Alan Moore, Mick Anglo (writers)
Garry Leach, Don Lawrence, Anglo (artists)
The 1950s superhero Marvelman, whose name, due to a lawsuit filed by Marvel Comics, was later changed to Miracleman, has been the subject of considerable legal brouhaha for quite some time. Apart from the whole kerfuffle about his name, there was a long-running dispute about the ownership of the character that resulted, for reasons which are hazy to me, in somewhat sordid litigation between comic book creators Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman. That's since been settled with a helping hand from Marvel, who, as a result, now has access to the entire back catalog of Miracleman's adventures, including the ones that were written by comics legend Alan Moore back in the 1980s.
Miracleman #1, released last week, contained the first two of Moore's stories with artist Garry Leach, which originally appeared in the British anthology magazine Warrior. The story depicts middle-aged freelance reporter Michael Moran, who has constant migraines and dreams of flying. He is covering a news story when terrorists attack, and rather unexpectedly, during a migraine episode, Moran remembers a very special word and transforms himself completely into a superhero.
The issue also includes reprints of Miracleman's adventures in the 1950s as written by Anglo and drawn by Don Lawrence and even Anglo himself. These actually take up the bulk of the issue, in addition to a few "behind the scenes" extras. Of course, the Moore/Leach story is the main attraction here, and to be fair to Marvel, there's considerable value-added on their part; the digital color restoration looks amazing, and Chris Eliopoulous' new lettering is pleasing to the eye. It's a good enough read, but apparently the real groundbreaking stuff lies ahead.
The deal breaker here, unfortunately, is the astronomical cover price of the issue. At USD5.99 we only get fourteen pages of Moore's story, with everything else being Silver Age and "making of" content, none of which is particularly engaging. I cannot really recommend this, especially not to anyone with a fixed budget for comics; you might be better off waiting for the inevitable trade, because this issue just feels like a rip-off, and if future issues are just like it, in terms of content-to-price ratio, they will feel that way too.
2/5
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
The End is Nigh: A Review of Superior Spider Man #25 and the "Darkest Hour" Storyline
Dan Slott w/ Christos Gage (writers)
Humbeto Ramos (penciler)
Victor Olazaba (inker)
Edgar Delgado (colorist)
The cat's pretty much out of the bag now that Otto Octavius' days as the one, true "superior" Spider-Man are numbered. Peter Parker will be donning the tights in April, just in time for Spidey's new movie, and what, for me at least, has been a rather engaging, if protracted "What If?" story is finally coming to an end, for now.
With Superior Spider-Man #25, which marks the end of the four-issue "Darkest Hour" storyline, writer Dan Slott gets to check "interact with the Venom symbiote" off his list of "things for Spidey-Ock to do before Peter comes back." It was actually a pretty interesting story, which, apart from the appearance by Venom and his current host Flash Thompson, also featured Peter starting up his own business, getting more formally involved with Anna Maria Marconi (whom he introduces to Aunt May with somewhat awkward results) and increasing tension between him and several of Peter's supporting cast.
Superior Spider-Man #25 is basically a throwdown between Superior Venom and the Avengers, and I have to say it's just as well that Otto's tenure as the only Spider-Man is winding down because the fact that he was able to give them a hard time kind of strains credulity, even though he had the benefit of the symbiote and his goons to help him out. The outcome of the fight was inevitable, of course, but Slott and co-writer Christos Gage still managed to sneak in a couple of twists to the story, such as the unfortunate fate of the one person who had figured out Otto's secret, Carlie Cooper, and the suggestion that yet again, Otto has been able to throw everyone off his scent again...or so he thinks.
The problem with revealing Peter's return so long before it actually happens, (which was probably done so far in advance to give comic book retailers ample opportunity to stock up on Amazing Spider-Man #1 and all its variants), is that it blunts the narrative impact of most of the things that happen between now and then. There are some story beats clearly intended to wind readers up, like a panel in which Otto, while hugging a relieved Mary Jane, thinks "If I've fooled her, I've fooled everyone" a line which would have been a lot more meaningful if we the readers still didn't know when (or, in the case of the more impressionable readers, if) Peter would be coming back.
