Originally Posted by wktf
Wktf’s Reviews
This was practically a nothing week for me, with the exception of Tales of the Unexpected and Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange. I’m reaching back to last week and even the week before that to fill out these reviews. Here we go.
Tales of the Unexpected #1 (of 8)
DC Comics
Written by: David Lapham & Brian Azzarello
Drawn by: Eric Battle, Prentis Rollins and Cliff Chiang
Smokin’ cover art: Mike Mignola
This new title is my pick of the week and features two separate tales of the unexpected. The first is of The Spectre, hot of his powerful three issue post-Infinite Crisis mini series. In that series, Crispus Allen, the murdered Gotham City detective from Rucka and Brubaker’s lamentably cancelled Gotham Central, reconciled with The Spectre and agreed to his role as God’s Angel of Vengeance’s human anchor. Sadly, this acceptance came at a price. Many of us who read Gotham Central were glad to see Jim Carrigan, Allen’s murderer, finally killed, but we were shocked to see that it was Crispus’ son who pulled the trigger and whom Crispus, now as The Spectre, had to punish. In this new series, Crispus seems less at each with his infinitely powerful co-host and dreads the actions The Spectre may take, for The Spectre’s killings have a nasty irony to them. A well known slum lord has been brutally murdered and there’s an apartment building full of suspects. Everyone in the building hated this man. As Allen’s ghost sticks with the cops who are investigating he’s decided who he thinks the murderer is. But the dynamics of the building tenant put a young woman and her daughter in terrible danger even as Allen and The Spectre are led away from their plight once the landlord’s murderer is uncovered. Allen is furious but goes where he must, rather than where he feels he’s truly needed. This is another strong start to another Spectre mini-series.
The backup story presents us with Dr. 13, investigator of the paranormal. But he’s a ghost buster who doesn’t believe in ghosts. In fact, he’s skeptical of the whole paranormal phenomenon to the point where he thinks it’s a crock cooked up by people too small minded to understand reality. Azzarello, as he usually does, creates a tale that winds confusingly around in all kinds of directions that almost forced me to quit the piece altogether until we get inside Dr. 13’s head as he’s having a dream about his daughter Tracie that…um, let’s just say it got my attention and sure as hell kick started him awake. Wrong, but interesting to say the least. Seriously, I needed a hit of my bottled water before reading any further. Shortly thereafter father and daughter are sent to the snow covered mountains of northern France to investigate a plane crash with a gruesome, seemingly cannibalistic twist. But as they suddenly face a more traditional snow monster that’s seemingly out of place in France rather than the Himalayas, rousing Dr. 13’s suspicions over this actually being a monster, we discover a far more classically traditional monster not seen, by me anyway, since 1983 in DC’s House of Mystery. I was plenty surprised and very happy to see this character, an old favorite of mine, after such a long time (despite his brief cameo in Day of Vengeance. And I’m anxious to see what Azzerello’s next step is for a story that DC’s website says “threatens to tear asunder the very fabric of the DCU’s past, present and future!” Not to mention how Dr. 13’s going to get his head straight about Tracie. I’d say, overall, with both stories, this title’s off to a great start.
CRIMINAL #1
Marvel Comics/Icon
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Drawn by: Sean Phillips
This book came out last week and, I’m embarrassed to say, I missed it. I’d read Brubaker’s plugs for it in his other Marvel titles but it wasn’t ‘til I was informed afterwards that it had come out that I went back to the lcs to get it. Boy, I’m glad I did. What a great beginning to a new series.
Of course, Brubaker has wracked up lots of capital with his work on Daredevil, Captain America, Catwoman and Batman. But let’s also not forget about Gotham Central, a series about the GCPD operating in a world of capes and freaks. The capes and freaks with there in spades but this was mostly a street level cop series. Well, CRIMINAL, goes one better and removes the capes and freaks completely. Leon is a career criminal, a thief, and one of the best of his kind out there. But Leon has had his share of problems. A father who taught him everything he knows was shanked in prison. Many of his friends have been gunned down in jobs gone wrong. And, as a result, Leon lives by a set of rules that govern his actions and, most importantly, serve to insure his ability to get away from any situation and preserve his life. In short, among the best thieves in the world, Leo is a coward which just happens to be the title of this five part story arc.
In this issue, Leo’s past catches up with him somewhat while he’s also dealing with his sordid present, most notably an elderly alzheimer’s-ridden junky named Ivan who’s in Leo’s care. Two dirty cops are after Leo to lead a diamond heist. They pull in the widow of one of Leo’s partners who died working a job with him to guilt Leo into accepting this job that he so desperately doesn’t want to do. As usual, Bru’s plotting, pacing and scripting is incredible and Sean Phillips’ art seems perfectly suited for this gritty, violent story. The Icon imprint seems to be like Marvel’s MAX label in that it allows for explicit foul language but gives its books more of an indy publishing feel than the MAX labels ever had which also seems to work for this title. I’m now officially hooked on my third Marvel Brubaker title (I can’t bring myself to buy his X-Men title, I’m so sick of the X-Men, as much as I liked Deadly Genesis) and recommend those of you, like me, who didn’t pick this bad boy up last Wednesday to be sure you do during your next lcs stop.
Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Fred Hembeck
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel, Michael Gaydos, John Romita, Sr.
