Wktf's and Sam Wilsons Reviews 7/12/06

[wktf]

Sam Wilson’s Reviews

Umm, not a whole lot to say today, so I guess I’ll just talk a little bit about Gary Frank and Greg Land. Their books Squadron Supreme and Ultimate Fantastic Four are both out this week. Greg Land has really evolved as an artist, from unpolished and “blah” work back in Birds of Prey to photo realistic foxiness in Ultimate FF. Gary Frank has always been the man, clearly he has improved as well; look at him back in the Incredible Hulk days, then his Birds of Prey days and now his work on Squadron Supreme. Always sexy, yet more refined with every new project he starts. My pick of the week is Squadron Supreme, and that being said, on to the reviews…

The Invincible Iron Man #10
Marvel Comics
Written by: Daneil Knauf
Drawn by: Patrick Zircher, cover by Adi Granov

Recently in “Iron Man”, back in the first six issues written by Warren Ellis, Tony dukes it out with a psycho Neo-Nazi guys who steels some nifty Stark Technology, Extremix. Tony gets his a$# kicked and needs to get fixed up fast, so he gets back to his lab and decides he’s gonna get his hottie assistant Maya to inject him with “Extremix” so he can better interface with his armor and become some kind of biological/machine hybrid. Soon Tony is doing crazy stuff like thinking and making computations faster than any supercomputer, interfacing with satellites, and acting weird around his fellow Avengers. There is also the little matter of all the people involved with Ho Yinsen’s murder (the cat who helped Tony design the original Iron Man armor) being whacked. Iron man is the #1 suspect. To prove he is innocent, during a peace summit being attended by one of Iron Man’s potential targets Tony voluntarily places himself into government custody. Things don’t really go as planed, all hell breaks loose in the Iraqi desert and the target is killed by Iron Man, who then removes his helmet and reveals Tony Stark underneath. This brings us to issue #10…

Tony Stark is now the most wanted man on the planet, Nick Fury has ordered the Sentry (man, I really hate that guy) to go after him and use “deadly force” if necessary. In the meantime, Tony wants to know why the hell he is murdering people and acting weird around the Avengers, so he pays a visit to a professor friend of his at Berkley, who finds a strange growth in Tony’s head. Of course the only person who can help explain this growth is Maya Hansen, Tony’s assistant who was the lead on the Extremix project who turned out to be crazy. Maya was the one who created the psycho Neo Nazi guy, she was illegally field-testing Extremix on him, and well, it went bad. Anyway she is now in prison, but Tony breaks her out to help him figure out what the hell is wrong with his head. Before they can get to far into things the Sentry comes knocking on Tony’s door, and well, things get ugly.

I’m liking the new Iron Man. Yes, Warren Ellis took over a year on the first six issues, but it was worth the wait and now Daniel Knauf is carrying on what Ellis set up, and damn it if it is not cool. Iron Man is all over the place right now in the MU, he’s a major player in the Civil War, he’s still a significant force in the Avengers, and his own solo book is as good as it ever was. I’m sure Marvel has great things planned for Tony Stark in the future, Iron Man is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #31
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mark Millar
Drawn by: Greg “I draw women fine, but not as fine as Gary Frank” Land

To give everyone the quick skinny on the Ultimate Fantastic Four: Reed Richards is the world’s smartest teenager and is chosen to work for a government think tank located in Midtown Manhattan at the Baxter building. He is joined by the also genius Sue Richards, and a smart yet cranky Victor Van Damme. One day, when Reed’s childhood buddy/protector Ben Grimm dropped by for a visit, there is a experimental transporter accident and Reed, Sue, her brother Johnnie and Ben are all transformed into beings with immense power, and shortly become known as the “Fantastic Four”. Thus far they have been on many adventures including trips to the negative zone, dealings with zombies, a confrontation with Victor Van Damme (now known as Dr. Doom) and even a show down with the Sub Mariner. Recently, Ben has finally met the “ultimate” Alicia Masters, and she is a fox (of course). Johnny has some weird space alien growing inside him that may destroy the entire world, and the “Zombie FF” Reed has “kept” from another dimension is getting really, really antsy. Reed doesn’t know how to save Johnny, so he turns to the last person he ever wanted to, Victor Van Damme, aka Dr. Doom.

