Seriously Bad Ideas

Ok, if you want happy, go read today's earlier post.  But there are some things that are just so ridiculous I have to say something.  I am an art guy, so when the art goes bad it ruins the story.  IMO, good art can save a bad story whereas good writing cannot save bad art.

That said, there were a couple of moments in comics that made me want to bang my head against a brick wall they were so bad.

You've been warned!   See what I am talking about below the break.

Good Books You Probably Aren't Reading

So, after Wednesday's rant, Jim told me I needed to write something positive.  Ick!  But, he had a point.  This isn't about telling you all the things about comics that bore me, this is about trying to get you to read new and better comics.  Over the past week or so I've managed to read some great things so let me share those with you today.

Over the past few weeks I've managed to read Shadow #7-8, Shadow Special #1, the latest OMAC tpb, and Ralph Azham.

You can see what I thought about them below the break

The List - January 2013

irst List of the new year.  I found January to have fewer of the regular titles I'd been getting so I tried out a few new things.  Only one of them has been a particular gem so far, but it's early.  Off we go, then.

1. Stumptown: The Case of the Baby in the Velvet Case 5 - Starting off with a conclusion, we have the consistently great Stumptown.  Not that this is actually a conclusion to the series.  It's just the end of the second chapter.  That's the best way to look at the first two Stumptown installments - chapters in a larger novel.  More so than the first chapter, this one ended with clear indication that there's a lot more to come.  Dex's retrieval of Mim's missing guitar, Baby, exposes a meth smuggling ring and brings back a heavy hitter from the first chapter who's clearly not going to be pleased with Dex's involvement, as we'll no doubt see in coming chapters.  If you have any fondness at all for PI stories, from Sherlock Holmes to Stephanie Plum, I can't recommend this series from Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth, and Rico Renzi highly enough.  On top of a great story, the creators have been providing insights, in each issue, into their processes in creating the story.

X-Factor, reminding me why I like superheroes

It should come as no surprise that there was another heated discussion behind the scenes here at Comicsand. It was the usual state of comics and the need for change in characters. The details aren’t important but I came to conclusion that's what I hate about superheroes; I get older, they stay the same age.

So how did I come to this conclusion? It started when I read X-Factor 241 -246, which comprised the ‘Breaking Points’ storyline.  I realized that while there was nothing wrong with the story, there really wasn't anything really new either.

Was it good? Yeah, for the most part it was. Peter David needed to reset the team so it’s a 5 issue arc kicking out the deadwood and streamlining the membership. Did I enjoy it? Eh, not really. Why? It starts with Peter David. I’ve been reading Peter David for over 25 years now. I know the cadence of his dialogue and the rhythm of his storylines. I know the tics of his plotting and characterization.  It’s like putting on an old pair of underwear. It’s still snug in all the right places and just loose enough in the areas that need it. But, at the end of the day, it's still an old pair of underwear. I felt I could replace Havok with Captain Marvel, or the Hulk, or Aquaman and it would be the same story.

Past the writing, I realized these are the exact same characters from 20 years ago going through the same motions.  Sure there are some changes, but I am not sure they were for the better, nor could I tell you why they happened.

In X-Factor #241, Strong Guy gets the boot. Apparently he’s no longer happy go lucky guy. Now he’s moody and depressed guy because he sold his soul. When? Couldn’t tell ya. Why? Couldn’t tell ya. The book neither explained it, nor gave me a hint as to where to go look to find the answer. Honestly, I liked old Strong Guy better. There's enough grim and gritty in the real world, I really don't need yet another hero acting that way.  And then the villains were just alternate universe versions of the core characters. I know creators don’t like to give up intellectual property but this is the best they got?  So, I had character growth which was good, but in a direction I didn't like and I had villains that were only sorta new. 

In X-Factor #242, Rahne gets the boot. Apparently she’s had a baby and Darwin tries to kill him. It was well executed but since we’re writing characters out it’s really hard to care. Not to mention, it appears to be variation #247 of Days of Future Past.

In X-Factor #243, no one gets the boot but we set the stage for Havok to go. Polaris learns she may have been responsible for killing her parents, freaks out, and starts the break up of the Havok/Polaris relationship.  I’ve been reading about their relationship for 25 years now, it's great their breaking up.  This feels like a change.  The problem is that I don't have a great deal of love for either character.  Nothing wrong with them but nothing all that exciting either.  It's another fine issue.

