Aaaaand we're back! The first Saturday in May has become one of my favorite days of the year, because it's Free Comic Book Day! Although I've spent most of my time away from A Comic A Day creating comics, I can't resist the chance to review a few of this year's FCBD offerings -- so, these posts will come sporadically, but they will come, starting with . . .
DC Comics' The New 52 was exactly what I expected: heady, convoluted, and generally unfriendly to anyone interested in picking up a DC Comic for the first time. A friend of mine asked what I thought of the New 52 concept yesterday, and this issue represents my opinions perfectly: if the attempt was to establish an entry-level experience for new readers, mission failed. Generally, in just these past nine months of "the new 52" experience, we've been "reintroduced" to the DC Universe via a muddied five-year timeline for our beloved characters, and, now, multiple earths. If the goal was to put old and new readers alike on the same page, consider it done, because everybody's confused.
Specifically, the FCBD The New 52 issue was a waste of an effort. It didn't tell a complete story but rather teased several upcoming stories, and the main yarn is spun around Pandora, a character that has haunted DC's titles since their relaunch. Here, her origin is told, and basically she is the Pandora of old that opened that terrible box, a sin on par with whatever condemned the Phantom Stranger and the Question to their respective fates, as well. Of course, if you're a new reader, you have no idea who the Phantom Stranger and the Question are, so that detail would be lost. Cut to Pandora, today, trying to retrieve her famous box from A.R.G.U.S., which must be DC's answer to S.H.I.E.L.D., then to Batman fighting a Green Lantern that isn't Hal Jordan, then to a four-page foldout that zooms back to the entire Justice League fighting each other. The issue concludes with a bunch of one to three page teasers of other DC titles.
I know these characters from decades' worth of reading, and in twenty-some pages, I was confused, disillusioned, and ultimately rendered uninterested. How would anyone that has never read a DC comic feel? The New 52 has Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman on the cover, and it serves no one looking for a Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman story -- either for the first time, or for the first time since the relaunch. Again -- what a waste.
The Superman Family Adventures Flip Book was a much more familiar depiction of my favorite superheroes, and since it was primarily intended for children, I don't know if DC is inadvertently calling me a baby for wanting something simpler from my superheroes, or if their comics have simply outgrown me. Whatever -- Art Baltazar and Franco tell a simple Superman story with the Lois/Clark/Perry/Jimmy paradigm that made these characters timeless, and that's good enough for me. The Green Lantern story on the other side of this issue was short, sweet, and complete, thus, enjoyable -- and the Young Justice snippet ended too soon, which means I was successfully left wanting more.
Ultimately, between these two comic books, I don't feel like I read even one whole comic book, but instead I flipped through a sales pamphlet of product available soon at a comic shop near you! I thought it was Free Comic Book Day, not Free Comic Book Samplers Day. Call me old-fashioned, but I think the best way to get people to read comic books is to give them a good comic book.
Showing posts with label Jim Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Lee. Show all posts
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Intimates #1
The Intimates #1, January 2005, Wildstorm Productions
writer: Joe Casey
artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Lee, & Sandra Hope
colorist: Randy Mayor
letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Rob Steen
editor: Ben Abernathy
Blogger's note: Entry for Tuesday, April 15, 2008.
High school is the only four-year period of your life that absolutely rules you forever. You vividly remember every success and failure from high school as if they happened yesterday, whether you care to admit it or not. You'll never love your husband or wife now as passionately as you loved your prom date then, unless your husband or wife was your prom date, in which case now you wish you went with someone else. You'll spend the rest of your life either running from or back to those four (or more, depending) most formidable years, but you'll never get there, either way. Why else do we have high school reunions? What else in our lives warrants a reunion? Elementary school and college usually doesn't elicit the need to reunite. Old jobs? No way. See, high school is to our lives what 1955 is to Back to the Future -- somehow, you'll always end up there.
