Category Archives: Reviews

Review: Rapture #4

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RAPTURE_004_COVER-A_SUAYAN“The final battle for life itself has arrived! As Babel makes its last assault on the heavenly realm beyond the Deadside, a band of Earth’s most dangerous heroes – Ninjak, Shadowman, Punk Mambo, and Tama the Geomancer – must halt its eons-old campaign once and for all…or face a global disaster of biblical proportions! Plus, at the center of it all: The undiscovered truth about Shadowman that will change the Valiant Universe forever!”

The final chapter of Rapture has arrived, so does the miniseries go out with a bang, a whimper, or something else?

Well… it’s actually a little bit of all three, if I’m totally honest.

Let’s start with the art, shall we? The art team of Cafu and Juan Jose Ryp with Francis Portella, colours by Andrew Dalhouse and letterer Dave Sharpe deliver a visual tour de force that looks fantastic on the review copy pdf (which typically means that the physical comic will pop harder than a balloon on a cactus). Make no mistake that while there are still one or two panels where the proportions seem a off the comic looks as beautiful as a deep breath on an early Autumn morning.

Rapture has been a series in which the lettering has taken on a character defining trait as Sharpe gives Babel’s speech patterns a brilliantly inventive twist that gives the character as much life as the writing itself. Unfortunately Babel is also the weaker point to the story because he never really feels like a threat this issue; after three issues building him up we find out that when push comes to shove… the conclusion is almost disappointingly forgone.

That being said, Matt Kindt does pull enough character fueled moments out of his hat to compensate, and calling this comic a disappointment would be a gross exaggeration.

Rapture #4 does bring a satisfying conclusion to the miniseries, and it does so in spite of the villain fading into the background a little – though if you told me that the highlight of this issue in terms of the story wouldn’t be the final confrontation with Babel but rather the character interactions and the echoes of things yet to come then I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But, here we are. Ultimately this is still a solid story, and one that fans of both Ninjak and Shadowman should find quite compelling.

Story: Matt Kindt Art: Cafu and Juan Jose Ryp with Francis Portella
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Story: 7.75 Art: 9 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Star Wars: Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu #1

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As a Star Wars fan who grew up in the Prequel Era, the purple lightsaber wielding Jedi as played by Samuel L. Jackson, Mace Windu, has always been one of my favorite characters. He gets his own solo miniseries in Star Wars: Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu #1, and Matt Owens’ comic isn’t a breakaway hit with a generic mission to a Separatist planet called Hissrich with a small band of Jedi yadda yadda. The planet is supposed to have a hostile natural environment, but the only threats so far are a platoon of battle droids and sort of intriguing, sort of underwhelming Big Bad. His writing for the characters themselves isn’t bad with the usual confident Master Windu doubting himself after so many Jedi lost their lives at the Geonosis, and Ki-Adi-Mundi and Yoda providing supporting in the early council scenes. He’s not bad at banter either with the blind, mostly pacifist Prosset providing some dry one-liners as comic relief to go with his ass kicking.

But the real reason to pick it up is the sharp artwork of comics legend and Milestone co-founder Denys Cowan with help from inker Roberto Poggi and colorist Guru eFx. Star Wars has been around for 40 years, and there have been all sorts of vehicles, but the team’s stealth fighter-meets-transport ship Westwind is an inspired piece of design from Cowan and company. It’s kind of flashy, yet practical nature reflects the personality of its pilot, Rissa, who along with one of the more underrated Jedi, Kit Fisto, rounds out the fearsome foursome. She’s a huge fangirl of Mace Windu and wants to impress by charging right ahead, which isn’t the best idea on a stealth mission. And this is where sparks literally fly in Cowan and Poggi’s work with the Jedi easily defeating battle droids, and Guru eFx throwing in some purple when Windu takes out a column of them. They aren’t bad in the more thoughtful scenes with Yoda starting to look weary as he must martial the peaceful Jedi into war, and Mace Windu showing the charisma of a leader picking his team, yet still a little hesitant about going into battle. Rissa is all wide eyed wonder though as seen in some close-up panels during the battle droid battle scene.