In X-Factor #244, Banshee gets the boot. Something occurred and she made some sacrifice that was supposed to save someone I guess. I mean this was supposed to be M-A-J-O-R. Now, here’s my snit about continuity, I have no idea the importance of what she did because David offered no explanation and the event was mired in continuity. Who was the villainess? Couldn’t tell ya. What was the big deal? Couldn’t tell ya. The book neither explained it, nor gave me a hint as to where to go look.  Honestly, unless you've been reading the last 5+ years of X-Factor, this issue was a waste of time.

Finally, X-Factor #245, the final team members leave, old ones return and.... I felt a great big nothing. 

Granted, this probably wasn't the place to start reading X-Factor after a long hiatus.  I have to say that all the issues were well executed in terms of art and story. 

But, this story didn't feel any different than Peter David's X-Factor issue #71 from October 1991.  It was the same characters.  It was the same team.  The only thing that changed were the villains... and they weren't even new villains!  If I were to say, in over 20 years, the only thing that changed were the costumes and the haircuts.

As a critic, I would say the storyline was fine and it achieved the desired task, reseting the team.  As a long time fanboy, I gotta say I wasn't thrilled.

Congratulations Baltimore!!!

Stitch Photo taken by the official Jim Martin stand-in

It's amazing what you can see when you take a walk in Charm City!

"I'd like to thank Jim Martin for moving to Florida!  Without him living in Baltimore all this was made possible" -- Rey Louis

Just kidding, Jim.  Hope you enjoy the photo.  It was quite an experience and I don't even like football.

The Week of January 30 in Review Part 2 of 2 – The Spandex Set

The second half of the review will focus on DC and Marvel, with DC dominating what I read this week. There were some good books, but in general I felt the week was just okay.

Green Lantern Corps Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Chriscross on pencils was decent. It wrapped up the Rise of the Third Army and pits the Lanterns against the Guardians. We see the return of Mogo, we see Baz and the chipmunk go into the black lantern book to find Hal and Sinestro and we see the release of the mysterious first lantern. I’m bored. The story is decent, the art is very good, it pulls together a lot of the plots but this story, like so many DC books, has been going on forever. It was not an ending, it was the end of the first part of this overly long epic tale. Next we have the Wrath of the First Lantern and then we will have part 3, where my guess is the heretofore unknown second set of Guardians will take over and run the corps in less of a dictator fashion. I can’t believe how much talent and months and months of issues are being used to never get to the point of a story.

Superior Spider-Man #2 by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman was a decent issue. Matthew’s review makes me more excited about the book then when I actually read it. So instead of me talking about it; read his review here.

The Week of January 30 in Review Part 1 of 2 – The Non Standard Stuff

Hello and welcome back to yet another week in review. After going nuts and doing a ton of solo spotlights this week is just two posts. They fall into the standard stuff and what I classify as non-standard stuff. I’m looking to make these short blurbs on a bunch of books this week.

Of course we need to get to the list for next week. The clean and concise list is at Cosmic Comix and for all the solicitation copy and info on variants you can go to Midtown Comics. The books I’m looking forward to the most are Green Arrow as Jeff Lemire takes over, Superior Spider-Man (yikes I just read issue #2), Garth Ennis Red Team, Snapshot (an Andy Diggle / Jock Image book), and Harbinger. I find it amusing the DC is already doing some resets of book less than a year and half in.

Anyway let’s get onto the review. SPOILERS exist.

Invincible #100 by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley teased the death of Invincible in the first three pages and then explained it all as being a set-up by Dinosaurus immediately afterward. It did a nice job of moving Mark Grayson’s character forward. Seeing how he will react to Eve being pregnant is going to be interesting. I like that this book shows Mark growing up, albeit slowly, but what has happened in his life affects who he is and makes him different as time goes on. It is the thing I always wish happened in other comics but never does. What happens in every issue of Invincible matters and has impact, sometimes immediately, sometimes down the road and not always as one would expect. This is one of the best super hero comic books on the stands.

Punisher War Zone #4 (of 5) by Greg Rucka and Carmine Di Giandomenico was another well done book. This is really a continuation of the Rucka series that wraps up next issue. This was a “truer” Punisher book set in the Marvel Universe and I liked this book more the longer I stayed with it. I abandoned the book about a year and half in as it seemed to be moving too slow, but when I jumped back on I realized that I have read the Ennis and Aaron Punisher for so long that I had forgotten who the character is in the regular MU. It has shown that the Punisher is very smart and tactically brilliant. In the final analysis I believe the character’s time has come and gone, but Rucka made me second guess that assumption.