutshell: a surprisingly good – yes, I said GOOD – issue. Sadly, it comes after a world of shit consisting of pretty much all the previous ones.

Considering the things I say against Grant Morrison in this blog, you’d think he raped my childhood hamster or something. But no, my opinion toward Morrison is sincere  – as a writer, he is incredibly overrated. But ocasionally, I see a true hint of brilliance – like in the good “WE3″, or the haunting “Arkham Asylum” (which, sadly, suffered from a poor ending – with the glorious exception of Joker’s final line. Something like: “There will always be a place for you here.”). And I’m more than happy to acknowledge when I think a writer does a good job – I take no pleasure in hating a person’s work.

In this issue, we follow Batman in a dreamlike, disjointed plot spanning his career as the dark knight. While this could be a complete mess, Morrison manages to keep it fluid and interesting – and there’s a particular line of dialogue that’s simply brilliant, when Alfred wonders what would have happened if nothing had flown through the window in the night Bruce Wayne decided to become Batman (let’s just say it involves a curtain). It’s comfortably nostalgic to read this issue, and the revelation in the ending – while a bit predictable – points toward an interesting new direction that will – hopefully – redeem a bit of Morrison’s horrible run on the character. There’s some typical Morrison bullshit here and there – like the ridiculously pretentious dialogue the villains insist in uttering as though they’re reciting Shakespeare – but this time, the writer strikes the right tone.

There’s also a small moment that’s almost poetic – when we see Thomas Wayne telling Bruce that a “grinning mental patient” poisoned the water reservoir because there was no-one to stop him. This illustrates one of the most interesting ironies in Batman’s history: that Batman doesn’t know that, if he had never existed, neither would the Joker. As Alan Moore brilliantly showed us in “The Killing Joke”, Batman was vital to create his own nemesis. And to this day, Batman doesn’t know that – an ignorance that this scene cleverly portrays.

The art is narratively effective, even if it’s miles below Tony Daniel’s work. I would have liked to see Daniel illustrating an actual good script by Morrison, but unfortunately that’s not the case, so here’s hoping the next script will keep up the quality of this one – which is not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely above-average. Still, the art has some good moments (like the double splash-page that starts this issue) and Guy Major’s coloring is typically excellent.

I’m glad to read a good piece of work by Morrison – as crazy as that might sound coming from me.

Comic Review – The Boys #24, No Hero #2, Aetheric Mechanics, Streets of Glory #6 and Joker

The Boys #24

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Darick Robertson

Colors by Tony Avina

Lettering by Simon Bowland

In a nutshell: a quieter, but quite funny issue that moves the plot forward with its usual mixture of foreshadowing and “taking the piss out of superheroes”.

In this episode, Hughie – watched by the Frenchman and the Female – is already inside the superhero team G-Wiz, using the codename “Bagpipe” (“You heard that kid trynna do an American accent?”, the Legend justifies). There, he finds out, unsurprisingly, that they are no more than superpowered fratboys who like fart jokes and porn. Meanwhile, Mother’s Milk investigates the mysterious death of Silver Kincaid and Butcher has a meeting with The Legend.

While that sounds like a lot, it isn’t really. This is a typical habit of Ennis: a set-up issue, that puts all the pieces in place. But I’m never bothered by this because Ennis always does this job with his excellent sharp dialogue and great characterization. Not to mention this issue is drenched in foreshadowing in every subplot (I was intrigued by Butcher’s avoidance of alcohol by apparently dangerous reasons, and the conversation between Frenchie and The Female). We’re also getting to see Mother’s Milk in action as a detective.

Darick Robertson’s art isn’t as sharp as in the previous issue, but it’s still great. The visual narrative is impeccable as usual, and the last page is hilarious. I like how out of place he makes Hughie look in the middle of G-Wiz, the hugeness of Mother’s Milk silhouette and the Female’s eyes. Tony Avina’s colors are efficient and clever, portraying the G-Wiz’s house in brown tones, as if it’s the dirtiest place on Earth. Simon Bowland’s lettering, though, has some noticeable problems. One of them is how big The Legend’s font is: instead of making it look like he speaks loudly, it seems as if Butcher’s whispering. Also, there’s a badly-positioned balloon during the sequence when G-Wiz is driving to the meeting with the G-Men.

Being honest: good issue. No more than that. Sets the pieces in place, does it funnily and ends. But, being Ennis, it’s still way above most of the comics I read.

No Hero #2

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Juan Jose Ryp

Colors by Digikore Studios

In a nutshell: so far, predictable and unoriginal. Brings nothing new to the table, but Juan Jose Ryp’s art looks good.

In the first issue’s review, I said this: It looks like this book wants to be not about heroes or villains, but the grey area in between them. But the things seen in this first issue make the following ones very predictable. I’ll make some guesses, see if they come true: Carrick Masterson will turn out to be a man capable of anything, who’ll introduce Joshua Carver to the Frontline and then disappoint Carver with his lack of morals. Carver himself will be the naive idealist guy who learns a lesson in how the world really is. The green-haired girl will either be his love interest or Masterson’s right hand.

