Spring has finally sprung and as such Good King Leonardo has decreed that we
celebrate the arrival (finally!) of the good weather by reviewing four
interesting-looking new comic book titles. So let's get right to it and see how
these new issues stack-up against each other:
Batman & Aquaman #29
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Peter J. Tomasi: Writer
Patrick Gleason: Pencils
Mick Gray, Mark Irwin & Norm
Rapmund: Inks
John Kalisz: Colors
DC's current Batman & Robin title is up to
issue #29. The ongoing multi-issue story arc features a fresh stand-in for
Robin in each issue, with the latest guest partner of
Batman being Aquaman, as reflected in the special title. The reason
being that in this extended story arc, Batman is on the hunt for old foe Ras Al
Ghul, who has stolen the bodies of the deceased Damien/Robin and his mother
(Ras's daughter), hoping to reanimate both people in his famed Lazarus
Pit. The series is scripted by Peter J. Tomasi with a wide-ranging team
of artists.
The issue #29 story segment is entitled "Devil
And The Deep Blue Sea," and kicks-off with Batman encountering Aquaman as
he follows an undersea trail of clues toward Ras Al Ghul. The pair
team-up and track the bad guy to an island lair, where Ghul is using whales in
a monstrous, Island Of Dr. Moreau-type creepy lab experiment to birth mutant
monster versions of Damien from the female whales (yeesh!). In an extended
battle, our duo thwart Ghul's island efforts but can't prevent him from
escaping to another lair for next month's continued cat-and-mouse
pursuit. The issue ends in a nice bridge to that upcoming story segment,
as Batman departs from Aquaman and teams-up with another familiar DC superhero
for the issue #30 story segment.
On a personal level I didn't enjoy this Batman
story segment, but from a reviewer recommendation perspective it deserves a positive
thumbs-up as a decent comic book tale. Personally, there was too much
gross blood and gore for my enjoyment. While former Batman writer Scott
Snyder often featured a high level of gore in his Batman tales, it was always
in context and served the particular storylines well. Here, I just felt that a
lot of the blood and guts was unneccessary, including some gross scenes with
mutant hordes of Damien clones as well as some whale torture scenes.
But on the other hand, if your personal reading preferences
are more comfortable than me with stories soaked in blood and
torture, the story and visuals within that genre result in a
decently-entertaining multi-issue story arc segment. I do very much like
the creative idea of Batman pairing-up with various other DC heroes in his
pursuit of Ghul and attempt to regain the remains of his family before a
Frankenstein-like reanimation takes place. Its reminiscent of the old
Brave & Bold DC title that paired Batman each month with a different story
partner, providing a lot of reading freshness and fun with each new monthly
pairing.
So if you're looking for a mainstream,
traditional-style Batman tale, this issue most likely isn't for you. But
for a taste of an outside-the-creative-box Batman story that's more steeped in
gore and horror genre overtones than your usual Batman storyline, this comic
book is a well-produced and entertaining version of that genre for All Good
Batman readers to enjoy.
Birds Of Prey #29
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Christy Marx: Writer
Robson Rocha: Pencils
Jonathan Glapion & Marc
Deering: Inks
Chris Sotomayor: Colors
The latest version of DC's long-running Birds Of
Prey comic book title is currently up to issue #29. Regular readers know that
the Birds Of Prey female hero team has evolved over time and currently
consists of Batgirl, Black Canary and a ninja warrior character named Strix.
These days, the series presents the team as working with a male
superhero named Condor, with this foursome apparently allied with a
team of good guys led by Mother Eve, an ancient woman who has Ras Al Ghul-like
powers of personal immortality. Similar to the Batman & Aquaman comic book
reviewed above, the current plotline has everybody in conflict with bad guy
(and Batman's father-in-law!) Ras Al Ghul. The title is written by Christy
Marx with pencils by Robson Rocha, inks by the team of Jonathan Glapion and
Marc Deering and colors by Chris Sotomayor.
The issue #29 story segment is entitled "Eve
Of Battle" and alternates between two subplots. The first
storythread is soap opera-driven: as Black Canary's husband Kurt Lance lies in
a coma, Condor struggles with his conflicted feelings of unrequited love for
Canary and jealousy that Lance is still alive and therefore blocking his possibilities
of having a relationship with Canary. The second sub-plot reflects the
story title, as this large group team-up prepares for the arrival of Ras Al
Ghul, to fulfill an ancient prophesied battle between himself and Mother
Eve. The two subplots interweave as Ghul reaches-out to Condor, offering
to kill Kurt Lance if Condor stays out of the impending battle. The drama
heightens as Mother Eve, the Birds of Prey and Condor strategize and prepare
for the arrival of Ghul, and the issue concludes in a dramatic bridge to next
month's issue #30 as Ghul's forces hit the ground hard against our band of
heroes.