UFF #31 opens up with zombies on the run! Zombies, they have a thirst for human flesh! They’re nasty! And now they have the powers of the Fantastic Four and are going to do really, really bad things! (George Romero is either happy, or very sad. Anyway…) Reed and the rest of the gang are in Latveria, which has become a world economic powerhouse under the leadership of Doom. Doom has even added Sue’s mom to his staff (yes, she is foxy as well). He agrees to save Johnny, but at a price. Of course, there is also the matter of zombies on the loose, which our heroes have to get too…

Umm, zombies are cool, but they are getting a little played out. The whole Marvel Zombie Universe is getting a little stale right about now. I mean, Greg Land is a real nifty penciller, but enough with the Zombies already. Anyway, it will all be over next issue, and then we get a new creative team as well (bye Greg Land, sniff). So stay tuned, Zombies, Foxes, and Victor Van Damme (boy that name is stupid)…

Squadron Supreme #5
Marvel Knights
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Drawn by: Gary Frank

Squadron Supreme is the Marvel Knights relaunch of JMS’s Marvel MAX series Supreme Power. Supreme Power is a modernization of Mark Gruewald’s Squadron Supreme, a story about an alternate Earth’s superhero’s and how they got tired of regular folk fu$#ing up the planet, so they decided to take it over and become it’s rulers. Kinda like JLA’s Earth 2 Justice League, another old story that was recently revisited in the JLU animated series. Yes, superheroes going nutty is a popular topic, such the thing being centerpiece to the Batman “Gang War” storyline, the current OMAC storyline and let’s not forget the classic Alan Moore story The Watchmen. Marvel Comics has kept its mainstream heroes under lock and key, for now. Anyway, enter J. Michael Stracynski, he had his own foray into the “superhero’s going crazy and taking over” genre with his Rising Stars series, which was chronically late and to my knowledge is still not really finished. Meh, it’s all for the best, because I believe JMS is getting the chance to tell the story he really wanted to tell with Marvel MAX’s Supreme Power (and now in Squadron Supreme under the Marvel Knights banner).

The team as Mark Gruewald introduced them is still there, kind of. JMS put his own twist on each character, and gave us a couple of new ones as well. We still have Mark Milton, Hyperion (a true child of the gov’t), the costumed vigilante Nighthawk, an extreme personality who makes Batman seem calm and rational. The Blur, a corporate superhero, Dr. Spectrum aka army corporal Joe Ledger and his strange fish lady friend (aka Amphibian) and finally Zarda. Zarda is like Wonder Woman after a few drinks and with no moral compass. In the new Squadron Supreme series, starting off where “Supreme Power” left off, we find out there are a lot of superhumans running around Earth, and the government has assembled them into two teams, one public and one covert. Both teams consist of a few new characters (Inertia, Tom Thumb) and characters that have been introduced in “Supreme Power” and the “Hyperion” limited series (Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum, Blur, Power Princess, Emil Burbank, Amphibian, Arcanna, Shape and Nuke). At the onset of their first mission each team member starts to develop his or her own idiosyncrasies: Zarda (Power Princess) is kinda crazy, Dr. Spectrum is way to much in love with the fishy chick, Blur is the moral compass of the team, and so on and so on. Also in their first mission we found out Emil Burbank, the so-called “smartest man alive” apparently had contingencies should his teammates ever turn on him and he almost ends up killing Amphibian. She is saved by other members of the team, but Dr. Spectrum is pretty PO’d by the whole thing. Issue four starts out with a new mission for the team, this time in the Middle East. More important than the mission though is the origin story we get for Edith Frieberg, aka Inertia. When we were first introduced to her she was a super-strong invulnerable soldier with a severe discipline problem and a penchant for mental illness (or so it seemed). In issue four we find out exactly why she is the way she is and it is nothing short of tragic and heartbreaking. Issue five the team takes care of unrest in the Middle East with overwhelming force and intimidation, and Inertia helps a little girl get some revenge, served cold than a motherfu$#er.