Well, grow me a beard and call me Nostradamus, things are STILL going that way. Carrick Masterson looks constantly like he’s hiding a big fucking something, the green-haired girl connects to Joshua and Joshua himself tries constantly to impress Masterson and is eager to become a superhero. In fact, he’s such a moron it’s hard to like him. It’s funny how he seems to be surprised when the superhero transformation turns out to be gruesome and painful, considering they put him a padded cell in order for him to go through it.

But Ellis is an experient writer and is probably aware of all this, so could be he’s planning to take all those cliches and invert them to surprise the reader. Regardless, the story’s fun and readable, but I don’t feel connected with any of the characters.

Ellis also abandons any narrative subtlety, throwing in flashbacks and expositional captions whenever he wants. There’s a moment we see Carrick Masterson in an interview, right in the middle of a conversation between Joshua and the green-haired girl (I really don’t remember her name, too lazy to check), and another where Ellis throws in two panels to explain the FX7 pill. Those things yank you right out of the narrative, making it flat and bland.

Juan Jose Ryp’s art, on the upside, shows a great improvement. Normally, I don’t like his overcrowded panels and facial expressions, but here his visual narrative is surprisingly better and his lines are pretty and detailed just enough. Digikore Studios also improves on the coloring, completing Ryp’s art well. Unfortunately, neither of them can make up for the weak, predictable script. A weak predictable script by WARREN ELLIS. What in the name of fuck is going on?

Aetheric Mechanics

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Gianluca Pagliarani

Inks by Chris Dreier

In a nutshell: Possibly the first book by Warren Ellis that I simply hate. Utter horseshit.

Warren Ellis’s Crecy, also published by Apparat, was a brilliant book; a history lesson taught in an extremely fun way. I’ve read it over and over again and had fun every time. So it’s a surprise that his next book published by Apparat is utter horseshit. I think this is the first time I hate so much a book by Warren Ellis.

The story is absurd. Which isn’t bad as long as its absurdity is explained right. It isn’t. So it’s just absurd in a negative way. It follows the investigation of a case by detective Sax Raker and his doctor assistant Watcham. Yes, it’s EXACTLY what you’re thinking. This happens in a London overrun by flying vehicles and electric cars, in 1907.

So, Sherlock Holmes in a steampunkish London? I can dig that. Only the book lacks any charm or cleverness, relying solely on the power of the character it references and on an ending that fails to surprise in any way (except for its mediocrity, something I never expect from Ellis). There is some humor, one or two good jokes (“God’s fucking balls, Raker, who killed the man?”), but they hardly make up for the flat story. And Ellis’ attempts at showing us how smart Sax Raker is supposed to be are sadly exaggerated. The first time he shows up on this book, he makes a series of guesses on Watcham, observing his movements and clothes to draw conclusions just like Sherlock did. Only he draws all those conclusions before even glancing at Watcham – so, unless everyone in this alternate reality has eyes located on the back of their heads, that’s just trying too hard.

It’s difficult to relate to the characters as well – Raker comes off as an arrogant piece of shit, not the charming, eccentric Holmes created by Conan Doyle. Watcham comes off as a moron for putting up with Raker’s shit. And so on, and so forth, creating an universe you could care less about – which obviously hurts the story. In fact, the flying vehicles and other steampunkish stuff never truly get to play an important role in the narrative, which is frustrating.

Gianluca Pagliarani’s art is mostly okay. Overall, it lacks charm or a certain personality. For comparison, just look at Raulo Caceres’ work on “Crécy”. Pagliarani also occasionally draws a face too long, or a weird facial expression, but the true problem is that his job just isn’t very interesting – but let’s be honest, the script didn’t help with that either.

“Aetheric Mechanics” is a story that fails to interest in any way. The plot is mediocre, the characters are flat and the charm is absent. And I really HATE to say all this, since I’ve been a Warren Ellis fan for a long time.

Streets of Glory #6

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Mike Wolfer

Colors by Andrew Dalhouse

In a nutshell: another great Avatar title by Garth Ennis reaches its end – and being a western, it could only involve bullets.

Joseph R. Dunn was a violent man. He fought in the Civil War. He did unspeakable things in his past. And for all his life, he wondered what he fought for. And his greatest fear, is that he did it for his country, “only to hand it to fools”. And in the final issue of “Streets of Glory”, his greatest fear comes true, and all the glory from days past is turned into pure, simple bloodshed without any honor.

So far, this mini-series has been a damn good western. With a loose plot that proceeds slowly but never dull, it’s about a man trying to pick up the pieces of his life. And Garth Ennis, always a brilliant character writer, stays true to all of them. It’s interesting how Dunn, at first, accepts it is all much bigger than him until he has nothing left to lose. Ennis utterly captures the feel of that time, not only in the story, but also with the excellent dialogue and the characters that also work as homages to the western genre. Morrison is the “irredeemable villain”, a bastard who knows what he is and doesn’t care. Shelley is the romantic interest (and a great one at that). Burley is the villain’s right-hand man. But Ennis is not satisfied in simply taking all those stereotypes and throwing them in the plot – he develops all of them, giving them his own touch as a writer.