Enter The Intimates, high school for superheroes. Yes, the idea has been done before in Stan Lee's original X-Men, what with Professor Xavier and his school for gifted youngsters, but The Intimates takes that sliver of the X-Men mythology and expands into a series all its own, emphasizing the teacher/student dynamic, and exploiting the adolescent angst. Also, these kids aren't outcasts like Professor X's mutant apprentices, instead they're more like Avengers in training. They know their lives will be dedicated to selfless heroism, so, like most "youngsters," they're taking advantage of these high school years to indulge themselves. Didn't you?
The opening scene of this first issue is what inspired my parallel to high school, as writer Joe Casey presents the reader a proverbial Breakfast Club of young superheroes, from the jock to the wiseguy, from the brain to the snob, to the goth girl so shunned that she is, literally, invisible. These characters fit and maintain their molds pretty steadily throughout the issue, and Casey is careful to exploit their relationships without blowing his wad in this inaugural chapter, leaving plenty of potential for the rest of this series. Interestingly, while the professors in this superhero seminary should be superb role models, presumably having once set a high moral standard for society as a successful do-gooder, the teachers are the most comedic characters of all, including a Sgt. Slaughter type coach that steals the show (in my opinion). Under the obvious art direction of Jim Lee, Giuseppe Camuncoli pulls off the impossible and makes the high school experience uniquely dramatic, unlike countless 'tween television dramas that . . . oh, you know what I mean.
Of course, we are experiencing this brand of "heroic high school" vicariously, which makes the experience less guilt-ridden and more pleasurable. Yes, we've all wondered what high school would've been like if we had superpowers -- Haven't we? The opportunities to impress the chicks, get revenge on the bullies . . . but, don't forget, they'd have superpowers, too. What use would invisibility have against the tough guy with X-ray eyes? How could an insecure pencilneck impress a psychic girl when she can see past his optic beams right into his quirky neuroses? Perhaps some things are best left in the funnypages.
The most unique aspect of The Intimates is its tickertape caption at the bottom of every page, sometimes offering insight into the background of this little universe, sometimes distracting us with chuckle-worthy irrelevant factoids. It's as if Casey understands the attention deficit disorder high school elicits and is responding with the very notes we might doodle ourselves in the margins of our notebooks.
Speaking of writing things in the margins, the thought just now occurs to me. Dig up that old high school yearbook. The class pictures, the montages . . . Doesn't it look like a photographic comic book? Ah, yes, high school -- reality's own infinite crisis.
writer: Joe Casey
artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Lee, & Sandra Hope
colorist: Randy Mayor
letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Rob Steen
editor: Ben Abernathy
Blogger's note: Entry for Tuesday, April 15, 2008.
High school is the only four-year period of your life that absolutely rules you forever. You vividly remember every success and failure from high school as if they happened yesterday, whether you care to admit it or not. You'll never love your husband or wife now as passionately as you loved your prom date then, unless your husband or wife was your prom date, in which case now you wish you went with someone else. You'll spend the rest of your life either running from or back to those four (or more, depending) most formidable years, but you'll never get there, either way. Why else do we have high school reunions? What else in our lives warrants a reunion? Elementary school and college usually doesn't elicit the need to reunite. Old jobs? No way. See, high school is to our lives what 1955 is to Back to the Future -- somehow, you'll always end up there.
Enter The Intimates, high school for superheroes. Yes, the idea has been done before in Stan Lee's original X-Men, what with Professor Xavier and his school for gifted youngsters, but The Intimates takes that sliver of the X-Men mythology and expands into a series all its own, emphasizing the teacher/student dynamic, and exploiting the adolescent angst. Also, these kids aren't outcasts like Professor X's mutant apprentices, instead they're more like Avengers in training. They know their lives will be dedicated to selfless heroism, so, like most "youngsters," they're taking advantage of these high school years to indulge themselves. Didn't you?
