Sam Wilson
01-06-2006, 10:03 AM
Sam Wilson’s Reviews
A light week this week, as can be expected for the first week of the year. Having been MIA for most of its issues, Warren Ellis’s Iron Man finally popped up this month (what exactly is the current storyline about anyway? Stay tunes), new super-writer Daniel Way is back this month sticking it to the man with Supreme Power: Nighthawk , a couple of “Infinite Crisis” crossover issues; Teen Titans and The Outsiders, and my pick of the week, Warren Ellis’s balls to the wall urban cop take on “Hearts of Darkness”, Down. I should also mention my esteemed colleague, wktf’s LCS had their shipment delayed for one day (shame on you diamond distributors) and his reviews will be added later today or tomorrow. As always, with that being said, on to the reviews…
Down issue #3 (of 4)
DC/Wildstorm
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Cully Hamner
For those of you who haven’t gotten the first couple of issues of Down, allow me to break down the story thus far: Down is the latest crime tale from mostly sci-fi writer Warren Ellis, and he brings us headfirst into the seedy word of undercover narcotics. The protagonist’s name is Detective Deanna Ransome, recent transfer from the NYPD. In the middle of an undercover op, she witnesses a rape in progress and well, looses all self control and kills every last motherfu$#er on the scene, and in the midst of things three of her fellow officers are gunned down as well. Anyway, Detective Ransome is given some time off, and then her Lieutenant calls her for an “off the record” meeting. The fallout from blowing the undercover op is pretty severe, the Lt. tells Detective Ransome she will never work the field again, and she is lucky she still has a job. Soon we learn why Detective Ransome has such a mad-on for rapists, and she’s offered an interesting assignment, a special “off the books” assignment from the Lt (it is made clear this is her only option other than desk work). A few years prior, the Lt. had set up another “off the books” assignment for an undercover narcotics officer by the name of Nick River. River was to infiltrate the Mendoza Mob, a viscous bunch who were essentially in control of the entire city; the police couldn’t touch them. Nick River was sent undercover by the Lt. charged with one task, start at the bottom, get to the top next to Ben Mendoza and then torture, mutilate, murder and autopsy his a$# and display it for the entire city to see. Well, that all happened, but instead of going on with his policing career, Rivers went native and took over the Mendoza mob instead. Enter Detective Ransome, her assignment; bring Nick Rivers back into the fold, one way or another.
Issue two has Detective Ransome establishing her place in the Mendoza organization, using a method that is violent, brutal and ballsy all at the same time. Mind you Ransome is definitely prone to violence, but all her present actions are not only condoned, but more or less ordered by her supervisor to ensure she infiltrates the Mendoza mob without question as to her loyalties, and that is accomplished in ways that you would never expect an undercover police officer to partake in. Yeesh. Trust me, totally brutal. Issue three has Ransome meeting with Nick River and being ordered on a personal assignment (a hit of course) by him, again as a test of loyalty, but also as a show of loyalty, Ransome’s actions thus far have impressed Rivers and brought her close enough that she is being trusted with personal tasks ordered from “the boss”.
So the question remains, “Is Deanna going to go too far herself and become that which she has been sent to destroy, or will she finish the job as ordered?” Given the brevity of all she has done so far, I couldn’t answer that question. One concern I do have though is four issues? That’s it? Man, Ransome’s journey seems like it is just starting, but in 30 days it’s getting wrapped up? Well, I dunno. On the one hand, Ellis is the man, and if anyone can pull it off he can, but on the other hand, I WANT to see this series play out. I want to see Ransome work the mob, become one of them, walk that moral tightrope and ultimate make a hard decision which will cost her a lot either way she swings it. Dammit. Anyway, at this point, you are better off waiting until this series hits tpb with only one more issue left and all, or if you are bored and want to see what I’ve been going on and on about by all means, track down the back issues and get to it.
Supreme Power: Nighthawk issue #5 (of 6)
Marvel MAX Comics
Written by: Daniel Way
Drawn by: Steve Dillon
Nighthawk is the mysterious anti-hero from J. Michael Straczynski’s “Supreme Power” series, a modern take on the classic Mark Gruewald tale “Squadron Supreme”. Nighthawk, aka Kyle Richmond, is the “Batman” of his universe: we find out his parents were killed in a racially motivated incident (Kyle is black) and well, they were loaded and left him a lot of money. Nighthawk patrols the mean streets of South Chicago, and deals with that criminal element with in a brutally physical way. He’s come across with other hero’s of his earth (Hyperion, Blur) and has even worked a case with them, but isn’t their “friend”. He does what he has to do to protect his streets and see that justice is done in a swift and final manner.
