wktf
06-23-2005, 12:45 AM
Continuing from Part I of our reviews, found at http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?p=224331#post224331
Classic Trade Reviews
After a few weeks of finding themes by which we pick our classic trades, the two of us just decided to pick books we happen to really like that haven’t gotten a whole lot of play. One’s DC, the other is Marvel. So, with that, here they are!
WKTF’s Review
Manhunter: The Special Edition
DC Comics
Written by: Archie Goodwin
Drawn by: Walt Simonson
“Manhunter” was originally published as a back up series to Detective Comics. It ran from 1973 to 1974 and lasted only seven episodes. Despite it’s short run, the Academy of Comic Book Arts awarded it the 1973 Best Writer of the Year (Goodwin), 1973 Best Short Story of the Year, 1973 Outstanding New Talent of the Year (Simonson), 1974 Best Short Story of the Year, 1974 Best Feature Length Story of the Year (the final chapter which teamed Manhunter with The Batman), and 1974 Best Writer of the Year (Goodwin, again). So, what’s all the fuss about?
Our story begins in mysterious Katmandu, Nepal where a gorgeous brunette Interpol agent named Christine St. Clair arrives to seek information about Manhunter, a man we’re told law agencies all over the world are seeking. We quickly learn that Manhunter is a mysterious expert martial artist and assassin named Paul Kirk who made short work of Katmandu’s most lethal killers in his travels through that land. But Paul Kirk is a man in search of his own identity and to right wrongs for which he believes he is in part responsible. Each segment in this book brings the reader and Kirk more information about him, brings Christine to his side as his ally, and gives Manhunter the clues he needs to piece the puzzle of his life and the danger he must thwart together from a vast tapestry of disparate information. Manhunter’s methods are brutal and lethal and, as his journey brings him to Gotham, these methods draw out The Batman first as his adversary and, finally, as his partner. The final segment, the feature length story that won the above mentioned 1974 Best Feature Length Story, is an action packed and tragic nail biter. An added bonus is a silent movie type Batman story, with no dialogue, crafted by Simonson after Goodwin’s death, based on prior story discussions with Goodwin, that gives us reason to believe the Manhunter saga still has some life despite the saga’s ending.
You can really tell how much fun Goodwin had writing these stories. The plot and dialogue seems to live somewhere between James Bond, The Shadow, Bogart and, well, of course, The Batman. The reader is given just enough information with each eight page segment to rush feverishly to the next one and, when you get to the end, you really wish the book would keep going. Simonson’s art is just what you’d expect: full of power, personality, and sweeping action. He was a perfect choice for this back up feature and a great risk for Goodwin to take considering, at the time, he was practically unknown. At $9.99 retail, there’s no excuse to not pick this book up. It’s a classic and a keeper!
Sam Wilson’s Review
Black Widow
Marvel Knights (an imprint of Marvel Comics)
Written By: Devin K. Grayson and Greg Rucka
Drawn By: J. G. Jones and Scott Hampton
Remember that movie “Assassins”? It starred Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas, Sly was the old assassin and Antonio was the younger one looking to kill Sly to make a name for himself. Yeah, it sucked. Instead, you should check out the Hong Kong movie “Fulltime Killers”, a remake of “Assassins”. “Fulltime Killers” is “Assassins” after doing three Redbulls and a whole package of pixie sticks. Yup, if you’ve seen that movie, then you have an idea of how cool the Marvel Knights Black Widow tpb is. This Black Widow tpb collects the two Marvel Knights mini series “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” (by Grayson and Jones) and “Breakdown” (Rucka and Hampton).
The Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanova has a rich history within the Marvel Universe. She first popped up in the ‘60’s, working as a Russian spy trying to steal military secrets from Tony Stark. Natasha Romanova was the wife of Alexi Shostakov, a Russian test pilot who went to work for the KGB and eventually became the Russian super-soldier Red Guardian. Upon news of his death Natasha left the Russian Ballet for the infamous “Red Room”, a place where she learned the skills necessary to become Russia’s top espionage agent, and the place where she earned the title “Black Widow”. Anyway, after a few failed attempts at stealing from Stark industries, Natasha switched sides and went to work for Nick Fury at SHIELD. Over the years she went from SHIELD to solo work, partnering with Daredevil, the Avengers, and eventually back to SHIELD.