In any case, the issue, and the Venom storyline in general, was, like many of the stories over this "experiment" (as Marvel calls it), pretty fun to read. Slott and Gage paced the story pretty well over the four issues especially considering the running subplots that they had to juggle involving the lead-in to the grand finale that will begin with the next issue.
I know Humberto Ramos' art is often the subject of much derision and I can definitely understand why, but for my part I actually like his approach to the book. While his anatomy is rather chaotic I think he tells Slott's stories quite well. Given the choice, I would have preferred to have former Amazing Spider-Man Stefano Caselli on this book, but of the three rotating artists on this book, the other two being Ryan Stegman and Giuseppe Camuncoli, it's Ramos' work that still appeals to me the most. The thing that infuriates me about Ramos is that when he wants to, he CAN draw anatomically sound, pretty dynamic figures, as evidenced by his cover to Amazing Spider-Man #648, which he replicated for Superior Spider-Man #14, as well as some pretty decent swinging/action shots in the comics themselves, like this one. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only person out there defending Ramos' work considering that, as the artist chosen to draw the Amazing relaunch he clearly has a fanbase, but I do agree that his art could be a lot better than it is. The guy's like a latter-day Todd McFarlane (a guy whose often chaotic artwork I also enjoyed in spite of myself).
Slott's pretty much lined up his ducks for the next (and final) Superior Spider-Man storyline, "The Goblin War" and I have to say the buildup for this has been exceptional. Whatever happens to Spider-Ock after this, Marvel can definitely say he went out with a bang and not a whimper.
4/5
Humbeto Ramos (penciler)
Victor Olazaba (inker)
Edgar Delgado (colorist)
The cat's pretty much out of the bag now that Otto Octavius' days as the one, true "superior" Spider-Man are numbered. Peter Parker will be donning the tights in April, just in time for Spidey's new movie, and what, for me at least, has been a rather engaging, if protracted "What If?" story is finally coming to an end, for now.
With Superior Spider-Man #25, which marks the end of the four-issue "Darkest Hour" storyline, writer Dan Slott gets to check "interact with the Venom symbiote" off his list of "things for Spidey-Ock to do before Peter comes back." It was actually a pretty interesting story, which, apart from the appearance by Venom and his current host Flash Thompson, also featured Peter starting up his own business, getting more formally involved with Anna Maria Marconi (whom he introduces to Aunt May with somewhat awkward results) and increasing tension between him and several of Peter's supporting cast.
Superior Spider-Man #25 is basically a throwdown between Superior Venom and the Avengers, and I have to say it's just as well that Otto's tenure as the only Spider-Man is winding down because the fact that he was able to give them a hard time kind of strains credulity, even though he had the benefit of the symbiote and his goons to help him out. The outcome of the fight was inevitable, of course, but Slott and co-writer Christos Gage still managed to sneak in a couple of twists to the story, such as the unfortunate fate of the one person who had figured out Otto's secret, Carlie Cooper, and the suggestion that yet again, Otto has been able to throw everyone off his scent again...or so he thinks.
The problem with revealing Peter's return so long before it actually happens, (which was probably done so far in advance to give comic book retailers ample opportunity to stock up on Amazing Spider-Man #1 and all its variants), is that it blunts the narrative impact of most of the things that happen between now and then. There are some story beats clearly intended to wind readers up, like a panel in which Otto, while hugging a relieved Mary Jane, thinks "If I've fooled her, I've fooled everyone" a line which would have been a lot more meaningful if we the readers still didn't know when (or, in the case of the more impressionable readers, if) Peter would be coming back.
In any case, the issue, and the Venom storyline in general, was, like many of the stories over this "experiment" (as Marvel calls it), pretty fun to read. Slott and Gage paced the story pretty well over the four issues especially considering the running subplots that they had to juggle involving the lead-in to the grand finale that will begin with the next issue.