Thus far in the “Nighthawk” limited series: a ne’er do well spraying anti-black statements in a black neighborhood, and well, Nighthawk catches him. Then we cut to an imprisoned pharmacist who seems to have genocidal tendencies. Oh yeah, then there is Nighthawk’s very own “commissioner Gordon” (who knew he even had one?). Issue two shows that same pharmacist break out of prison in the guise of a clown (yes, I said clown) and work on a master plan to poison a hell of a lot of people, people who no one gives a crap about, drug abusers (who just happen to be mostly made up of racial and ethnic minorities and the poor). Issue three opens up with a citywide epidemic. Overnight thousands of “crackheads” have shown up at local hospitals and died, horribly and violently. City government is in turmoil, on one hand its just “druggies” who are dying, but still, that’s a hell of a lot of people dead, oh, and the cities largest drug dealer? He’s a judge. Not to worry though, Nighthawk is on the case, and he deals with things in a swift and violent manner, but the way things are left at the end of the issue, his conflict with the genocidal clown is only beginning to heat up. Anyway, the mayor makes some tough comments concerning the victims of this current epidemic, and ends up eating his own words when our “mad clown” sets loose the same poison he is using on the crackheads onto the mayors son’s birthday party, killing most of the attendee’s including his wife and child. Then the mayor does something you would never expect, the sh$# totally hit’s the fan, Nighthawk finally catches up with the mad clown but the clown gets the drop on him and that brings us up to issue five…
Issue five is all about hate as a motivator. Way gives us a few snippets into Nighthawk’s origin in issue five, and based on everything JMS has divulged about the character so far, it’s safe to assume he is one angry muthafu$#a. Even the clown has him tied up and poisoned, Nighthawk still manages to get in his licks (by channeling the sheer force of hate it seems), and well, it’s on in issue five, that’s all I can say without giving away to much. For those of you who like “Supreme Power” but are frustrated by it’s slow moving pace, maybe “Nighthawk” is more your speed. Think Batman, but with less of a moral code and more hate. Way more hate. Damn.
The Invincible Iron Man #5
Marvel Comics
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Adi Granov
Issue four having come out August 10th of LAST YEAR, I was hoping they would have a neat little “previously on…” page in the beginning like Marvel has been doing lately so I could be brought up to speed. No such luck. Being that this is a Warren Ellis title, it’s probably not complicated and there will be some needless exposition early on in the issue and then I’ll get caught up (NOT). UGH. Warren Ellis is cool, no question, Adi Granov is slammin’ on art, but damn if I don’t know what the fu$# is going on because of how frikkin’ late this goddman book is every goddamn month. Seriously, fu$# off with that late sh$#, sure, faithful readers will stay true to the book (like myself), but dammit if it doesn’t create some confusion (at least do one of those “previously on…” pages, damn fellas). That being said…
This new “Iron Man” series has me asking a lot of questions, and they are questions I don’t like asking. I’m not a continuity freak. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and I’m okay with that. Yeah, when Wolverine shows up in 4 books a month or whatever I raise an eyebrow, but say someone writes out Madelyne Pryor from the X-men mythos, I’m cool with that. Right now though, Invincible Iron Man has me raising an eyebrow. Okay, I thought he was “outed” from his secret ID, and now he’s not? I thought he was not mega rich, but sorta rich now and had that huge Stark Tower building in Manhattan where all the Avengers lived. No mention of Stark tower, no mention of the Avengers, nothing (and that’s not so bad, maybe this story takes place before New Avengers, but damn, that book is on issue 13 already). UGH, even the current Spidey titles have him in Avengers tower.
So what has happened in these the five issues so far of Iron Man’s new book? Tony has gotten his a$# kicked by some psycho redneck neo Nazi guy who has ingested this “Extremix” thing (created by Tony’s new company and new hottie scientist Maya Hansen) which has turned him into a biological combat machine. Tony needs to get fixed up fast, so he gets back to his lab and decides he’s gonna get Maya to inject him with “Extremix” so he can better interface with his armor and become some kind of biological/machine hybrid. In issue five, the story pretty much stops for 90% of the issue and we are given a brief retelling of the “Origin of Iron Man”, so if you have picked up this book just to check it out, you will truly have no idea what the current story is about. While this modern retelling is pretty cooled and detailed, WHO FREAKIN’ CARES? This book is so damn late and subsequently so confusing I don’t care anymore what is happening. Wow. Iron Man died, again, wow, he has new armor, again, BIG FREAKIN’ DEAL. Anyway, skip this, buy the trade, read the whole story in one sitting, save yourself the headache, nuff said.