Instead of having everyone all rah rah to slice up battle droids and take out Separatists, Owens, Cowan, and Poggi use their main cast of four Jedi in Mace Windu #1 to portray a variety of POVs about the Clone Wars. Mace himself is cool with being both a general of the Republic and a Jedi master, but is constantly bringing up the dead Jedi he left behind at Geonosis and reminding himself that sometimes peace involves war. Even more skeptical than him is Prosset, who flat out says, “War is no place for a Jedi” before going a super secret stealth mission. He has a zen approach to combat almost like the peaceful DC Comics superhero Dove taking out even his non-sentient droid opponents in a clean and seamless manner.

Of course, Rissa is the impetuous youngster, who hasn’t experience the horrors of war yet and gives the droids demeaning nickname while chomping at the bit to take them out and mentioning Mace Windu’s lightsaber skill quite a few times. In some Star Wars stories that probably aren’t canon now, Mace is a practitioner of the aggressive Vaapad lightsaber form, which is close to the Dark Side. So, perhaps he sees a bit of himself in her headstrong approach to battle. For now, it looks Kit Fisto is there to be the good natured butt of the snarkier Rissa and Prosset’s jokes, and Cowan, Poggi, and Guru eFx nail his super cool green tentacle look.

Mace Windu #1’s mission plot isn’t groundbreaking, and a decent amount of Matt Owens’ story is concerned in introducing the team and re-introducing the Clone War conflict. However, he gives each member of Mace’s team a unique personality, and Denys Cowan and Roberto Poggi draw the hell out of some lightsaber battles, vehicles, and Jedi council deliberations so it’s worth at least a flip through.

Story: Matt Owens Pencils: Denys Cowan Inks: Roberto Poggi Colors: Guru eFx
Story: 7.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Faith and the Future Force #2

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FFF_002_COVER-A_DJURDJEVICFaith Herbert and Neela Sethi, Timewalker’s first attempt at saving time from being unwritten has failed…which means it’s time to rewind the clocks and start all over again! But this time, Faith is taking a new approach with a whole new team of heroes to help save the day! But will these new recruits be the key to saving all of time from a calculating A.I. foe, or is history doomed to repeat itself with a failure of incalculable proportions?

Full disclosure: if you didn’t read the last issue, you’ll be lost here. Don’t expect any of the following to make sense (and expect a few spoilers).

Faith and the Future Force #2 is an interesting beast. If you read and enjoyed the first issue then this one is, quite literally, more of the same with a little bit of a skin change, so you should know exactly what to expect. Written by long time Faith scribe Jody Houser, this issue is every bit as fun and enjoyable as the first installment that had Neela Sethi recruit Faith to battle a machine that was eating history… but Faith wasn’t enough, and the hero fell to the robot. Issue #2 opens where the previous issue closed, with the Renegades having joined Faith and Neela (yeah, Faith died last issue, but Neela went to a different point in time and grabbed Faith again. Paradox? Who cares, it’s awesome) and they’re about to try again.

FFF_002_002As far as time travel style comics go, this is an enjoyable diversion from your daily life for however long it takes you to read it, whether that’s ten or fifteen minutes… Faith and the Future Force #2 carries on from the previous issue in all the right ways. Faith is still the embodiment of every comic fan and nerd in how she reacts to the world around her, and the introduction of the Renegades only brings more great little moments to the fore.

I enjoyed the last issue quite a bit, and honestly the quality doesn’t dip too much here at all in the writing department. Artistically this is equally as solid despite a slight shift in the artists involved in the production of the comic (Steven Segovia dropped off the comic for reasons not quite to me known, and Barry Kitson has been joined by Diego Bernard with Juan Castro) but the quality remains just as high as the previous issue with some brilliantly reflected nods to Valiant’s recent past as the comic progresses.

As far as time travel style comics go, this is an enjoyable diversion from your daily life for however long it takes you to read it. If you’re in you’re LCS in the next couple of days and you see this there, take a chance on the series. Faith and the Future Force #2 is a fun story that explores the intricacies of time travel and a hero’s willingness to save the world.

Story: Jody Houser Art: Barry Kitson, Diego Bernard with Juan Castro 
Colours: Ulises Arreola Letters: Dave Sharpe
Story: 8.75 Art: 9.5 Overall: 8.75 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Secret Empire #10

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Can there be any redemption for Captain America as the Secret Empire starts to crumble?

It’s been a while since I reviewed Marvel‘s Secret Empire and to catch up, my general thought is the entire event thinks it’s smart but is paper thin and equally deep. With Secret Empire #10 the main event wraps up here with an Omega issue left to come out and the question is out there, how will it all get resolved?