I know Humberto Ramos' art is often the subject of much derision and I can definitely understand why, but for my part I actually like his approach to the book. While his anatomy is rather chaotic I think he tells Slott's stories quite well. Given the choice, I would have preferred to have former Amazing Spider-Man Stefano Caselli on this book, but of the three rotating artists on this book, the other two being Ryan Stegman and Giuseppe Camuncoli, it's Ramos' work that still appeals to me the most. The thing that infuriates me about Ramos is that when he wants to, he CAN draw anatomically sound, pretty dynamic figures, as evidenced by his cover to Amazing Spider-Man #648, which he replicated for Superior Spider-Man #14, as well as some pretty decent swinging/action shots in the comics themselves, like this one. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only person out there defending Ramos' work considering that, as the artist chosen to draw the Amazing relaunch he clearly has a fanbase, but I do agree that his art could be a lot better than it is. The guy's like a latter-day Todd McFarlane (a guy whose often chaotic artwork I also enjoyed in spite of myself).
Slott's pretty much lined up his ducks for the next (and final) Superior Spider-Man storyline, "The Goblin War" and I have to say the buildup for this has been exceptional. Whatever happens to Spider-Ock after this, Marvel can definitely say he went out with a bang and not a whimper.
4/5
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
No Surprises Here...(Or Are There?)
There's no way to say this without sounding irritatingly smug, but, well, I called it (as I'm sure many other longtime fans did): Peter Parker will be back in the pages of Marvel Comics as Spider-Man by April 2014 in a relaunched Amazing Spider-Man book with yet another spanking new #1, just in time for Sony Pictures' new movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and with no less than Electro who will appear in the movie portrayed by Jamie Foxx, as the bad guy.
I have no intentions of taking Marvel to task for this decision, because in the year since Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker's body the crew responsible for dreaming up Spider-Man's adventures has given a decidedly different series of stories which have been, to be honest, quite entertaining. This wasn't the "clone saga" where Marvel attempted to replace married Peter with unmarried Ben Reilly; this was a finite endeavor, with a beginning, a middle and an end, and in a way that gave writer Dan Slott and his rotating crew of artists a freedom they would not have been able to enjoy had this been a permanent or long-term change. Beyond the more obvious story tropes--Spidey-Ock (or "Spock" as some members of the fan community have dubbed him) kills, Spidey-Ock brutalizes crooks, Spidey-Ock hires henchmen, etc.--what made Dan Slott's writing so darned compelling was that he didn't simply write a book about a bad guy trying to be good and failing at it. He wrote about somebody completely different from Peter Parker living his life, and how differently he made decisions, not all of which were necessarily worse than the ones Peter would have made.
Peter Parker (as he appears to outside world) now has a doctorate. He's running his own business, which includes charitable work. He's romantically involved with a dwarf (and for those who lack imagination, suffice it to say that he has...um...consummated that relationship). This is not stuff that is all going to go away when Peter returns to his own body, and it is to Slott's credit, I think, that he knows this fully well.
I won't spend a whole blog post trying to second guess Slott or Marvel, because apart from being entirely predictable as to Peter Parker's return they've thrown some pretty good curveballs. Ultimately, Otto's 31 issues in Peter's shoes will have left quite a bit of fallout, and the fun will be seeing how my favorite nerd-turned-superhero will handle it.
I have no intentions of taking Marvel to task for this decision, because in the year since Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker's body the crew responsible for dreaming up Spider-Man's adventures has given a decidedly different series of stories which have been, to be honest, quite entertaining. This wasn't the "clone saga" where Marvel attempted to replace married Peter with unmarried Ben Reilly; this was a finite endeavor, with a beginning, a middle and an end, and in a way that gave writer Dan Slott and his rotating crew of artists a freedom they would not have been able to enjoy had this been a permanent or long-term change. Beyond the more obvious story tropes--Spidey-Ock (or "Spock" as some members of the fan community have dubbed him) kills, Spidey-Ock brutalizes crooks, Spidey-Ock hires henchmen, etc.--what made Dan Slott's writing so darned compelling was that he didn't simply write a book about a bad guy trying to be good and failing at it. He wrote about somebody completely different from Peter Parker living his life, and how differently he made decisions, not all of which were necessarily worse than the ones Peter would have made.