The opening scene of this first issue is what inspired my parallel to high school, as writer Joe Casey presents the reader a proverbial Breakfast Club of young superheroes, from the jock to the wiseguy, from the brain to the snob, to the goth girl so shunned that she is, literally, invisible. These characters fit and maintain their molds pretty steadily throughout the issue, and Casey is careful to exploit their relationships without blowing his wad in this inaugural chapter, leaving plenty of potential for the rest of this series. Interestingly, while the professors in this superhero seminary should be superb role models, presumably having once set a high moral standard for society as a successful do-gooder, the teachers are the most comedic characters of all, including a Sgt. Slaughter type coach that steals the show (in my opinion). Under the obvious art direction of Jim Lee, Giuseppe Camuncoli pulls off the impossible and makes the high school experience uniquely dramatic, unlike countless 'tween television dramas that . . . oh, you know what I mean.
Of course, we are experiencing this brand of "heroic high school" vicariously, which makes the experience less guilt-ridden and more pleasurable. Yes, we've all wondered what high school would've been like if we had superpowers -- Haven't we? The opportunities to impress the chicks, get revenge on the bullies . . . but, don't forget, they'd have superpowers, too. What use would invisibility have against the tough guy with X-ray eyes? How could an insecure pencilneck impress a psychic girl when she can see past his optic beams right into his quirky neuroses? Perhaps some things are best left in the funnypages.
The most unique aspect of The Intimates is its tickertape caption at the bottom of every page, sometimes offering insight into the background of this little universe, sometimes distracting us with chuckle-worthy irrelevant factoids. It's as if Casey understands the attention deficit disorder high school elicits and is responding with the very notes we might doodle ourselves in the margins of our notebooks.
Speaking of writing things in the margins, the thought just now occurs to me. Dig up that old high school yearbook. The class pictures, the montages . . . Doesn't it look like a photographic comic book? Ah, yes, high school -- reality's own infinite crisis.
Friday, March 07, 2008
All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #9
All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #9, April 2008, DC Comics
writer: Frank Miller
penciller: Jim Lee
inker: Scott Williams
colorist: Alex Sinclair
letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
assistant editor: Brandon Montclair
editor: Bob Shreck
Blogger's note: Entry for Thursday, March 6, 2008.
I’ve been on the fence about reviewing All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #9, just as I’ve been on the fence about whether or not I’ve enjoyed this series thus far. Well, I must be enjoying it, because I’ve faithfully bought every issue, though I’d be lying if I said each purchase was without hesitation. I’ve finally begun to understand the method to writer Frank Miller’s madness; his success with 1986’s The Dark Knight Returns hinged on his presenting the caped crusader in a way previously unimagined. Then, decades later, when his impression of Batman saturated every facet of the character and he had the chance to revisit the Dark Knight, he abandoned his previous conventions, including DKR’s distinctive sixteen-panel page layouts, for a more pervasive perspective, incorporating many of DC’s enduring heroes and villains. Miller’s subtle political commentary became blatant satire and his art style became more erratic (“with all the confidence of an arrogant teenager,” to paraphrase a review I’ve read), but he retained an unavoidable focus on attitude-ridden adventure.
So, it makes sense that All Star Batman & Robin, the Boys Wonder would go to some lengths to abandon those concepts for yet another initially unrecognizable incarnation of the Dark Knight.
While DKR and The Dark Knight Strikes Again wove several subplots into an overarching adventure about vigilantism in a superhero’s world, ASBR stretches the limits of what passes as a plot in favor of the relationships that result from a twenty-something, eccentric, masked crime-fighter adopted a twelve-year-old as a sidekick. For the first few issues, little actually happens behind our hero’s gritty narrative. Further, Batman’s mental instability can easily be explained as the result of his incredible intellect at war with his emotionally handicapped need for/fear of family. Bruce Wayne’s kinship with Dick Grayson is undeniable, but Batman has nothing in common with a child that hasn’t donned a secret identity. Enter Robin. Of course the superhero community would respond with outrage; even if they trusted Batman’s skill as a surrogate parent, they could never condone his willingness to put a child in danger, at least as long as society rejects the concept, too. So, while some might disagree with Miller’s depiction of Superman or Green Lantern as ranting nitwits, I can easily understand this direction in the context that sidekicks have yet to exist in the All-Star Batman & Robin universe.