Damn if this issue wasn’t absolutely brutal, and visually stunning as usual. Hands down, this is the best Marvel book most people aren’t buying. So pick this book up, pick up some of the trades of Supreme Power for the backstory, there is an oversized HC collecting the first 12 issues, and a few other sc tpb’s collecting the same issues plus some more. Damn if this isn’t a fine book and you are doing yourself a disservice if you aren’t reading it.

Wktf’s Reviews

Really light week for me. Superman is the only comic I truly was interested in buying; however, I picked up Wolverine: Origins because (a) the creative team behind Punisher vs. Bullseye is on it and (b) there’s another showdown with Captain America (the first one, in my mind, being from 1986’s Captain America Annual #8). I also picked up Frontline despite not much liking the first issue but being told I missed out by not getting the second issue. But the real story this week seems to be Spider-Girl #100. For those who know the big deal about this issue (and it’s not that this is the final issue) I have to ask, did anyone see this one coming? Seriously, no internet spoilers I know of. This may have been one of the best kept secrets in comics in a long time. Spider-Girl fans should rejoice. You guys deserve this!

Superman #654
DC Comics
Written by: Kurt Busiek
Drawn by: Carlos Pacheco

The stellar “Up, Up and Away!” post-Infinite Crisis story arc has ended and a new creative team has taken over. And what a creative team it is! Two of the most respected creators in the industry are united to pick up the Man of Steel’s reigns. And, for the most part, they pretty much nailed what makes this book and this hero so much fun to read. But, I’m going to get my artistic complaints out of the way first. I need to go back and pull my Superman/Batman “Absolute Power” trade ‘cause I could have sworn Pacheco knew how to draw Superman’s face. But in this issue his face seems to be 40% forehead, he’s lost his spit curl and his face (along with many other faces in this issue) also appears to be, well, Asian looking. Not that there’s anything wrong with that except, well, Superman’s not Asian looking. It just looks strange.

But leaving that aside we’ve got a really fun issue where we get a little bit of everything. Clark’s having trouble juggling his “human” life with his superhero duties, and his dates with Lois and deadlines for Perry all getting the short shrift. He just can’t seem to get his Clark side together or, as Jimmy says to Lois, “Hnh. Not doing so well today, is he?” All his provides some interesting comedy relief, except that neither Clark nor Perry are finding it very funny. But Superman’s also working double overtime combating myriad menaces (at super speed, natch!) all over Metropolis, and all leading to the return of one villain familiar, but significantly altered, to most all who’ve read Superman comics or watched the Superman Animated Series plus a significant and dangerous looking mystery in Kazakhstan. So the plot, and a mystery, is brewing. But for the inaugural flight of this creative team, this issue really is all about Lois and Clark and, lest any of us have forgotten what a foxy lady Lois is, Clark need only get through this issue to find out.

Anyone lamenting the end of “Up, Up and Away!” should pick this issue up. The fun hasn’t left, it’s just in different hands. This issue is my pick of the week.

Wolverine: Origins #4
Marvel Comics
Written by: Daniel Way
Drawn by: Steve Dillon

My writing partner’s been covering the last few issues of this title. Neither of us are big fans of the overexposed feral mutant. But we are fans both of Way and Dillon, the latter of whom first came to both our attentions with the groundbreaking Preacher series. Well, thanks to the Scarlet Witch and House of M and all that nearly all of Logan’s missing memories have returned. And he is not a happy camper. Logan’s life has been one of manipulation, torture and brainwashing. His past has been unknown to him up ‘til now but, while the memories of his life of pain have come back, who it was that committed these crimes against him remains unknown. So, he struck out on a quest, first to the White House and then the killing fields of Vietnam where, last issue, he had a brutal battle with Nuke (see Daredevil: Born Again where he first appeared and, we thought, had been killed) who’d been reactivated just to bring Logan out of hiding. And this issue sports two different covers highlighting what promises to be a devastating battle between Wolverine and (I assume, pre-Civil War) Captain America!