Peter Parker (as he appears to outside world) now has a doctorate. He's running his own business, which includes charitable work. He's romantically involved with a dwarf (and for those who lack imagination, suffice it to say that he has...um...consummated that relationship). This is not stuff that is all going to go away when Peter returns to his own body, and it is to Slott's credit, I think, that he knows this fully well.
I won't spend a whole blog post trying to second guess Slott or Marvel, because apart from being entirely predictable as to Peter Parker's return they've thrown some pretty good curveballs. Ultimately, Otto's 31 issues in Peter's shoes will have left quite a bit of fallout, and the fun will be seeing how my favorite nerd-turned-superhero will handle it.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
A Comic Book That Reminds Us Why They Make Movies from Comics: Avengers: Endless Wartime
Warren Ellis (writer)
Mike McKone (artist)
Jason Keith (colorist)
In 2012, Joss Whedon dazzled audiences all around the world with his feature film adaptation of one of Marvel Comics' longest running series, The Avengers. Marvel has, since then, published several titles meant to capitalize on the success of this film, including, quite notably, their first stand-alone, original graphic novel in many years: Avengers: Endless Wartime.
The story kicks off in a fictional country in the Middle East named Slorenia, where a fictionalized version of the Taliban is using mercenaries in an attempt to depose the democratically-elected (i.e. U.S.-backed) government, with the U.S. responding by sending in drones. The mercenaries shoot down one of the drones, which is quite unlike anything they've ever encountered; it's basically a dragon-like creature fitted with U.S. military hardware. When the story hits the news, both Captain America and Thor recognize the strange creature as something terrifying from both their pasts, and the Avengers spring into action, not realizing that the threat is even greater than they imagine it to be.
I have been a fan writer/futurist Warren Ellis' work for a while now. I may not have his edgier stuff like Transmetropolitan or The Authority but I was hugely fond of his work on Marvel titles like Iron Man, Nextwave, and Astonishing X-Men. Considering that his six-issue Iron Man storyline "Extremis" was hugely influential and served as the main inspiration for Iron Man 3, it seems apropos to me that he should be tapped to write an Avengers graphic novel for audiences bowled over by last year's blockbuster. His narrative is vividly realized by artist Mike McKone and colorist Jason Keith, whose work befits the "widescreen" nature of this story, as well as the oversized format this work comes in.
The thing is, this graphic novel doesn't exactly play out like the movie, which was basically a much more elaborate re-telling of the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comic that pitted a then-fledgling superhero team against Loki, the god of mischief. There are three acts, and there are bad guys to fight, and the story is not completely unpredictable, but Ellis being Ellis, this still doesn't read like a typical four-color superhero story, and that, to my mind, is a good thing.
An equally good thing is that Ellis keeps a lot of the humor that has become a staple of the Marvel films, particularly in terms of the banter exchanged between the characters like Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and the Black Widow. Captain America and Thor are presented very much as the archetypes that appeared in the recent movies, but Ellis nuances them a bit for the benefit of readers looking for a little bit more. Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk shows up midway through the book and plays a pivotal role to the resolution of the story. Finally, as overexposed as I find Wolverine, I have to grudgingly admit that Ellis, who has written him in X books, found a pretty good use for him as a member of the Avengers, even if it did play up to certain character cliches.
As much as I enjoyed the book, though, it wasn't quite a home run for me. The depiction of Iron Man, for example, felt like several steps back from the previously established comics continuity. Tony Stark still needs his chest piece to stay alive? He needs machines to strip off his armor? That felt distinctly like movie-fan-service to me, especially considering how, prior to the Marvel films, Tony had not needed his chest piece to live for quite some time. Coming from someone who revolutionized Iron Man as Ellis himself did, this regression felt a little disappointing. Granted, this new movie-influenced status quo was probably established before this graphic novel, but it still feels like unnecessary pandering that didn't even have to be mentioned. Perhaps even more grating for me was the way Bruce Banner repeatedly referred to the Hulk as "the other guy" in a phrase clearly lifted from Whedon's movie script. If Ellis had wanted to remind the reader that this book was principally intended for movie fans, he could not have been less subtle. These little things took me out of the story, which is a shame because Ellis' dialogue is really wonderful to read in all other respects.