A light week this week, as can be expected for the first week of the year. Having been MIA for most of its issues, Warren Ellis’s Iron Man finally popped up this month (what exactly is the current storyline about anyway? Stay tunes), new super-writer Daniel Way is back this month sticking it to the man with Supreme Power: Nighthawk , a couple of “Infinite Crisis” crossover issues; Teen Titans and The Outsiders, and my pick of the week, Warren Ellis’s balls to the wall urban cop take on “Hearts of Darkness”, Down. I should also mention my esteemed colleague, wktf’s LCS had their shipment delayed for one day (shame on you diamond distributors) and his reviews will be added later today or tomorrow. As always, with that being said, on to the reviews…
Down issue #3 (of 4)
DC/Wildstorm
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Cully Hamner
For those of you who haven’t gotten the first couple of issues of Down, allow me to break down the story thus far: Down is the latest crime tale from mostly sci-fi writer Warren Ellis, and he brings us headfirst into the seedy word of undercover narcotics. The protagonist’s name is Detective Deanna Ransome, recent transfer from the NYPD. In the middle of an undercover op, she witnesses a rape in progress and well, looses all self control and kills every last motherfu$#er on the scene, and in the midst of things three of her fellow officers are gunned down as well. Anyway, Detective Ransome is given some time off, and then her Lieutenant calls her for an “off the record” meeting. The fallout from blowing the undercover op is pretty severe, the Lt. tells Detective Ransome she will never work the field again, and she is lucky she still has a job. Soon we learn why Detective Ransome has such a mad-on for rapists, and she’s offered an interesting assignment, a special “off the books” assignment from the Lt (it is made clear this is her only option other than desk work). A few years prior, the Lt. had set up another “off the books” assignment for an undercover narcotics officer by the name of Nick River. River was to infiltrate the Mendoza Mob, a viscous bunch who were essentially in control of the entire city; the police couldn’t touch them. Nick River was sent undercover by the Lt. charged with one task, start at the bottom, get to the top next to Ben Mendoza and then torture, mutilate, murder and autopsy his a$# and display it for the entire city to see. Well, that all happened, but instead of going on with his policing career, Rivers went native and took over the Mendoza mob instead. Enter Detective Ransome, her assignment; bring Nick Rivers back into the fold, one way or another.
Issue two has Detective Ransome establishing her place in the Mendoza organization, using a method that is violent, brutal and ballsy all at the same time. Mind you Ransome is definitely prone to violence, but all her present actions are not only condoned, but more or less ordered by her supervisor to ensure she infiltrates the Mendoza mob without question as to her loyalties, and that is accomplished in ways that you would never expect an undercover police officer to partake in. Yeesh. Trust me, totally brutal. Issue three has Ransome meeting with Nick River and being ordered on a personal assignment (a hit of course) by him, again as a test of loyalty, but also as a show of loyalty, Ransome’s actions thus far have impressed Rivers and brought her close enough that she is being trusted with personal tasks ordered from “the boss”.
So the question remains, “Is Deanna going to go too far herself and become that which she has been sent to destroy, or will she finish the job as ordered?” Given the brevity of all she has done so far, I couldn’t answer that question. One concern I do have though is four issues? That’s it? Man, Ransome’s journey seems like it is just starting, but in 30 days it’s getting wrapped up? Well, I dunno. On the one hand, Ellis is the man, and if anyone can pull it off he can, but on the other hand, I WANT to see this series play out. I want to see Ransome work the mob, become one of them, walk that moral tightrope and ultimate make a hard decision which will cost her a lot either way she swings it. Dammit. Anyway, at this point, you are better off waiting until this series hits tpb with only one more issue left and all, or if you are bored and want to see what I’ve been going on and on about by all means, track down the back issues and get to it.
Supreme Power: Nighthawk issue #5 (of 6)
Marvel MAX Comics
Written by: Daniel Way
Drawn by: Steve Dillon
Nighthawk is the mysterious anti-hero from J. Michael Straczynski’s “Supreme Power” series, a modern take on the classic Mark Gruewald tale “Squadron Supreme”. Nighthawk, aka Kyle Richmond, is the “Batman” of his universe: we find out his parents were killed in a racially motivated incident (Kyle is black) and well, they were loaded and left him a lot of money. Nighthawk patrols the mean streets of South Chicago, and deals with that criminal element with in a brutally physical way. He’s come across with other hero’s of his earth (Hyperion, Blur) and has even worked a case with them, but isn’t their “friend”. He does what he has to do to protect his streets and see that justice is done in a swift and final manner.