As I predicted so long ago, Kobik has “returned” Steve in a way and he must battle himself, a concept that I completely predicted and shows the lack of imagination that writer Nick Spencer has displayed throughout this event. Of course Hydra Steve is defeated and the heroes are returned in a way (some will remain dead) that’s a “no shit Sherlock” ending we all knew was coming. But the bigger question is what’s addressed as far as ramifications in this “final” issue… and the answer is very little.

Spencer leaves us with “hope” and the heroes winning though millions are dead, the government is still full of individuals that sided with genocidal fascists, and neighbors we saw as racists suddenly are friendly again. In just a few pages it’s as if everything magically returns to normal like the nine previous issues and over a year of story never happened. I’m hoping some of these issues will be addressed in what’s to come from other writers but Spencer does himself no favors in this conclusion. The answer to racism and murder is… magically making it go away and no repercussions? Neighbors who had no problems sending you to a concentration camp suddenly being your best friends? Millions dead and no trial?

There’s only so much you can do in one issue but the fact none of this is addressed and the event ends on such a “knowing is half the battle” note that any impact is muted and anything interesting that could have been said is missed. As usual with Spencer’s writing I find the execution lacking compared to the concept and a writer who thinks he’s smarter than he really is when it comes to commentary. Like a Michael Bay film, it’s sound and fury signifying nothing. And like a Michael Bay film the comic has numerous call backs such as to the iconic scene of Iron Man fighting Captain America in Civil War. Even in the titanic battle for the fate of the world Spencer gives us no originality or thought.

Artist Steve McNiven does what he can with it all delivering all of the action. Here though some of that stumbles as well with inconsistent character design. While McNiven focuses on a returned Captain America and he looks great other detail is dropped. Not the usual quality I’d expect from his art.

Spencer’s entire event can be summed up by one scene in this issue were an Inhuman who after having been held in a concentration camp and when presented with a form that lets the United States government off the hook decides to sign it instead of a lawyer look at it. It’s as if to ask the readers to move on and forget this ever happened… I wish I could…. I wish I could…

Story: Nick Spencer Art: Steve McNiven Cover Art: Mark Brooks
Story: 3.0 Art: 7.25 Overall: 4.0 Recommendation: Pass

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Movie Review: Batman and Harley Quinn is Adult Nostalgia

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Batman and Harley Quinn finds Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue (a.k.a. The Floronic Man) embarking on an ecological quest to save the planet – and, unfortunately, eliminate most of humankind along the way. To save humanity, Batman and Nightwing are forced to enlist Harley Quinn to catch Poison Ivy, Harley’s BFF and frequent partner-in-crime. But Batman’s patience is put to the test by the unpredictable and untrustworthy Harley during the twists and turns the reluctant companions face during their bumpy road trip.

Batman and Harley Quinn, the latest addition to Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s original animated movies is a fascinating one in that it takes the style of Batman the Animated Series and New Batman Adventures but brings with it a much more adult tone to a point where one’s left scratching their head as to who the film is for.

There’s a scene where Harley may or may not rape Nightwing (I guess he consented?), winks and nods to vibrators, a few jokes about Batman and Nightwing being physically into each other, and a hell lot more and the humor and talk within left my jaw agape at times as to what was presented. A scene involving Harley hot boxing the Batmobile to force a bathroom stop is rather puerile humor. Now, I know BTAS wasn’t always for the kids but a lot of this movie is clearly not… like it feels about half. It’s weird in that sense like the creators were aiming for a grown up audience but at the same time didn’t totally commit and threw a little in for kids.

The story itself is decent though the ending feels a little rushed. There’s some good action, some good humor, and the pacing is ok, with some dragging in the middle.

The voice cast led by Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) reprising his role as the Dark Knight, alongside Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory) making her debut as the irrepressible Harley Quinn. Loren Lester, the voice of Robin in Batman: The Animated Series, returns as Nightwing. Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) and Kevin Michael Richardson (The Cleveland Show) provide the voices of the villainous duo Poison Ivy & Jason Woodrue, respectively.

All are solid when it comes to voices though Rauch’s take on Harley is very different from the classic BTAS. With a classic animated look and the different voice, it takes some time getting used to it but it works with a blending of some of the various takes we’ve seen before.

This is a tough movie as there’s some to like, the animation is great, but the story itself lacks in many ways with a story that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it geared towards adults who grew up on the animated series? Is it geared towards kids? Scenes like farting in the Batmobile and Harley and Nightwing hooking up (and subsequent discussion about it) are in direct contradiction of each other and present an animated film that is a conundrum in enjoyment.