I also have an issue with the creatures presented as the threat here; Captain America and Thor seem terrified by them, and yet the story begins with a rag-tag mercenary being able to knock one of them out of the sky with a run-of-the-mill rocket launcher rather than an Ultimate Nullifier or an Infinity Gem. Later, Hawkeye is able to take one down with a few of his trick arrows, and he even expresses out loud what some readers are probably thinking at this point: is this creature a serious threat or not? There doesn't seem to be consistency in how these creatures are treated in terms of threat level, even though the story is less about the danger and more about the self-perpetuation of the military-industrial complex and the crazy things people are willing to weaponize.
My final issue with the book is one of presentation. At 110 pages, all of which contain both text and lavish art (as opposed to those books that cheat by having blacked out pages and a few panels of text), this book is pretty heavy on content, and is, in that respect a very good purchase. However, because of the larger-than-normal dimensions, a relatively thin-gauge paper, and a decision on Marvel's packaging department to not include any extras whatsoever, the book looks embarrassingly thin, and more like a Dr. Seuss book than something marketed as a graphic NOVEL. Even slightly thicker paper and at least a dozen page of extras could have gone a long way. The recent Rocketeer hardcover I reviewed a few posts back only had a paltry 80-plus pages of actual story content, but it still looks thicker than this book because of a canny choice of paper as well as some strategically-chosen extras. I would have loved to have seen McKone's artistic process or even some sketches; his work here is excellent. There is a feature here that allows the reader to download the digital version of the book which I have yet to redeem, but unless that digital version contains additional content, I have to say I'm not impressed, at least by that feature. It's certainly not a substantial quibble and has no overall bearing on the score I'm giving this book, but some extras would have really hit the spot for me.
This book is meant to kick off a new line of original graphic novels by Marvel, the next one, due in April this year being a Spider-Man graphic novel by heavyweights Mark Waid, James Robinson and Gabriele Dell'Otto, and with no less than Jim Starlin, the first creator ever to produce a graphic novel for Marvel, coming up with a brand new OGN starring Thanos sometime later this year. Content-wise, if Avengers: Endless Wartime is any indication, I'm sure they're something to look forward to, but I honestly hope they improve the presentation a bit.
4/5
Mike McKone (artist)
Jason Keith (colorist)
In 2012, Joss Whedon dazzled audiences all around the world with his feature film adaptation of one of Marvel Comics' longest running series, The Avengers. Marvel has, since then, published several titles meant to capitalize on the success of this film, including, quite notably, their first stand-alone, original graphic novel in many years: Avengers: Endless Wartime.
The story kicks off in a fictional country in the Middle East named Slorenia, where a fictionalized version of the Taliban is using mercenaries in an attempt to depose the democratically-elected (i.e. U.S.-backed) government, with the U.S. responding by sending in drones. The mercenaries shoot down one of the drones, which is quite unlike anything they've ever encountered; it's basically a dragon-like creature fitted with U.S. military hardware. When the story hits the news, both Captain America and Thor recognize the strange creature as something terrifying from both their pasts, and the Avengers spring into action, not realizing that the threat is even greater than they imagine it to be.
I have been a fan writer/futurist Warren Ellis' work for a while now. I may not have his edgier stuff like Transmetropolitan or The Authority but I was hugely fond of his work on Marvel titles like Iron Man, Nextwave, and Astonishing X-Men. Considering that his six-issue Iron Man storyline "Extremis" was hugely influential and served as the main inspiration for Iron Man 3, it seems apropos to me that he should be tapped to write an Avengers graphic novel for audiences bowled over by last year's blockbuster. His narrative is vividly realized by artist Mike McKone and colorist Jason Keith, whose work befits the "widescreen" nature of this story, as well as the oversized format this work comes in.