I haven't read an issue of Birds Of Prey for a few
years and as such enjoyed this particular issue for a few reasons. First,
the soap opera elements of the plot were well-crafted and frankly intriguing.
While the love triangle element was routine, the element of Condor striking a
Faustian deal with Ghul was very fresh and frankly shocking; I can't think of
another comic book tale in which a supposed good hero agrees to have his
romantic rival killed-off so he can get the girl himself, so a hats-off is due
to writer Christy Marx for having the storytelling guts to throw that element
into the storyline as an unexpected and interesting plot twist. Secondly,
I really enjoyed the yin-and-yang contrast between Mother Eve and Ras Al Ghul.
Its a very entertaining story concept to introduce a female good guy who has Al
Ghul's resurrection abilities and not only uses them for the cause of good, but
has an ancient, highly ritualized blood oath conflict with Ghul. Its very
neat to see this whole history between the pair coming to a dramatic head in
this current multi-issue story arc.
The artwork from this large team of visual creators
is also of very high quality, with a well-chosen visual style for this type of
large team-up, action-adventure plot. My only constructive criticism is
that it personally felt very weird for me to read a comic book tale in which
Black Canary is married to some guy who I've personally never heard of. As a
baby boomer, I'm used to generations of comic books in which Canary's romantic
interest is The Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. But that's just a personal
reaction that doesn't take away from the high quality production of this solidly
entertaining comic book issue. And maybe a little bit of storyverse
romantic change is a good thing! So for both regular fans of Birds Of Prey
as well as for All Good DC Readers who haven't been regular readers of this
title, the current Birds Of Prey ongoing storyline is well worth reading and
enjoying!
Moon Knight #2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Warren Ellis: Writer
Declan Shalvey: Art
Jordie Bellaire: Colors
The latest Moon Knight comic book title is
currently up to issue #2. Often referred to as Marvel's version of
Batman, the Moon Knight is former mercenary Marc Spector, who died on a mission
in Egypt under a statue of the ancient deity Khonshu, was returned to life
under the shadow of the moon god and as such fights crime Batman-style in a
Moon Knight costume. This new Moon Knight series is written by Warren
Ellis with art by Declan Shalvey and colors by Jordie Bellaire.
The issue #2 story segment is entitled
"Sniper" and unfolds in two extended scenes. Scene One juxtaposes the
daily routines of seven seemingly unconnected men and women, of whom we
eventually learn are the now-retired members of a former black ops for-hire
global security team. In turn, six of the seven folks are killed by the
aforementioned unidentified sniper. When the Moon Knight confronts the
killer, he explains that the operation is in revenge for the team
abandoning him for dead on an old botched mission. After an extended
battle scene between the duo that lasts for the entire second half of the
issue, the seventh still-living member of the old black ops team arrives on the
scene and kills the sniper, concluding the issue with a brief explanation to
the Moon Knight of why they all left their previous careers.
This is one stinkeroo failure of a comic
book. Once again, I took a chance on reading a Warren Ellis-written comic
book and once again he's proven that he's completely lost his previous writing
skills with which he received rightful acclaim for such early series as
Planetary. There's literally about one-quarter of a normal story idea and
plotline here, stretched superthin into a normal-length series of single-issue
comic book pages. Instead of roughly four pages of storyline (7 people
are hunted by an assassin, 6 get killed and Moon Knight shows up) to start a
plot, Ellis and team have the nerve to excruciatingly spread it out using three
very cheap tricks. One is to follow these 6 folks in the boring,
mind-numbing trivia details of their current lives for half of an entire issue,
while the second is to intersperse these panels with huge chucks of blank white
space trying to make it all look artsy to hide the thinness of detail. And the
third scam is to hide the lack of storyline with a 10-page extended fight scene
that deserved one or two pages, at most.
Ellis has previously used the trick of following
characters in trivial but overly-lengthy details of their lives in previous
failed comics. Its just more proof that he can't come-up with a normal-length
comic book plotline anymore and tries to complete his work assignments with
mindless filler. And to top it all off, we're forced to endure one of his
usual personal political rants, this time in the form of the sniper raging to
Moon Knight that his old black ops team not only deserves to die for abandoning
him but also because they now "work for banks."
Ellis needs to save his personal leftist British political
rantings for his own personal blog (if one exists, I have no desire to look for
it) and not force-feed it to readers just looking for some decent comic book
reading entertainment.
So in sum, bad comic book. Bad, bad comic
book. But the silver ling here is that I've finally learned my lesson and
hereby take the following pledge: I will never, ever review or read another
Warren Ellis-written new issue comic book. Feel free to take this pledge
with me. Go ahead. You'll feel all the better for it. Life will be
fresh and hopeful again, and all of the wonderful, comic book titles out there
that are not written by Warren Ellis will seem that much sweeter to enjoy.