Overall Rating: 5.0

Review: Manhunter Special #1

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Of all the “King 100” specials that DC announced to celebrate Jack Kirby‘s centenary, this one probably had the biggest number of question marks swirling around it — the Paul Kirk iteration of this character is not one of the most fondly-remembered of the Golden Age, after all, and successive re-boots over the years have pretty much done away with the idea of a wealthy former big-game hunter with no super-powers to speak of putting a steel mask on his face and beating the shit out of criminals in favor of international, and now inter-galactic, “Manhunter” organizations that are increasingly further afield (conceptually and location-wise) from what Kirby and Joe Simon originally put to paper — and now that Manunter Special #1 is here, I’ve gotta say that most of those question marks remain, chief among them : why bring back this character when so many other, and frankly better, Kirby creations (one of which features in a back-up strip in this very comic) continue to gather dust?

The main story, featuring plot (to the extent one can be said to exist) and layouts by Keith Giffen, dialogue by DC “suit” Dan DiDio, and finished art by Mark Buckingham at least looks good — Buckingham’s illustrations pay homage to The King without sinking to the level of pastiche or, even worse, parody, and the fight scenes (in other words, the entire feature) are dynamic, impactful, and “pop” off the page. Unfortunately, that’s about all we can put in the “plus” ledger here.

Nearing the end of a brutal beat-down of some mid-level (at best) gangster-types operating on his Empire City turf, our “hero” is interrupted by the Golden Age version of The Sandman (in his Simon/Kirby duds — sorry, fans of the original gas-mask look) and his youthful sidekick, Sandy, who dispense a much-needed morality lecture in Manhunter’s direction while engaging in fisticuffs with him. The dialogue is flat, lifeless, and predictable in the extreme, and doesn’t seem so much intentionally reminiscent of days gone by as it does just plain bad, and the overall feeling one gets from this wholly pointless scrape is that this is a battle/debate that has happened before, will happen again, and hey, no one will ever change — and wouldn’t you know, the last page drives that exact message home, as Manhunter plunges head-first into danger one more time, aching to dish out some punishment for nothing other than the sheer and perverse thrill of it, no lessons having been learned from his more-ethical (and, who are we kidding, nicer) fellow costumed vigilantes. Good luck stifling your urge to yawn.

Slightly (I guess) more successful is the second story, featuring Etrigan, The Demon — the script by Sam Humphries is thoroughly uninspired, but it at least makes thematic sense and offers a decent representation in microcosm of what we already know about Jason Blood and his hell-spawn alter ego. Yes, it’s by-the-numbers, but at least those numbers fit together in a way that keeps you involved in the proceedings, which is more than you can say about the main feature. Best of all, though, is the gorgeous art by Steve Rude, who actually stepped in at the last minute following the departure of originally-announced artist Klaus Janson. The Dude and The King don’t have much in common stylistically, but Rude has always ha — and continues to have, as his recent issue of Kamandi Challenge demonstrates — an intuitive understanding of Kirby dynamics and pacing, and manages to successfully translate them into his own wholly unique (and always awesome) visual language. This Demon strip can’t be said to be anything more than “competent” (and only just,at that) in terms of plot and dialogue, but it looks like a million bucks — even if its brief length can’t justify the five that this comic (which I paid for out of pocket, just for the record) costs.

As has been the case with all of these specials, though, it’s the reprint material at the tail end of the book that’s the best comic-booking on offer here — a thoroughly entertaining Simon/Kirby proto-EC 1940s horror tale entitled “The Face Behind The Mask” from Tales Of The Unexpected, and two overly-optimistic (but, hey, who knew at the time?) looks at the future, “The Rocket Lanes Of Tomorrow” and “A World Of Thinking Robots,” both of which originally ran in Real Fact Comics. All this stuff in tons of fun to read, and gorgeously illustrated.

As an entire package, though, Manhunter Special #1 comes up far short of even the amorphous and unquantifiable “expectations” I had for it going in. The art ranges from “plenty good” on the low end to “stunningly brilliant” on the high end, which means this comic ranks well above the travesty that was Shane Davis‘ New Gods Special #1, but the scripting in the main story is flat-out atrocious and in the backup only passable, so this is quite easily the “second-worst” of the “King 100” books, far beneath both The Sandman Special #1 and The Newsboy Legion And The Boy Commandos Special #1 in terms of its overall quality.