Finally, the best moment in this story, for me, is when we see the panel showing Dunn’s gritted teeth, blood trickling from them in the cold wind. A perfect panel that says more than it appears.

Mike Wolfer’s art has hooked me. His style is peculiar, but the overall work looks great, and his visual narrative is impeccable. He helps Ennis in establishing a western mood, and in making the characters come to life – and in the final showdown, Wolfer’s art couldn’t be clearer. Andrew Dalhouse’s colors – despite forgetting to paint Tom’s eyebrows in a certain moment – has the right tones, especially blue, portraying not just the cold, but the sorrow of all those characters as they leave their time into another they’re not sure they agree with, but that they can’t seem to stop.

“Streets of Glory” is a rich homage to westerns and another beautiful work of art by my favorite writer.

Joker

Written by Brian Azzarello

Art by Lee Bermejo

Inks by Mick Gray and Lee Bermejo

Colors by Patricia Mulvihill

Lettering by Robert Clark

In a nutshell: I simply cannot describe how good this book is in few words. Just read the fucking review.

I am a fan of the Joker, more than I am a fan of Batman. I think he’s one of the best villains in narrative arts, and it’s no wonder I love Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke” as much as I do. The way he walks the line between madness and pure evil fascinates me, and after Christopher Nolan’s brilliant “The Dark Knight”, “100 Bullets” scribe Brian Azzarello takes on the villain, diving on his mind and on his eternal fight against Batman.

We see all this through the eyes of Jonny Frost, a lowlife thug who volunteers to go pick up the Joker as he leaves Arkham Asylum after being inexplicably released (he never explains how he did that, and it isn’t even important to begin with, so the mystery remains). Deciding to stick with The Joker as he starts a series of murders and heists to get his holdings and businesses back, Frost starts noticing, far too late, that he got himself stuck inside a snowball that gets bigger and bigger.

Azzarello’s take on Gotham City, Batman and The Joker is fascinating. There’s none of this Judd-Winick-ish morality here: Batman is a vigilante with a dark sense of humor and who does what has to be done – which is why The Joker, in a certain moment, says to the sky “need me for more of your dirty work?” after killing a criminal. Gotham City itself is a brownish cesspit, a truly depressing city where “hope” is the biggest joke of them all. Harvey Dent is an influential man who struggles against his psychosis, the Penguin is a businessman who sets up boxing matches, Killer Croc is a gangbanger… everything is way darker and grittier than in most Batman stories.

And the star of the show is, of course, the Joker, whose ways of intimidating his enemies rival the pencil scene in “The Dark Knight”. Claiming he’s not crazy anymore, “just mad”, he wants his power back – since it was all taken from him while he was away. But unlike the pathetic Joker written by the terrible A. J. Lieberman in that “Hush” knock-off, this Joker is truly threatening in his umpredictability. He hardly plans, he just picks one or two really simple ideas to help him do his deeds. Also, Azzarello NAILS the Joker’s sense of humor. The “feel my muscle” bit is an instant classic.

The Joker is so threatening, in fact, that you even feel sorry for the protagonist Jonny Frost – a pathetic, impressionable moron who doesn’t know what he’s getting into. Having been to prison five times and such a lowlife even bacteria avoid being seen near him, he is the perfect portrayal of a loser. A loser who sees his chance to become a winner by joining the crew of the greatest criminal in the history of Gotham, and to reach that goal, he conveniently ignores his boss’ constantly changing mood and erratic behavior.

But the glory doesn’t lie all in Azzarello’s shoulders – Lee Bermejo is equally important with his phenomenal art, which can be compared to Brian Bolland’s work in “The Killing Joke”. His Joker isn’t the clown with the stretched facial muscles – it’s the messy-haired Joker with cuts on the sides of his mouth and uneasy eyes full of madness. Bermejo nails him so many times, he creates so many panels worthy of being printed and posted on a wall, that his work becomes as important as Azzarello’s. Mick Gray does a good job as well – he inked most of the art. And finally, colorist Patricia Mulvihill nails Gotham City, portraying it with reddish brown tones that suit the whole narrative down to the ground, and her colors on the pages inked by Bermejo are simply astonishing. As I said, phenomenal visual work. Damn good lettering, too.

Finally, we come to the ending, which I won’t reveal. Azzarello answers a long-standing question I had about Batman’s uniform, the design, the flaws… and while there can be many answers for this, Azzarello’s one is pure brilliance. A fitting ending to a masterpiece that can proudly stand alongside “The Killing Joke” as one of the best Batman graphic novels of all-time. I leave you with one of the many lines that deserve mention, and what happens after it is one of the best scenes in this book:

“I forgot to do something…” – Joker