Thus far in the “Nighthawk” limited series: a ne’er do well spraying anti-black statements in a black neighborhood, and well, Nighthawk catches him. Then we cut to an imprisoned pharmacist who seems to have genocidal tendencies. Oh yeah, then there is Nighthawk’s very own “commissioner Gordon” (who knew he even had one?). Issue two shows that same pharmacist break out of prison in the guise of a clown (yes, I said clown) and work on a master plan to poison a hell of a lot of people, people who no one gives a crap about, drug abusers (who just happen to be mostly made up of racial and ethnic minorities and the poor). Issue three opens up with a citywide epidemic. Overnight thousands of “crackheads” have shown up at local hospitals and died, horribly and violently. City government is in turmoil, on one hand its just “druggies” who are dying, but still, that’s a hell of a lot of people dead, oh, and the cities largest drug dealer? He’s a judge. Not to worry though, Nighthawk is on the case, and he deals with things in a swift and violent manner, but the way things are left at the end of the issue, his conflict with the genocidal clown is only beginning to heat up. Anyway, the mayor makes some tough comments concerning the victims of this current epidemic, and ends up eating his own words when our “mad clown” sets loose the same poison he is using on the crackheads onto the mayors son’s birthday party, killing most of the attendee’s including his wife and child. Then the mayor does something you would never expect, the sh$# totally hit’s the fan, Nighthawk finally catches up with the mad clown but the clown gets the drop on him and that brings us up to issue five…
Issue five is all about hate as a motivator. Way gives us a few snippets into Nighthawk’s origin in issue five, and based on everything JMS has divulged about the character so far, it’s safe to assume he is one angry muthafu$#a. Even the clown has him tied up and poisoned, Nighthawk still manages to get in his licks (by channeling the sheer force of hate it seems), and well, it’s on in issue five, that’s all I can say without giving away to much. For those of you who like “Supreme Power” but are frustrated by it’s slow moving pace, maybe “Nighthawk” is more your speed. Think Batman, but with less of a moral code and more hate. Way more hate. Damn.
The Invincible Iron Man #5
Marvel Comics
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Adi Granov
Issue four having come out August 10th of LAST YEAR, I was hoping they would have a neat little “previously on…” page in the beginning like Marvel has been doing lately so I could be brought up to speed. No such luck. Being that this is a Warren Ellis title, it’s probably not complicated and there will be some needless exposition early on in the issue and then I’ll get caught up (NOT). UGH. Warren Ellis is cool, no question, Adi Granov is slammin’ on art, but damn if I don’t know what the fu$# is going on because of how frikkin’ late this goddman book is every goddamn month. Seriously, fu$# off with that late sh$#, sure, faithful readers will stay true to the book (like myself), but dammit if it doesn’t create some confusion (at least do one of those “previously on…” pages, damn fellas). That being said…
This new “Iron Man” series has me asking a lot of questions, and they are questions I don’t like asking. I’m not a continuity freak. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and I’m okay with that. Yeah, when Wolverine shows up in 4 books a month or whatever I raise an eyebrow, but say someone writes out Madelyne Pryor from the X-men mythos, I’m cool with that. Right now though, Invincible Iron Man has me raising an eyebrow. Okay, I thought he was “outed” from his secret ID, and now he’s not? I thought he was not mega rich, but sorta rich now and had that huge Stark Tower building in Manhattan where all the Avengers lived. No mention of Stark tower, no mention of the Avengers, nothing (and that’s not so bad, maybe this story takes place before New Avengers, but damn, that book is on issue 13 already). UGH, even the current Spidey titles have him in Avengers tower.
So what has happened in these the five issues so far of Iron Man’s new book? Tony has gotten his a$# kicked by some psycho redneck neo Nazi guy who has ingested this “Extremix” thing (created by Tony’s new company and new hottie scientist Maya Hansen) which has turned him into a biological combat machine. Tony needs to get fixed up fast, so he gets back to his lab and decides he’s gonna get Maya to inject him with “Extremix” so he can better interface with his armor and become some kind of biological/machine hybrid. In issue five, the story pretty much stops for 90% of the issue and we are given a brief retelling of the “Origin of Iron Man”, so if you have picked up this book just to check it out, you will truly have no idea what the current story is about. While this modern retelling is pretty cooled and detailed, WHO FREAKIN’ CARES? This book is so damn late and subsequently so confusing I don’t care anymore what is happening. Wow. Iron Man died, again, wow, he has new armor, again, BIG FREAKIN’ DEAL. Anyway, skip this, buy the trade, read the whole story in one sitting, save yourself the headache, nuff said.