Story: Keith Giffen, Dan DiDio, and Sam Humphries
Art: Keith Giffen, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Rude
Story: 3.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass

Back to School: Ultimate Spider-Man #26-27

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USM26CoverBack to School is a weekly issue by issue look at the beloved superhero teen comic Ultimate Spider-Man. In this week’s installment, I will be covering Ultimate Spider-Man #26-27  (2002) written by Brian Michael Bendis, penciled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert, and colored by Digital Transparency. 

Ultimate Spider-Man #26 starts by showing the fight between Spider-Man and Green Goblin from SHIELD’s POV where Nick Fury gives the order to fire on the Goblin after Mary Jane is dropped. Then, it cuts to Mary Jane waking up in Peter’s arms where he tells her go to an abandoned warehouse to be safe while he and the SHIELD helicopters battle the Green Goblin. Spider-Man is holding back at all against the Green Goblin, and he is a little freaked out between trying to balance, dodge helicopter gunshots, and fight the physically stronger Green Goblin. However, the Goblin’s Oz formula is starting to wear off so he returns to the penthouse for a cocktail of injections and runs into his son, Harry. The Green Goblin makes Harry pass out by saying the trigger word “cellar door” and then become veinier and Hulk-ier and throws Spider-Man through a window. The comic ends with Harry slowly waking up and seeing the Green Goblin clutching an unmasked Spider-Man while there are SHIELD helicopters outside. Someone has some splainin’ to do.

Ultimate Spider-Man #27 opens from Harry’s POV, and he realizes that his father is the Green Goblin and Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Green Goblin is about to squeeze Spidey to death, but he has enough energy for one last kick before webbing a piece of debris as the Green Goblin takes the fight outside to the civilians. Spider-Man pleads with him to keep the fight contained before Harry unexpectedly impales him with a piece of rebar presumably killing him as the Green Goblin reverts back to Norman Osborn. Finally, Nick Fury and SHIELD agents come to clean up and collect both Osborns. Nick Fury tells Peter that he did an okay job and shouldn’t confide so much of his life as Spider-Man to Mary-Jane, who is confirmed to be safe. Then, he says that as an “illegal genetic mutation” that Peter will become a property of the U.S. government and SHIELD, which he’s obviously not a big fan of. Furious, Spider-Man swings away, which Fury is cool with after he dropped that bombshell. The issue ends with Peter and Mary Jane embracing, and then Mary Jane telling that he didn’t do a good job communicating his problems with the Osborn. Mark Bagley and Art Thibert draw them seated apart on the final, silent page showing that their relationship is now strained, the complete opposite of their total adoration in Ultimate Spider-Man #13.

SpiderPunch

In the final two issues of the “Legacy” arc, writer Brian Michael Bendis takes a step back for a bit and lets Bagley and Thibert flex their action chops and draw a Spider-Man, who isn’t holding back one bit after Mary-Jane almost died. The speed lines come fast and furious as Spidey tries to beat the crap out of a physically stronger opponent in the Green Goblin and even makes the presumably jaded agents of SHIELD shudder a little bit. With the exception of some cluttered panels, Bendis, Bagley, Thibert, and the colorists at Digital Transparency Studios bring in Goblin’s drug addiction, Spider-Man’s fear and anger at his family being threatened, and SHIELD non-interference interference into play during several extended action sequences. The more Oz he takes, the dumber and stronger the Green Goblin gets. I’m more of a fan of the smarter, conniving Osborn a la Dark Reign so it’s refreshing to get dumb Goblin for only a few pages versus a couple issues in the first arc of Ultimate Spider-Man.

There is a real sense of danger in the battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin in Ultimate Spider-Man #26-27. For the most part, he’s substituted strategy for rage and emptying his web cartridges, and Bendis’ clipped, freaked out inner monologue plays off this feeling along with him losing his costume yet again. He’s had his share of victories, but Spidey is still kind of winging at a superhero. Trying to avoid bullets and Goblin fireballs, holding onto a building, and stopping civilians from being crushed by debris is tougher than it looks. This is why Bagley and Thibert draw Spider-Man constantly on edge trying to contort his body and stay one step ahead of the Green Goblin. He’s still just a kid.

