Here In Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo has decreed that we celebrate this month's early and very warm arrival of Spring with reviews of a wide variety of newly-arrived comic books. So let's get right to it and see how this variety of new issues fare:
Good King Leonardo has decreed that we celebrate this month's early and very warm arrival of Spring with reviews of a wide variety of newly-arrived comic books. So let's get right to it and see how this variety of new issues fare:
Avengers Assemble #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Brian Michael Bendis: Writer
Mark Bagley: Pencils
Danny Miki: Inks
Paul Mounts: Colors
Marvel has added to its wide range of Avengers titles
with the recent issue #1 release of the new Avengers Assemble title. While the
storyline and concept most certainly stand alone from the plot of the Avengers
motion picture scheduled for release on May 4, the timing of the new comic book
is obviously tied to the marketing of the movie, particularly since a movie
advertisement is splashed across the top of the issue #1 cover. The new series
is scripted by A-list writer Brian Michael Bendis with pencils by Mark Bagley,
inks by Danny Miki and colors by Paul Mounts.
The issue #1 plotline kicks off with a new beginning
for the Avengers, as the current 14-member team both celebrates and settles-into
their brand new skyscraper headquarters built for them by Tony Stark/Iron
Man and located in the heart of New York City. On a parallel track, we witness
a new group of international supervillains named Zodiac forming to take-on the
reconstituted Avengers. The plot further splits into two parallel
storythreads. The first sub-plot centers on The Hulk, who stumbles across a
U.S. Army convoy under attack in the Southwest desert by an unknown assailant.
The attack unleashes a captive with odd water-based superpowers who quickly
flees the scene, leaving the Hulk (of course!) to be blamed for the entire
mess. Our second sub-plot features Hawkeye and Natasha Romanov/The Black Widow,
who are dispatched as Avengers members to Latvia to stop the anticipated theft
of an artifact. Heavy battle action erupts as Iron Man and Thor join the
pitched battle and its revealed that Zodiac is behind the ongoing theft.
This is a decent quality and entertaining issue #1
kick-off to the new Avengers Assemble title. There's no grand Marvel Universe
event series unfolding here, just a well-presented story produced by a veteran
writer and skilled art team. I liked the balance of sub-plots that Bendis
weaves into one overall story arc, starting with a new team assembly
effort/beginning for both the Avengers and the group of bad guys, splitting-off
into two parallel smaller sub-plots and signaling by issue's end that the battle
will widen in next month's issue to pull everyone on both sides into the fray.
It's also nice to see that an entertaining new storyline can be produced within
the basic storyverse of The Avengers, without having to manufacture a huge, new
publishing mega-event in order to capture the attention of readers.
As a final review comment, its worth noting that the
22-page main story is followed by an 8-page preview from issue #1 of the
well-publicized new Avengers Vs. X-men title, scheduled for sale in April. The
preview is very entertaining and piqued my interest enough to recommend that all
good Marvel readers get in line early to grab a copy of this upcoming new
"battle of the A-list Marvel superhero teams" comic book event.
Buckaroo Banzai: Tears Of A Clone #1
Publisher: Moonstone Books
Earl Mac Rauch: Writer
David Daza: Art
Patrick J. Williams: Colors
Moonstone has just released issue #1 of a 2-issue
mini-series entitled Buckaroo Banzai: Tears Of A Clone. For those too young to
remember, "The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension!" was
one of the leading cult hit sci-fi genre B-movies of the 1980's. The film
starred Peter Weller as good scientist/Renaissance Man Buckeroo Banzai, who led
his merry band of eclectic sidekicks called "The Hong Kong Cavaliers" in a movie
adventure to save the world from the alien reptile race the Red Lectroids. The
movie featured several well-known 1980's-era actors including John Lithgow, Jeff
Goldblum and Ellen Barkin. Apparently, Moonstone has been publishing various
Buckeroo Banzai comic titles off-and-on since 2006, with this being the latest
two-issue edition.
The issue #1 storyline kicks-off by introducing
various members of The Hong Kong Cavaliers as they attend a rock concert
performed by Buckeroo. The gang quickly learns that a clone of deceased
group member Penny Priddy exists and is performing as a stripper at a nearby
club. The mid-section of the story focuses on Buckeroo and the gang pulling her
out of the club while confronting the club owner regarding the origins of the
clone. The final third of the tale consists of a battle scene between the
heroes and the mysterious cloners, who turn-out to be disguised Red
Lectroids.