Enter Yelena Belova, like Natasha, she is a top graduate of the “Red Room”. Belova believes she should be the only “Black Widow”, so as you may have guessed, there is gonna be some conflict. At first their differences are superficial. Yelena has way more navel exposed (regardless, I think Natasha is still hotter) and is blonde, but as you see the two of them interact in “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” and “Breakdown” storylines, Natasha is clearly more mature, centered, and all around more experienced than the young Yelena, whose only goal seems to be to take out, and therefore show up Natasha and become the one true “Black Widow”.
This is the only time your ever gonna hear me say this, so listen closely, “I liked Devin K. Grayson’s story better than Rucka’s”. Normally, I can’t stomach Grayson. Her first work on Catwoman was a joke. Her current work on Nightwing, a character she supposedly always wanted to write, is painful. The opposite can be said for Rucka. His work on the modern Batman defines that character for the times, as does his work on Wonder Woman. His creator owned series Queen and Country is top notch as well. Meh, maybe they just switched brains or something for these two stories. Grayson’s story (“Itsy-Bitsy Spider”) introduces us to the Yelena Black Widow, and has the two pitted by both their perspective governments against each other to claim the same prize, some advanced bioweapon. Oh yes, the fur flies, but never would I consider it a catfight, more like a careful game of chess. J. G. Jones’s art was never better, and he makes both characters look fantastic. Seriously, the guy needs more work. Rucka’s story, “Breakdown” is a little too much like the John Woo film “Face/Off” for my tastes. Natasha decides to teach Yelena some hard lessons by switching looks with her for a little while. It’s still a cool story, but I would’ve gone about things differently. Yeah, I can see how Yelena needed some hard knocks, but there were better ways of making that point other than switching identities. Oh yeah, and Scott Hampton’s art didn’t really do much for me either. He’s kinda like a sloppier Phil Noto.
So pick up this book. It’s still in print (I believe), and readily available for a cover price of $15.95. Yes, the Black Widow is my favorite female character in the Marvel Universe, so I’m a little biased, but this tpb contains some truly fantastic storytelling and art. Check it out, if you’re disappointed, well, I guess that’s not my problem, but damn, I don’t see how you could be.
Classic Trade Reviews
After a few weeks of finding themes by which we pick our classic trades, the two of us just decided to pick books we happen to really like that haven’t gotten a whole lot of play. One’s DC, the other is Marvel. So, with that, here they are!
WKTF’s Review
Manhunter: The Special Edition
DC Comics
Written by: Archie Goodwin
Drawn by: Walt Simonson
“Manhunter” was originally published as a back up series to Detective Comics. It ran from 1973 to 1974 and lasted only seven episodes. Despite it’s short run, the Academy of Comic Book Arts awarded it the 1973 Best Writer of the Year (Goodwin), 1973 Best Short Story of the Year, 1973 Outstanding New Talent of the Year (Simonson), 1974 Best Short Story of the Year, 1974 Best Feature Length Story of the Year (the final chapter which teamed Manhunter with The Batman), and 1974 Best Writer of the Year (Goodwin, again). So, what’s all the fuss about?
Our story begins in mysterious Katmandu, Nepal where a gorgeous brunette Interpol agent named Christine St. Clair arrives to seek information about Manhunter, a man we’re told law agencies all over the world are seeking. We quickly learn that Manhunter is a mysterious expert martial artist and assassin named Paul Kirk who made short work of Katmandu’s most lethal killers in his travels through that land. But Paul Kirk is a man in search of his own identity and to right wrongs for which he believes he is in part responsible. Each segment in this book brings the reader and Kirk more information about him, brings Christine to his side as his ally, and gives Manhunter the clues he needs to piece the puzzle of his life and the danger he must thwart together from a vast tapestry of disparate information. Manhunter’s methods are brutal and lethal and, as his journey brings him to Gotham, these methods draw out The Batman first as his adversary and, finally, as his partner. The final segment, the feature length story that won the above mentioned 1974 Best Feature Length Story, is an action packed and tragic nail biter. An added bonus is a silent movie type Batman story, with no dialogue, crafted by Simonson after Goodwin’s death, based on prior story discussions with Goodwin, that gives us reason to believe the Manhunter saga still has some life despite the saga’s ending.