The thing is, this graphic novel doesn't exactly play out like the movie, which was basically a much more elaborate re-telling of the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comic that pitted a then-fledgling superhero team against Loki, the god of mischief. There are three acts, and there are bad guys to fight, and the story is not completely unpredictable, but Ellis being Ellis, this still doesn't read like a typical four-color superhero story, and that, to my mind, is a good thing.
An equally good thing is that Ellis keeps a lot of the humor that has become a staple of the Marvel films, particularly in terms of the banter exchanged between the characters like Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and the Black Widow. Captain America and Thor are presented very much as the archetypes that appeared in the recent movies, but Ellis nuances them a bit for the benefit of readers looking for a little bit more. Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk shows up midway through the book and plays a pivotal role to the resolution of the story. Finally, as overexposed as I find Wolverine, I have to grudgingly admit that Ellis, who has written him in X books, found a pretty good use for him as a member of the Avengers, even if it did play up to certain character cliches.
As much as I enjoyed the book, though, it wasn't quite a home run for me. The depiction of Iron Man, for example, felt like several steps back from the previously established comics continuity. Tony Stark still needs his chest piece to stay alive? He needs machines to strip off his armor? That felt distinctly like movie-fan-service to me, especially considering how, prior to the Marvel films, Tony had not needed his chest piece to live for quite some time. Coming from someone who revolutionized Iron Man as Ellis himself did, this regression felt a little disappointing. Granted, this new movie-influenced status quo was probably established before this graphic novel, but it still feels like unnecessary pandering that didn't even have to be mentioned. Perhaps even more grating for me was the way Bruce Banner repeatedly referred to the Hulk as "the other guy" in a phrase clearly lifted from Whedon's movie script. If Ellis had wanted to remind the reader that this book was principally intended for movie fans, he could not have been less subtle. These little things took me out of the story, which is a shame because Ellis' dialogue is really wonderful to read in all other respects.
I also have an issue with the creatures presented as the threat here; Captain America and Thor seem terrified by them, and yet the story begins with a rag-tag mercenary being able to knock one of them out of the sky with a run-of-the-mill rocket launcher rather than an Ultimate Nullifier or an Infinity Gem. Later, Hawkeye is able to take one down with a few of his trick arrows, and he even expresses out loud what some readers are probably thinking at this point: is this creature a serious threat or not? There doesn't seem to be consistency in how these creatures are treated in terms of threat level, even though the story is less about the danger and more about the self-perpetuation of the military-industrial complex and the crazy things people are willing to weaponize.
My final issue with the book is one of presentation. At 110 pages, all of which contain both text and lavish art (as opposed to those books that cheat by having blacked out pages and a few panels of text), this book is pretty heavy on content, and is, in that respect a very good purchase. However, because of the larger-than-normal dimensions, a relatively thin-gauge paper, and a decision on Marvel's packaging department to not include any extras whatsoever, the book looks embarrassingly thin, and more like a Dr. Seuss book than something marketed as a graphic NOVEL. Even slightly thicker paper and at least a dozen page of extras could have gone a long way. The recent Rocketeer hardcover I reviewed a few posts back only had a paltry 80-plus pages of actual story content, but it still looks thicker than this book because of a canny choice of paper as well as some strategically-chosen extras. I would have loved to have seen McKone's artistic process or even some sketches; his work here is excellent. There is a feature here that allows the reader to download the digital version of the book which I have yet to redeem, but unless that digital version contains additional content, I have to say I'm not impressed, at least by that feature. It's certainly not a substantial quibble and has no overall bearing on the score I'm giving this book, but some extras would have really hit the spot for me.
This book is meant to kick off a new line of original graphic novels by Marvel, the next one, due in April this year being a Spider-Man graphic novel by heavyweights Mark Waid, James Robinson and Gabriele Dell'Otto, and with no less than Jim Starlin, the first creator ever to produce a graphic novel for Marvel, coming up with a brand new OGN starring Thanos sometime later this year. Content-wise, if Avengers: Endless Wartime is any indication, I'm sure they're something to look forward to, but I honestly hope they improve the presentation a bit.
4/5
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