GrossGoblin

I wouldn’t say that the Green Goblin is scary per se in Ultimate Spider-Man #26-27, but Bagley leans on some horror influences and draws him super grotesquely. Throughout both issues and even when he’s verbal, the Green Goblin is always slobbering some disgusting green mixture that is either like an animal foaming at the mouth or an addict vomiting during an overdose. To be honest, it looks like the ooze that gave the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles their abilities, but Digital Transparency uses the most unappealing shade of green so that pizzas and underground lairs are the last thing on your mind. It complements his hellish red eyes and shows how inhuman Norman Osborn has become in his quest for power. Like a rabid dog, maybe it’s time for him to be put down.

Even though he doesn’t explicitly call Peter “son” like he did in Ultimate Spider-Man #25, the father/son dynamic between Norman and Peter and Harry plays a crucial role in the conclusion of the “Legacy” arc, and by extension, two years of Ultimate Spider-Man stories with long breaks for Kingpin and reality show contestants. However, Norman’s attention switches to Harry in Ultimate Spider-Man #26 and #27 when he accidentally sees him slavering and taking the Oz drugs. Unlike Spider-Man, who he wants to groom as an ally and possible heir apparent to his genetic mutation “throne”, Harry is just an afterthought. He’s an embarrassment to Norman, who wants him to know as little as possible about his real work. That ends in an intense six panel grid of Harry realizing what’s going on before Norman puts that hypnotherapy to work and uses a kind of killswitch to make him faint.

HarryKillsNorman

But Harry isn’t just an innocent victim, who gets saved by Spider-Man. He has been inducted into a world of superhumans and mutations that he has witnessed with his own, two, heavily medicated, yet still human eyes. And, in Ultimate Spider-Man #27, he actively joins the narrative when he kills the Green Goblin with a sharp piece of wood to stop his friend Peter from being crushed to death by his father. Bagley goes full epic with his art during this moment surrounding the page with reaction shots of Peter, SHIELD Agent Quartermain, and even the Goblin himself while Harry is the picture of remorse on his face. In this moment, he goes from being a side character with little or no agency to a double for Spider-Man. Peter Parker was partially responsible for the death of his father figure, Uncle Ben, and now Harry Osborn is solely responsible for his own father’s death because he wanted to save his friend and hero. Except he doesn’t get catharsis or any kind of , but gets shuffled off by SHIELD

SHIELD in Ultimate Spider-Man #26-27 reminds me of the military in Doctor Who. They are reactive, mostly ineffectual, and then bulldoze in and take all the credit for everything. At least, their leader looks like Samuel L. Jackson. The opening of Ultimate Spider-Man #26 shows that SHIELD almost got Mary Jane killed, and their job for most of the issue is to piss off the Green Goblin by constant helicopter gunship and sniper fire. It’s the tactical equivalent of using guns to fight the Hulk. SHIELD really only gets their act together after the Green Goblin has been taken down and proves that they’re basically a more expensive, less discreet version of Mike Ehrmentraut from Breaking Bad with plasma shields and anti-grav boots.

FuryTruthBomb

Nick Fury and SHIELD reach peak dickishness in Ultimate Spider-Man #27 when Fury drops the bomb that Peter Parker is government property once he’s of voting and cigarette smoking age. This makes sense with the whole Superhuman Test Ban mentioned in Ultimates, which considers him to be a WMD. And Bagley and Thibert draw Peter like only someone whose freedom is going to be taken away in a few years with his face a mix of sadness, anger, and the feeling that he wants to do to Nick Fury what he just did to the Green Goblin. This is yet another instance of the Parker luck as Spider-Man only has a limited time to be a friendly neighbor superhero before Fury puts him on a superhuman black ops team with the murderers Hawkeye and Black Widow and the incestuous, ex-terrorists Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. At least, he makes one hell of an exit, swinging through a window, and scoffing at Fury’s “big boy’s club” aka superheroes, who do George W. Bush’s dirty work.

PeterMJSad

Instead of ending with a teaser for the next villain or an epic superhero battle, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley close out the “Legacy” arc with a character moment. Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship has hit some snags in this past arc, and Peter/Bendis finally let her speak and confront Peter for not telling her anything about Norman Osborn’s abilities and plans. When he told her his secret identity back in issue 13, Peter was supposed to be open about his life as Spider-Man and confide in her. But he has shut her out, and this didn’t make her safe, but put her in danger. And Peter is still pretty reticent to talk about what happened to Harry, and thus we get our final page of Peter and Mary Jane spaced apart and not speaking. It’s not a breakup, but Peter’s double life as Spider-Man has hurt their relationship. This issue is kind of like a sad version of Ultimate Spider-Man #13, which was when they grew closer in attraction and being honest about their feelings plus Peter’s life as Spider-Man.