Though this book came out two weeks ago I wanted to review it along with this week’s Dr. Strange installment to the “Stan Lee Meets” series. People who started reading comic books, say, in the 1980s probably have a harder time appreciating Stan the way those of us who grew up in the 1960s (like me) or 70s do. No question, Stan’s a huckster and hype-man. But, in addition to leading the creation of the Marvel Universe, he also created a community with a wink and a smile in which many of us felt we had exclusive membership. We were part of the Marvel movement. And in those crazy opening credits to those unbelievable, convention breaking stories, in Stan Lee’s Soapbox, and in the Bullpen Bulletins we were, by Irving Forbush, True Believers from the Hallowed Halls of Merry Marvel who, yes, we Faced Front! (whatever the hell that actually meant). So, now that Stan’s been with Marvel for 65 years, Marvel’s issuing these one-shot titles where the characters of his creation and his choosing actually encounter The Man himself, beginning two weeks ago with The Amazing Spider-Man and a cover reminiscent of Amazing Fantasy #15 where Spidey’s carrying Stan who, in turn, is sprinkling Marvel pixie dust from a bag like The Green Goblin’s on New York City, below him.
The first story, penned by Stan and penciled by Olivier Coipel, is a pure Stan hoot. It begins a little clichéd with the web slinger coming to Stan for advice. He battles super villains day and night and what does he have to show for it? Nothing but a bucket of problems coupled with no respect, that’s what! Why should he bother? Why not give up? Well, this certainly is the core of the Spidey persona and problems that Stan created more than more than four decades ago. But his advice to Marvel’s flagship character and the motivating influence behind that advice was slightly surprising, pure Stan hyperbolic hucksterism and gave me a genuine chuckle. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of Coipel’s art (can’t wait to see his Thor work!) and I love what he’s done here. Note the spider emblem on our hero’s chest is the 60s emblem rather than today’s. The second story, by Whedon and Gaydos, is a cool and comical concept piece where different dimensional versions of the same person meet at an inter-dimensional comic book convention. Everyone’s dimension’s take on their Marvel comics is different and, horrors, no dimensional representative, outside our own, has heard of Stan The Man! OMG! How is this possible? The last original piece is a two-pager by Hembeck who puts himself in a line with Princess Python, the ambiguously gay Percival Pinkerton from Sgt. Fury’s Howling Commandos, and the Beetle all of whom are waiting to meet Stan Lee. Hembeck relates his experience as a kid reading those early Marvel Comics, much as I did in my opening paragraph, and gives us some fun interplay among the folks in line. Finally, we have a Stan Lee hand-picked reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #87 wherein Spidey…gets the flu! Seriously, and it’s a great choice for this offbeat offering.
I, for one, think this is a great concept and welcome these off center alternatives to all the Civil War seriousness out there. Anyone trying to figure out what all the fuss is with Stan should pick this up. Anyone already on board should also pick this up and enjoy the continuous ride this issue offers.
Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Stan Lee, Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Giarrusso
Drawn by: Alan Davis, Mark Bagley, Chris Giarrusso, Barry Windsor-Smith
Hmmm…well, Marvel’s second offering in this “Stan Lee Meets” series is a bit more tepid, frankly, than its first. Not that it doesn’t have its good moments, mind you. The issue opens as Smilin’ Stan walks down the dark, foggy streets of Manhattan and develops a hankerin’ to visit his old buddy, Dr. Strange. But life has thrown the good Doctor a number of curve balls and the Greenwich Village sanctum sanctorum has seen some changes since The Man last visited, possibly since the 1960s. In fact, due to the various expenses incurred by being Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doc Strange is forced to turn his digs into a tourist trap, complete with plush dolls, T-shirts, autographed books and mansion tours. How’s Strange going to afford cleaning the coffee stains off his exotic rug, the steep increases in his rent (does Strange RENT that place?) and memory lessons for all those whacky chants Stan dreamed up for him? Hmmm…while this is played as tongue-in-cheek and is clever in parts it’s kind of a throw away story, sadly, but one with a common commercial theme first introduced in Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man. The best part is Alan Davis’ art which, typically, is phenomenal. There are some sly jokes in here, too, such as a store called Dit Co. (get it?). All ‘n all, cute and a fun diversion but no great shakes.
The second story is an inside joke in the vein of what Roy Thomas did when he and George Perez had the Impossible Man rampage through the Marvel offices in the 1976 Fantastic Four #176 (which, by the way, is a great and very funny issue that everyone should read). The Ultimate Spider-Man team of Bendis and Bagley return Impy, The Impossible Man, to Earth and he’s just giddy with the thought of wreaking havoc with his favorite fantastic foursome. That said, he arrives in current Marvel Civil War continuity, also post-Avengers Disassembled and post-House of M. What happened to the FF? Where’s Ben and Sue? Why is Johnny in bandages? No more mutants? Wolverine and Spider-Man are Avengers? The Scarlet Witch went nuts? Impy goes straight to Marvel’s offices in search of Stan (who was there, by the way, in Fantastic Four #176) to instead find…well, you know who’s there now. Imply does, finally, track down his buddy Stan who counsels him through the changes in the Marvel U but, ugh, the yuks feel too much like Bendis’ congratulating himself, with Joe Q and Stan’s blessings, on all his great work. This story is followed by a neat two page spread called “Principal Stanley” by Marvel Minis writer/artist Chris Giarrusso where Stan serves as school principal/guidance counselor to the young Spidey. There actually are some poignant and awkward (for Stan) moments in this piece and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.
Finally, Stan has picked a Dr. Strange reprint story, illustrated by BWS, from Marvel Premier #3 to complete this book. Doc must face and fight an unseen, unknown, world-threatening foe. There are lots of flowery incantations, drama and mystical hyperbole. But out of all the great Stan-written Dr. Strange stories this one may be one of the most empty and inconsequential of them all. Unlike the Spider-Man reprint in the prior Stan Lee Meets book, this one doesn’t seem to tie into the other stories and, frankly, doesn’t represent Stan’s writing all that well.
So, so far, Marvel’s batting 500 with this series. I have high hopes for The Thing, Doom and Surfer stories. Obviously, we’ll see…
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