In the words of the great Stan Lee: 'Nuff Said.
Silver Surfer #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Dan Slott & Michael Allred:
Writer
Michael Allred: Art
Laura Allred: Colors
After a few years hiatus, the Silver Surfer is once
again back in his own solo comic book title. The new series is co-written
by Dan Slott and Michael Allred, with art by Michael Allred and colors by Laura
Allred.
Issue #1 kicks-off a multi-issue story arc entitled
"The Most Important Person In The Universe," alternating
back-and-forth between two sub-plots. The first plotline presents the
childhood and present-day lives of Dawn and Eve, two sisters who along with
their father operate a Cape Cod seaside bed-and-breakfast inn. While Dawn is
the stay-at-home sister who deeply loves her Cape Cod town, Eve travels the
world marketing their business and chiding her sister for never leaving
home. Our second storythread stars the Silver Surfer, who is
contacted by Zed, the leader of an immense hidden galactic vacation
planet, who begs our hero to defend the world from an impending threat by
The Never Queen, a Galactus-like pending invader. Upon agreeing to do
so, the Surfer learns that the custom of the planet is to hold hostage the person "who
means the most to its appointed champion". Upon demanding to
see who has been kidnapped in his name, the Surfer learns on the final page of
issue #1 that Zed has kidnapped (you guessed it) old stay-at-home Earth woman Dawn
as the Surfer's emotional hostage.
This new comic book series excels as a wonderful
mash-up of the two distinctive yet compatible comic book creating styles of
this creative team. On the one hand, we're treated to the droll humor and
highly skilled scripting of A-list writer Dan Slott. I
personally loved his award-winning writing of She-Hulk a few years
back and he repeats that same element of lightness and humor in this
issue. On the other hand, we're also treated to the strong writing and
distinctive visual skills of the husband-and-wife Allred team. Their very
unique artistic stylings are perfectly suited to both the domestic Cape Cod
scenes and the alien stylings of both the galactic tourist planet and the
features of the aliens themselves. There's a just plain wonderful
sequence of Zed giving the Silver Surfer a tour of the funkiness of the
mega-tourism planet, including a poster-worthy two-page display of the
wacky place that's equal to the 1960's pop art that's clearly inspired the
Allreds in their career art stylings.
My personal favorite choice bit from this comic is
the creative team's great final panel, in which after ranting to Zed against
the concept of stealing whomever is supposed to mean the most to him, the
Surfer gazes upon Dawn and flatly states: "Okay. I have absolutely no idea
who that is." This a great plot twist, in that we the reader know from
Dawn's childhood flashback why she is so seemingly inexplicably important
to him. Its a neat storythread which should be lead to some very entertaining
comic book reading as the creative team expands upon it in
upcoming issues.
So a positive thumbs-up review recommendation is
well-deserved for this excellent new Silver Surfer title and a
tip-of-the-review-hat is also due to the head honchos at Marvel Comics,
for taking an outside-of-the-creative box chance and
greenlighting this unusual and unique creative team, whose talents are
adding a fun and fresh perspective to the well-known storyverse of the Silver
Surfer.
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to tell us which
American City has the unfortunate distinction of having the most
multiple pro sports losing streaks in the U.S. And our contest
winner is (drumroll, please...) Keith Martin, who correctly answered Cleveland,
whose NBA Cavaliers tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for worst professional
basketball losing streak and whose former Major League Baseball team, the
Cleveland Spiders (yeesh, what a team name!) in 1899 set the MLB losing streak
record. The Philadelphia Phillies also tied that record in the modern baseball
era, so we would have accepted Philly as a correct answer along with Cleveland,
but no one submitted Philadelphia as a contest entry. Congratulations to Keith
who wins our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Challenge!!!
The Bongo Congo Panel of Contest Judges have
decreed that we offer a late night television talk show trivia contest this
week. Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
no later than Wednesday, April 30 with the correct answer to the
following question: As you know, all late night talk shows (David Letterman,
Jimmy Kimmel, etc.) have an on-show musical house band. Your contest
challenge is to give us the correct full name of the house band on The Late,
Late Show With Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:37 a.m. weeknights) and also tell
us what is unique and different about the band compared to all of the other
house bands among the many late night talk shows on network
television. As always, in the event of multiple correct entries, our
contest winner will be selected via a roll of the dice. Please note that
our $10.00 first prize gift certificate to That's Entertainment is redeemable for
regular retail merchandise or in-store, ongoing specials, only.
That's all for now, so have two great NHL
playoffs-watching (Go Broons!) and comic book reading weeks and see you again
on Friday, May 2 Here In Bongo Congo!