Some of the panels in the action scenes are a little busy, but Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and Art Thibert end the rematch between Spider-Man in a grotesque, slightly unexpected way that still riffs off the “father/son” theme they have building since Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and gives Ultimate Harry Osborn his big moment for better or worse. Plus there’s bonus satire of SHIELD and Mark Millar’s take on the Ultimate Universe in general, and Bendis and Bagley show the consequences of Peter Parker’s life as Spider-Man on his closest friend and lover, Mary Jane Watson and don’t hold back at all.

P.S.: “Back to School” is going on hiatus because I have returned to (graduate) school, but it will return…

Review: Clueless: Senior Year

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CluelessSeniorYear22 years after the fantastic teen comedy that forever changed American slang and one of the best Jane Austen adaptations period was released, writer Amber Benson and Sarah Kuhn, artist Siobhan Keenan, and colorist Shan Murphy return to the world of Amy Heckerling’s Clueless in the Senior Year graphic novel. The book kicks off with Cher having a huge existential crisis thanks to a yearlong class assignment about who she wants to be during her senior year. She tries on a bunch of different outfits (Including one possibly inspired by Alicia Silverstone’s current career as a tree hugger.) and personalities and is out of commission as a queen bee for most of the story.

Benson and Kuhn structure Clueless: Senior Year into four chapters: one for each season, and even better, each chapter is from a different character’s POV. Summer and Spring are from Cher’s, Fall is from Dionne’s, and Winter is from Tai’s. This change in point of view keeps the story fresh and also separates Senior Year from the Clueless film, which was solely told from Cher’s perspective with voiceovers and everything. However, the friendship between the three girls is front and center as this comic easily breaks the Bechdel test even if it has some nice romantic comedy elements, like Tai and Travis being totally adorable.

But it’s nice to see them interact by themselves in a variety of settings like Tai’s great aunt’s apple farm upstate, which she has inherited after her unexpected passing. This is definitely the most emotional chapter of the story with Keenan drawing winsome flashbacks of Tai enjoying the countryside, and Benson and Kuhn slowly telling the love story of her great aunt Ellie and “friend” Edwina. Murphy uses a softer color palette for the basically abandoned farm, and there is a lot more spacing in Keenan’s layouts. There is an idyllic charm to the Frasier farm, and even though Beverly Hills bred Cher and Dionne don’t initially see it, Tai has a tough decision to make between running it and going to art school. Keenan sells it in the sad smiles that Tai has when she’s talking about her great aunt Ellie as well as the difficulty of choosing between the past and future. There’s also the nice bonus of incorporating some more great queer characters into the Clueless universe just like they did with Christian, the classic movie watching, greaser styling gay teen in the original film, who unfortunately doesn’t appear in Senior Year.

Dionne gets to take the spotlight in the second chapter of Clueless: Senior Year, and her running for student body president against her often unappreciative boyfriend Murray is one of the bigger “twists” in the graphic novel. Her debate speech is a mid–1990s pop culture reference masterpiece that starts with the phrase “I’m Batman” and uses the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy’s Jeff’s matching outfits as an example of the student body and their leadership working together instead of using it to showboat like Murray would do. Murray’s constant mentions of wanting to be the king of the school made me  crack up along with his extremely misogynist reading of X-Files. He’s a very immature high school boy, and it’s nice to see Dionne put him in his place for once.

SadCher

Siobhan Keenan’s character and fashion designs are so fabulous (And displayed in many “montage” sequences.) that there should be a Clueless Senior Year coloring book or paper doll set for Cher’s outfits alone. The plethora of outfits tie into a major theme of the story, which is Cher trying to construct an “adult” identity for herself by combining bits and pieces of people she’s seen in TV and read about in magazines plus her own unique personality. Keenan has a knack for quick witted visual humor too like Josh’s reaction to Cher, Dionne, and Tai throwing all their outfits and bags everywhere in his immaculate, spartan apartment when Cher cancels their hotel reservation because she wants to “rough it” as part of her activist phase. Her art is very pretty, but has a range of emotions and doesn’t just coast on its aesthetic.