You can really tell how much fun Goodwin had writing these stories. The plot and dialogue seems to live somewhere between James Bond, The Shadow, Bogart and, well, of course, The Batman. The reader is given just enough information with each eight page segment to rush feverishly to the next one and, when you get to the end, you really wish the book would keep going. Simonson’s art is just what you’d expect: full of power, personality, and sweeping action. He was a perfect choice for this back up feature and a great risk for Goodwin to take considering, at the time, he was practically unknown. At $9.99 retail, there’s no excuse to not pick this book up. It’s a classic and a keeper!
Sam Wilson’s Review
Black Widow
Marvel Knights (an imprint of Marvel Comics)
Written By: Devin K. Grayson and Greg Rucka
Drawn By: J. G. Jones and Scott Hampton
Remember that movie “Assassins”? It starred Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas, Sly was the old assassin and Antonio was the younger one looking to kill Sly to make a name for himself. Yeah, it sucked. Instead, you should check out the Hong Kong movie “Fulltime Killers”, a remake of “Assassins”. “Fulltime Killers” is “Assassins” after doing three Redbulls and a whole package of pixie sticks. Yup, if you’ve seen that movie, then you have an idea of how cool the Marvel Knights Black Widow tpb is. This Black Widow tpb collects the two Marvel Knights mini series “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” (by Grayson and Jones) and “Breakdown” (Rucka and Hampton).
The Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanova has a rich history within the Marvel Universe. She first popped up in the ‘60’s, working as a Russian spy trying to steal military secrets from Tony Stark. Natasha Romanova was the wife of Alexi Shostakov, a Russian test pilot who went to work for the KGB and eventually became the Russian super-soldier Red Guardian. Upon news of his death Natasha left the Russian Ballet for the infamous “Red Room”, a place where she learned the skills necessary to become Russia’s top espionage agent, and the place where she earned the title “Black Widow”. Anyway, after a few failed attempts at stealing from Stark industries, Natasha switched sides and went to work for Nick Fury at SHIELD. Over the years she went from SHIELD to solo work, partnering with Daredevil, the Avengers, and eventually back to SHIELD.
Enter Yelena Belova, like Natasha, she is a top graduate of the “Red Room”. Belova believes she should be the only “Black Widow”, so as you may have guessed, there is gonna be some conflict. At first their differences are superficial. Yelena has way more navel exposed (regardless, I think Natasha is still hotter) and is blonde, but as you see the two of them interact in “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” and “Breakdown” storylines, Natasha is clearly more mature, centered, and all around more experienced than the young Yelena, whose only goal seems to be to take out, and therefore show up Natasha and become the one true “Black Widow”.
This is the only time your ever gonna hear me say this, so listen closely, “I liked Devin K. Grayson’s story better than Rucka’s”. Normally, I can’t stomach Grayson. Her first work on Catwoman was a joke. Her current work on Nightwing, a character she supposedly always wanted to write, is painful. The opposite can be said for Rucka. His work on the modern Batman defines that character for the times, as does his work on Wonder Woman. His creator owned series Queen and Country is top notch as well. Meh, maybe they just switched brains or something for these two stories. Grayson’s story (“Itsy-Bitsy Spider”) introduces us to the Yelena Black Widow, and has the two pitted by both their perspective governments against each other to claim the same prize, some advanced bioweapon. Oh yes, the fur flies, but never would I consider it a catfight, more like a careful game of chess. J. G. Jones’s art was never better, and he makes both characters look fantastic. Seriously, the guy needs more work. Rucka’s story, “Breakdown” is a little too much like the John Woo film “Face/Off” for my tastes. Natasha decides to teach Yelena some hard lessons by switching looks with her for a little while. It’s still a cool story, but I would’ve gone about things differently. Yeah, I can see how Yelena needed some hard knocks, but there were better ways of making that point other than switching identities. Oh yeah, and Scott Hampton’s art didn’t really do much for me either. He’s kinda like a sloppier Phil Noto.
So pick up this book. It’s still in print (I believe), and readily available for a cover price of $15.95. Yes, the Black Widow is my favorite female character in the Marvel Universe, so I’m a little biased, but this tpb contains some truly fantastic storytelling and art. Check it out, if you’re disappointed, well, I guess that’s not my problem, but damn, I don’t see how you could be.