I've summarized the plot of this issue as briefly as
possible in order to focus my review energies on warning all good readers to
stay as far away from this comic book as possible. The issue's a disappointing
failure for two reasons, the first being a very disjointed plot presentation.
The story is just so garbled that I had to backtrack three or four times through
various story sections just to summarize the basic story concept in the brief
paragraph above. But the biggest failure here is the writer's decision to
present this tale as loaded-down with raunchiness; every scene is brimming with
pornograhic references, heavy sexual themes and adult humor that isn't even a
bit funny. I knew we were in for trouble when a lame joke about Buckeroo
playing his concert to raise money for a "juvenile herpes" charity is beaten to
death repeatedly for the first four pages of the story.
I can't understand why someone would warp the
cult-hit kitchiness of the 1980's movie version of Buckeroo Banzai by
wringing-out all of the fun and porning-it-up with this comic. I've got nothing
against adult story elements; the same story strategy in the hands of a quality
writer such as Howard Chaykin can result in a comic book masterpiece.
Unfortunately, this failed attempt is so lame that its actually more boring and
weird than offensive reading, although it is definitely a double insult: both to
the original fanbase of the Buckeroo Banzai cult film hit and to the
sensibilities of modern-day comic fans, who certainly could enjoy a well-crafted
tale of this B-movie franchise without the need to inject such creepy jadedness
into the story. But we've wasted enough seconds of our lives musing over this
comic. Run fast and far away from this comic and enjoy all of the other good
stuff recommended this week by myself and my fellow reviewers.
Angel & Faith #7
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Christos Gage: Writer
Rebekah Isaacs: Art
Dan Jackson: Colors
Among several comics published within the "Buffy The
Vampire Slayer" franchise by Dark Horse Comics is an Angel & Faith title,
currently up to issue #7. For those few fanboys and fangirls unfamiliar with
the various Buffy characters, Angel is the over 200-year-old vampire who still
has a soul and as such fights on the side of good against demonic evil, while
Faith is a vampire slayer on par with Buffy herself. Actor David Boreanaz
played Angel both in Buffy and in the popular Angel spin-off television series,
while actress Eliza Dushku played the emotionally-troubled Faith in both t.v.
series. An inside-the-front-cover narrative explains that both of our heroes
have left the California setting of all things Buffy and currently live and work
in London.
Issue #7 is part two of a multi-issue story arc
entitled "Daddy Issues" and alternates between two sub-plots. In one
storyline, Angel confronts his old vampire sidekick Drusilla, who is living in
London and has seemingly shed her very evil ways. Having linked-up with an odd
demon, Drusilla channels the demon's powers to ease the troubles of
emotionally-damaged London residents. Naturally, Angel mistrusts this seemingly
positive enterprise, resulting in much conflict and mayhem playing-out between
the pair in issue #7. The alternating subplot is more germaine to the story
title, as Faith's alcoholic father unexpectedly arrives from Boston for a
visit. Given Faith's troubled family past, the expected trust issues play-out
panel-by-panel; its inevitable by issue's end that while Faith begins to accept
and trust her father, readers are exposed to the beginnings of an obvious
betrayal by the visiting Dad which will likely take center stage in next month's
issue #8.
I'm on a personal all-things-Buffy roll at the
moment, having watched over the past three months the first 4 seasons of Buffy
and the first season of Angel on dvd. As I'm smack in the middle of the Season
2 Angel dvd, I'm expecting only the highest quality of entertainment from any
and all of the Dark Horse Buffy universe comics. I'm happy to report that this
comic book didn't disappoint in meeting my expectations. Worcester native
Christos Gage brings his usual A-game scripting to the title, providing us with
a story that entertains both for hardcore Buffy fans and those readers
unfamiliar with the structural details of the story franchise. Most effective
is Gage's decision to utilize the t.v. show's structure of effective flashbacks
within story segments. As such, we have an issue #7 storyline that advances the
present-day plot by flashing-back to 19th century details of the relationship
between Angel and Drusilla, adding both understanding and richness to the
consequences of Angel's behavior in the present-day story scenes.
A final review shout-out is also due to the art team,
which does a solid job in conveying the facial resemblances of the story
characters to the well-known actors from the television series. And I just
can't resist a quick tip-of-the-review-hat to writer Gage for staying true to
his Worcester roots and sneaking-in brief Red Sox and Patriots remarks from
Faith's visiting Dad! So an all-around positive thumbs-up review recommendation
to add this entertaining Angel and Faith comic book to your ever-expanding new
comic book issues reading pile.