Even though it doesn’t directly affect the plot, the “mixtape” choices scattered throughout Clueless Senior Year personally helped me get into the headspaces of Cher, Dionne, and Taj. There are the Radiohead songs that remind Cher of his her (now) ex-boyfriend Josh and will put you in a drab mood as soon as the opening guitar riff of “Just” kicks in to the female empowerment tunes by TLC and Veruca Salt that get Dionne pumped to run for president. Tai’s mixtape has more of a nostalgic bent with tunes by Glenn Miller  and Fats Domino that set up the vintage flashbacks and the old timey-ness of her chapter. And, like every great teen movie set around a prom, there’s one great dance number that ties into some of the themes of the story while just being plain fun.

Clueless Senior Year certainly isn’t a Monet (This is a compliment FYI.) and gives some amazing character development to Cher, Dionne, and Tai while rocking hilarious, pop culture infused dialogue from Amber Benson and Sarah Kuhn plus some of the most stylish fashions you’ll find in comics from Siobhan Keenan and Shan Murphy. In its references and fashion, Senior Year is very 90s, but its themes of independence, identity struggle, and coming of age are timeless just like the original film.

Story: Amber Benson, Sarah Kuhn Art: Siobhan Keenan Colors: Shan Murphy
Story: 8 Art: 9 Overall: 8.5  Recommendation: Buy

BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Gwar: Orgasmageddon #2

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Thrown into the past by Mr. Perfect, our favorite “Scumdogs of the Universe” GWAR are fighting their way through time like a horde of insane drunken children, killing and defiling all in their path. Find out what REALLY happened in our human history and get the full story of GWAR’s involvement in World War II, Aztec human sacrifices, and the sinking of the Titanic, plus meet the BRAND-NEW MONSTER with a name so foul we can’t print it here and an appearance so obscene we couldn’t draw it on the cover! This book is a gut punch of social conscience wrapped in a blood-soaked corpse and sprinkled with comedy dynamite.

Dinosaurs, Nazis, dragons, human sacrifice, and a Kraken, oh my. Gwar: Orgasmageddon #2 outdoes the first when it comes to humor and violence of the first as the cock-ship randomly transports them through time. This forces them to shape history as the locals react to their presence. The additional tales at the end continue the humor in disturbing and perverse ways.

The art style continues to blend humor and violence in a spectacular fashion. The issue increases the amount of violence and action when the story calls for it but also dials it back when neccessary at the rare times when it isn’t needed. That creates some contrast and changes things up as things manage to somehow get stranger as the story progresses.

Story: Matt Miner, Matt Maguire Art: Jonathan Brandon Sawyer
Story: 8.5 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.75 Recommendation: Buy

Dynamite Entertainment provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Tetris: The Games People Play

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As long as I can remember, the world has been obsessed with games and game systems. I remember having one of the few Colecovisions on my block and everyone watching over my shoulder as I played Donkey Kong. Eventually Atari, became the next rage of game systems, and even more games came out. Few years later, Atari went away, and Sega and Nintendo became the systems that dominated every household in America.

Eventually Nintendo, at the time, was the last man standing, and they certainly capitalized on their dominance as they amassed a ton of video games and all their competitors’ customers. What I do remember, most of all, about Nintendo at the time, is Gameboy. The one videogame that everyone I know was playing even when Sega, Atari, and Nintendo, were competing was Tetris, which seems as it was simple, but was complex. In Box Brown’s sweeping telling of the history of the game, Tetris: The Games People Play from invention to the height of its popularity.

We meet Alexey Pajitnov and Vladimir Polhilko, a pair of computer scientists, that wanted to do something different with videogames, as the history of games itself is delved into in great detail including its benefits. We also meet Fusjiro Yamauchi, the founder of Nintendo, as the reader gets to know how he fell in love with games and how built his company form nothing, introducing innovations that every other video company in the world had never thought of. What we then get to see is a furious bidding war and testing of integrity of Alexey and Vladimir, as their lives have changed forever. By book’s end, a series of events between all the players including a tragedy, not only changed them, but also their fans and culture around the globe.

Overall, an extremely compelling story, that every fan of games would enjoy and need to know. The history as depicted by Brown, is suspenseful, engaging and at times, harrowing. The art by Brown, elevates the story. Altogether, an important story that needs to get in as much hands as possible.

Story: Box Brown Art: Box Brown
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

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