Cap tells Logan he was personally asked by the President of the United States (the same President Alex Ross painted sucking the life out of the Statue of Liberty) to bring Nuke in and take down Wolverine for attacking the White House and, supposedly, killing the Secretary of State (no, he didn’t really). This confrontation is plenty brutal, with lots of blood and plenty of blows thrown. It almost hurt reading it. But Dillon’s art, which I loved so much both on Preacher and Punisher vs. Bullseye, just isn’t cutting it for me here, especially on Captain America. It seem a little hurried, like he spent more time on the layouts than on the finished art. Not to mention that Way has Cap sounding more like Dirty Harry, or Ultimate Captain America, than the Cap we know. And the story line, I’m sorry, I guess I’m in the minority here but after three decades of Wolverine’s agonizing over his past to give him his memories back EXCEPT for his perpetrators just feels too contrived. I’m not sure I care enough to follow him on this new quest, even after the berserker rage he falls into this issue and the escalation of this battle that’s promised for next issue. I find his pursuit of Nitro, and finally having something to “avenge,” in his other book far more compelling.

Civil War: Front Line #3
Marvel Comics
Written by: Paul Jenkins
Drawn by: Ramon Bachs, Steve Lieber, Lee Weeks, David Aja

This title tells the stories going on outside the mainstream Civil War titles and crossover titles. At the crux of this concept are two reporters. Ben Urich, of the Daily Bugle and Daredevil fame, is covering the pro-Registration heroes and stories for his paper while Sally Floyd is covering the Resistance movement stories for her paper. Still, knowing Ben Urich as we do, even though we have reporters on both sides we know where Ben’s sentiments will lie and this is borne out pretty well in his interview with Reed Richards. It’s an interview that really turns into a debate and then a challenge on the part of Ben. Meanwhile, as Sally is locating and interviewing rogue gangs of non-registered heroes, many of whom are seeking out a Resistance they’ve heard about, there’s street level action taking place, similar to the skirmish between Iron Man and Prodigy from last issue. And people are dying or getting seriously hurt.

But the big story seems to be Speedball, alive but not well after the Stamford disaster. No longer with his powers and in custody, Robbie must endure both prisoners and guards who hate him. Yet he clings to his ideals that he and the New Warriors were not the murderers in Stamford (this doesn’t really wash as they sought out the fight that led to Nitro’s explosion). And he is a pitiful sight. His head shaved, beaten and bruised, one eye shut. How this kid can cling to his stance against these odds is pretty impressive. The segment drawn by Lee Weeks I don’t get at all so I can’t even comment on it. Finally, as Jenkins has done the past two issues, there’s a concept piece at the very end, a metaphorical retelling of prior war stories as a way to relate them to this Civil War. These really don’t work for me as they feel so heavy handed. In fact, while I really like the concept and some of the stories in the Front Line series, as a whole the execution is too busy, with too many story lines all running together, to be truly effective. It’s more tiring to read than it is enjoyable.

[wktf]

The comic book and fantasy fan community has experienced a number of losses recently, it seems. Just a few weeks ago we lost Tim Hildebrandt who, along with his brother Greg, gave us some of the finest comic book, science fiction and fantasy painted art of anyone. The Hildebrandts may best be known for their famous 1970s “Star Wars” movie posters. A few months before that Alex Toth, one of animation’s greatest innovators and outstanding comic book artists, died actually at his drawing board. And, in the latter half of last year, we lost Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit and one of the greatest legends of comic book history.

This unfortunate string of losses caused us to look back on our favorite creators who, sadly, are no longer with us and fashion a “gone but not forgotten” kind of tribute set of trade reviews.

Sam Wilson’s Review

Captain America: Streets of Poison
Marvel Comics
Written by: Mark Gruewald (RIP)
Drawn by: Ron Lim

This is a hard review for me to write, Mark Gruewald on Captain America for me was what I grew up with. I remember back in Cap #332, the gov’t wanted Cap to play monkey on the organ grinder, and Cap said, no (hmph, Civil War anyone?), and so started an epic 18 issue saga that cumulated in Cap #350, and DAMN did that blow my mind as a kid. Cap duked it out with Iron Man, picked up Mjulnor (in a crossover issue of Thor, #390) and a whacko dude took Cap’s place and started killing dudes. It was crazy intense and defined Cap as a person, as a freakin’ hero, to me. Many, including myself consider “Squadron Supreme” to be Mark’s masterpiece, but one cannot forget his work on Cap, which he stayed on long after issue #350. Let’s not forget it was Gruewald who created Crossbones, an old mainstay of Cap’s rogues gallery who has found new glory in the current Brubaker run, and what better of an old school Crossbones story than the “Streets of Poison” arc from Captain America #372 to #378.