Sounds like I have a pretty solid handle on this series, right? So what’s my problem, right?
My problem is, I don’t know if any of my interpretation is even close to what Frank Miller has intended.
If Miller’s extremely gradual development of these characters is the result of his wanting to thoroughly explore the ramifications of inviting a child into one’s vengeance-driven life of heretofore loneliness, All-Star Batman & Robin is the best modern interpretation of the Dark Knight to date. On the other hand, if he’s flying by the seat of his pants here, writing with the vigor of an aimless adolescent, I feel like a fool for dropping thirty bucks into this wet dream of a superhero comic. ASBR #9 is the closest hope I have for this series’ focus on the former, not the latter.
In ASBR #9, Green Lantern confronts Batman on his crime-fighting philosophy and technique, but obviously the Dark Knight chose the forum for their discussion, since the room, not to mention Batman and Robin themselves, are dripping from a fresh coat of yellow paint. I’ve read fellow fans’ impressions of The Yellow Room on various message boards and have learned that I must’ve been the only one that didn’t laugh out loud -- not to say that I wasn’t amused by the idea, but I really simply digested it as a natural precaution this no nonsense Batman would take. Also, painting the room is the perfect test of his new sidekick’s patience, similar to Mr. Miyagi’s wax on/wax off exercise. What ensues for the majority of this issue is an insightful debate on the nature of super-heroics in a world where alien invasions are just as common as rape or murder, and Batman’s opinion seems relatively simply: the brightly dressed superheroes can handle the multicolored problems, while he’ll use fear and vigilantism to combat the evils that stalk and terrorize the common man. (My summary is a little more sophisticated than their argument, and I’ve spared you a few offers of lemonade. Yeah, don’t ask.) Batman might’ve gotten away with his perspective had he not involved a child, so while Hal Jordan comes off as a doofus, he actually a valiant point.
Then he throws an angry punch and ruins everything.
First of all, I think a Batman/Green Lantern confrontation makes perfect sense. While Superman is usually hailed Batman’s polar opposite, GL’s origins are closer to Batman’s, in that both are regular men. One worked his entire life to achieve a modicum of humanity’s utmost power and influence, while the other was merely bequeathed a cosmic weapon that can seemingly do anything. I mean, if Abin Sur gave a young Bruce Wayne that power ring, and Hal Jordan’s parents were murdered before his very eyes, wouldn’t their situations be exactly reversed? Alas, take Hal’s ring away, and he’s just a guy in tights . . . that almost chokes to death by the skilled but unrelenting hands of a child. Yeah, if you haven’t read this issue, beware this spoiler: Robin almost kills Green Lantern. In the moments Batman and Robin share trying to save Jordan’s life, and in the rainy hours that follow, they emotionally connect in way Miller took eight issues to avoid. Batman takes Robin to the Graysons’ graves to say good-bye, and they share an unspoken determination never to behold death again.
If only Batman had said that, perhaps Green Lantern would’ve been more sympathetic.
Enough about the plot -- How does this issue look, eh? Well, while Miller is an unpredictable storyteller, shifting between sarcastic and tender moods, Jim Lee is always Jim Lee, with beautifully rendered if not sometimes overly stylized page layouts and character designs. Unfortunately, ASBR has basically been Jim Lee drawing Frank Miller’s DCU, so we haven’t seen him really cut lose with any of his own ideas, but I’m hoping a more complicated confrontation or battle sequence with either another Justice Leaguer or even the Joker will give Lee the room he needs to show off his real chops. At this point in his career, though, he’s like a “reliable dog,” to quote Simon Cowell. No, though, I won’t say he can draw the phone book and I’d buy it, but you get the point.