Super Crooks #1
Publisher: Millarworld Limited/Marvel Entertainment
Mark Millar: Writer
Leinil Yu: Art
Gerry Alanguilan: Inks
Sunny Gho: Colors
Millarworld Limited has recently added to the new
comic book shelves issue #1 of a new series entitled Super Crooks. Already
well-known for titles such as Kick-Ass and Nemesis, Mark Millar scripts this new
title himself, with art by the team of artist Leinil Yu, inker Gerry Alanguilan
and colorist Sunny Gho.
The concept of this new series is that after getting
fed-up with constantly losing every encounter with the multitudes of heroes
patrolling the New York City region, electrical-powered bad guy Johnny Bolt has
an epiphany: why not assemble a team of super crooks, get out of Dodge and
set-up business in a place outside of the normal patrolling area of the
superhero elite? Issue #1 details the futility of the New York City situation,
portraying the consistently losing efforts of Johnny and his criminal allies
including his psychic fiance Kasey. When their small-time elderly crook buddy
Angel gets in trouble with the Vegas mob and comes to the pair for help, Johnny
cooks-up the scheme to gather-up the old crew and hightail it to Spain as a
potential Superhero free zone. As Johnny utters in a very memorable line, Spain
should work for their plan because "I've never heard of a Captain Spain, have
you?" By issue's end, the trio begins to execute their plan by calling their
old villain buddies and heading for Spain in next month's issue.
I just plain loved the originality of this new comic
book. This is one of those concepts that's both fresh and so obvious as a story
idea that you have to ask yourself why someone didn't come-up with the idea
before: why keep wacking your head against the crimefighting wall of several
hundred New York superheros; in the real world, some supervillains would have
the brains to go somewhere else, be it Indiana, the south of France or yes,
Spain, and only worry about the local human-powered cops!
There are at least three additional strengths to this
series beyond the fresh story concept. First is the very high quality of the
artwork, including Leinil Yu's art (on par with the likes of such luminaries as
Neal Adams and Adam Kubert) and Sunny Gho's always wonderful color scheme.
Secondly is writer Mark Millar's talent in bringing us a first rate story with
credible, real-world dialogue. And third is the decision by Millar to make
these guys sympathetic to the reader. These aren't supervillains out to harm
mankind; instead, we're presented with characters who are small-time crooks
looking to burgle and rob for money, who just happen to have a few psychic or
superpowered abilities to help them make a buck along the way. These are just
everyday crooks with the word "super" thrown into their name for good measure.
I suspect we'll be rooting for these folk to make some bucks as their adventures
unfold in Spain.
Two quick final review comments. First, Millar's
credible and effective use of adult themes and language in this comic book only
further emphasizes the ineptness of the creative team in the Buckeroo Banzai
comic reviewed above, who only deepen their title's mess of a story by
inappropriately mixing adult topics into a failure of a storyline. And
secondly, after reading Super Crooks, I now have to e-mail my cousin Michael in
Spain and ask whether Spain is as superhero-free as Millar proposes. Perhaps
our anti-hero Johnny Bolt is wrong and there really is a Captain Spain fighting
crime for Truth, Justice and The Spanish Way!
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to identify which
U.S. President is credited as being the inventor of the coathanger. And our
winner selected via a roll of the contest dice from among a handful of correct
entries is (drumroll, please)...Kevin Browne, who correctly identified President
Thomas Jefferson as our jack-of-all-trades presidential inventor. While the
mass-produced wire hanger that we're most familiar with today was patented in
1903 by Albert J. Parkhouse, Jefferson invented the original wooden version
coathanger. In my own humble opinion, while Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and
Nixon sheparded ongoing funding of our successful space program to the moon,
Jefferson's effort is the most useful achievement of any President on behalf of
everyday American life! Congrats to Kevin who wins our first prize $10.00 gift
certificate to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Announcement!!!
This week's contest is our second consecutive
challenge featuring a presidential trivia question. Your challenge is to e-mail
us at Gordon_A@msn.com no later than Wednesday,
April 11 with the correct answer to the following question: Which U.S. President
is famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) for having gotten
himself stuck in the White House bathtub? Supposedly, it took four White House
staffers and a gallon of butter to dislodge this Commander-In-Chief from his
captivity. And no, the answer is not Bill Clinton back in his overweight, junk
food-binging days! As always, in the event of more than one correct entry, our
winner of the first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment will
be selected via a roll of the dice. Please note that the gift certificate is
redeemable for regular retail merchandise or in-store ongoing specials,
only.
That's all for now, so have two great early Spring
yardwork and comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday, April 13 Here
In Bongo Congo!