1994 and Captain America’s life is aiight. He’s back in the saddle with the Gov’t and the Avengers, he has his own staff, consisting of John Jameson (his Pilot), Fabian Stankowicz (formerly the Mecha-Maurauder, a villain) Cap’s tinkerer guy, Peggy Carter (Sharon Carter, aka Agent 13’s older sister) Caps Communications person, and Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback, Caps kinda girlfriend and former bad guy member of the Serpent Society. He flies around on a nifty Avengers sky cycle, and is looking better than ever with Ron Lim handling the art chores. One day Cap comes home and finds out Fabian got high off of some new street drug, so Cap decides to take said drug off the streets. In the process of kicking drug dealer a$#, he gets caught in an explosion and becomes high than a motherfu$#er. The drug doesn’t jive well with the super-soldier serum in Cap’s blood, and soon he is acting wreckless and completely out of character. All this, and Bullseye was just broken out of prison by the Kingpin to help him gain the upper hand in a drug war. The other side in this drug war? The Red Skull. Apparently he wants some of the action too, so he enlists the aid of Crossbones. Of course with the Kingpin we get Daredevil in the mix, and with Daredevil we get the always foxy, even in short hair, Black Widow. “Streets of Poison” is full of action, suspense, foxy women and Bullseye. WORD.

Gruewald does a great job juggling all the characters in this story and keeping everything on track, and damn if Lim’s art isn’t as crisp as it ever was. One thing to keep in mind is “Streets of Poison” came out when drugs were the biggest problem in the US, not terrorism. It’s pretty obvious Gruewald is very, very anti-drug and during the course of the story he pulls no punches with his stance, and that’s aiight. “Streets of Poison” was originally available in tpb form waaay back in 1994 and has been out of print for over 10 years, you might be able to track it down on ebay, but you would probably have an easier time picking up the individual issues. Either way, definitely a Cap story worthy of anyone’s shelf.

Wktf’s Review

The Complete Classic Adventures of Zorro by Alex Toth
Image Comics
Written by: Various & Unknown
Drawn by: Alex Toth (RIP)

With this 245 page volume we get to experience two legends for the price of one: Zorro the Fox and Alex Toth, the latter of whom gets exclusive creative billing for this body of work. Is either of these names unfamiliar to you?

Before Will Eisner, Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta moved into the public’s consciousness (or back into it in Eisner’s and Kirby’s cases) the great comic book and fantasy illustrators of the 1950s were Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert and Alex Toth. Toth, though, didn’t do mainstream superhero strips like Green Lantern, The Atom, Flash and Hawkman (though his Batman graces the cover of “Batman: Black & White” vol. 1). Toth found himself at Dell Comics in 1956 after getting out of the Army only later to join Hanna-Barbera studios in 1968 where he helped create and design Super Friends, Johnny Quest and Space Ghost. But it was at Dell Comics that he drew a character created in 1919 for a serialized story by Johnston McCulley called “The Curse of Capistrano,” later released as a novel called “The Mark of Zorro.” Zorro went on to appear in over a dozen films and TV shows, including the 1940 classic “The Mark of Zorro” staring Tyrone Power and in Guy Williams’ portrayal of Zorro for Disney’s 1957 TV show. It is on this TV show’s Zorro that Toth’s comic book work is based.

This collection reproduces Toth’s entire run in black and white and while it feels a bit tame by today’s standards it still is a really fun read. Diego De La Vega has returned from Spain to his father’s home in Los Angeles. At this time California is a province of the king of Spain and Los Angeles is under the tyrannical militant rule of Captain Monastario who is aided by the oafish Sergeant Garcia. Diego’s father, Don Alejandro, is a wealthy landowner and his family is highly respected in Los Angeles. Still, Alejandro is outraged by the injustices perpetrated by Captain Monastario and at his son’s apparent indifference to Los Angeles’ troubles. The truth, however, is that Diego De La Vega is an accomplished swordsman who chooses to right Monastario’s wrongs with his sword, whip and fists disguised in a black mask, cape and hat as Zorro the Fox! Bernardo, Diega’s mute servant, pretends he also is deaf so he can serve as a spy to aid Zorro on his adventures. Nearly a third of this book is taken up with Zorro’s exploits to bring down the evil Captain. The rest is a collection of other stories of Zorro’s helping the weak and the oppressed.

The not-too-discerning reader catches quite a lot from this volume with the hindsight of history. For one, De La Vega, as drawn by Toth, is an absolute dead ringer for Tony Stark. Also, the parallels to The Batman are so clear that Frank Miller’s choice to have the Waynes’ exiting “The Mark of Zorro” when Bruce’s parents are killed in “The Dark Knight Returns” seems both obvious and inspired. How does Batman relate to Zorro? Not only is De La Vega a seemingly foppish wealthy playboy, he lives in a mansion under which lies a cave where he keeps his steed, Tornado. What is more, he dresses completely in black with a mask and swirling cape. Finally, he is aided by his servant, Bernardo in his struggle for justice. Toth’s work is moody and rich and his action scenes are complete with dramatic sword fights, daring leaps, rearing horse and flowing black cape, are a blast to read. And his women are gorgeous. If you are a fan of cape swirling, mask wearing, sword flashing, swashbuckling adventure you most definitely should pick this volume up.

[wktf]

Forum's back! Reviews are up!

[rychehitman]

WOW!

"Streets of Poison"

That review took me back! That was a GREAT time to be a cap fan, as well as the mentioned "Captain" era.

I still cannot see how Ron Lim does not work on a monthly title. I have been following him since his "Ex-Mutants" days!

[Kdawg59]

Streets of Poison Sam... definitely... WORD!

[JDH]

Keep me posted if anything significant happens in Iron-Man, Sam. I tried both writers, but can't summon up any interest in the new status quo.

By the way, I glanced through X-Men in the shop - looks like you guys were wise not to buy it. Check out Iceman's head if you get a chance!

[Babytoxie]

Wk, I'm happy to see the Zorro trade review. I'd been shuffling my feet on this one - no good reason, really, as I love Toth! I'll get it this week.

Sam, have you been reading the Supreme Power minis? I read Doctor Spectrum and was not impressed. I passed on Nighthawk after much debate. Now that Hyperion is out in trade, I'm wondering: is there anything I'm missing by skipping these? They seem like rehashes of what we already know, or present inconsequential details.

[JDH]

Originally Posted by Babytoxie

Wk, I'm happy to see the Zorro trade review. I'd been shuffling my feet on this one - no good reason, really, as I love Toth! I'll get it this week.

Sam, have you been reading the Supreme Power minis? I read Doctor Spectrum and was not impressed. I passed on Nighthawk after much internal debate, which likely creeped out the shop owner. Now that Hyperion is out in trade, I'm wondering: is there anything I'm missing by skipping these? They seem like rehashes of what we already know, or present inconsequential details.

The Doctor Spectrum series was irredeemably awful. Nighthawk is a good read well-illustrated. Hyperion is quite important to the plot of Squadron Supreme and some of the characters that are new to that series. The art is disappointing, but it's a useful story to read.

[wktf]

Originally Posted by jdh.goodgrief

Keep me posted if anything significant happens in Iron-Man, Sam. I tried both writers, but can't summon up any interest in the new status quo.

By the way, I glanced through X-Men in the shop - looks like you guys were wise not to buy it. Check out Iceman's head if you get a chance!

Iron Man's been great! One of the most exciting comics out there!

Toxie, that Zorro trade is a bit dated but, man, the art's top notch!

So, last time I reviewed Civil War (#1) I was in the minority in being kind of luke warm on it. I still am with this issue. Other people's thoughts?

[JLM]

Frontline #3 question. Who's the guy that takes an injection and turns blue?