Now, if Miller resumes the slow-paced, arrogantly narrated tone from issues one through eight in the next issue, number ten, I’ll feel like the perfect patsy. If Batman hasn’t realized that his standoffish approach with Robin has been the greatest failure of his crime-fighting career to date, and if he hasn’t adopted a more sympathetic approach if not in tone than at least in body language, then I won’t know what to make of the whole thing. I mean, will Batman always be at odds with the other superheroes in this All-Star universe? If so, I think he’ll always be a little at odds with me, as well.
writer: Frank Miller
penciller: Jim Lee
inker: Scott Williams
colorist: Alex Sinclair
letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
assistant editor: Brandon Montclair
editor: Bob Shreck
Blogger's note: Entry for Thursday, March 6, 2008.
I’ve been on the fence about reviewing All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #9, just as I’ve been on the fence about whether or not I’ve enjoyed this series thus far. Well, I must be enjoying it, because I’ve faithfully bought every issue, though I’d be lying if I said each purchase was without hesitation. I’ve finally begun to understand the method to writer Frank Miller’s madness; his success with 1986’s The Dark Knight Returns hinged on his presenting the caped crusader in a way previously unimagined. Then, decades later, when his impression of Batman saturated every facet of the character and he had the chance to revisit the Dark Knight, he abandoned his previous conventions, including DKR’s distinctive sixteen-panel page layouts, for a more pervasive perspective, incorporating many of DC’s enduring heroes and villains. Miller’s subtle political commentary became blatant satire and his art style became more erratic (“with all the confidence of an arrogant teenager,” to paraphrase a review I’ve read), but he retained an unavoidable focus on attitude-ridden adventure.
So, it makes sense that All Star Batman & Robin, the Boys Wonder would go to some lengths to abandon those concepts for yet another initially unrecognizable incarnation of the Dark Knight.
While DKR and The Dark Knight Strikes Again wove several subplots into an overarching adventure about vigilantism in a superhero’s world, ASBR stretches the limits of what passes as a plot in favor of the relationships that result from a twenty-something, eccentric, masked crime-fighter adopted a twelve-year-old as a sidekick. For the first few issues, little actually happens behind our hero’s gritty narrative. Further, Batman’s mental instability can easily be explained as the result of his incredible intellect at war with his emotionally handicapped need for/fear of family. Bruce Wayne’s kinship with Dick Grayson is undeniable, but Batman has nothing in common with a child that hasn’t donned a secret identity. Enter Robin. Of course the superhero community would respond with outrage; even if they trusted Batman’s skill as a surrogate parent, they could never condone his willingness to put a child in danger, at least as long as society rejects the concept, too. So, while some might disagree with Miller’s depiction of Superman or Green Lantern as ranting nitwits, I can easily understand this direction in the context that sidekicks have yet to exist in the All-Star Batman & Robin universe.
Sounds like I have a pretty solid handle on this series, right? So what’s my problem, right?
My problem is, I don’t know if any of my interpretation is even close to what Frank Miller has intended.
If Miller’s extremely gradual development of these characters is the result of his wanting to thoroughly explore the ramifications of inviting a child into one’s vengeance-driven life of heretofore loneliness, All-Star Batman & Robin is the best modern interpretation of the Dark Knight to date. On the other hand, if he’s flying by the seat of his pants here, writing with the vigor of an aimless adolescent, I feel like a fool for dropping thirty bucks into this wet dream of a superhero comic. ASBR #9 is the closest hope I have for this series’ focus on the former, not the latter.
In ASBR #9, Green Lantern confronts Batman on his crime-fighting philosophy and technique, but obviously the Dark Knight chose the forum for their discussion, since the room, not to mention Batman and Robin themselves, are dripping from a fresh coat of yellow paint. I’ve read fellow fans’ impressions of The Yellow Room on various message boards and have learned that I must’ve been the only one that didn’t laugh out loud -- not to say that I wasn’t amused by the idea, but I really simply digested it as a natural precaution this no nonsense Batman would take. Also, painting the room is the perfect test of his new sidekick’s patience, similar to Mr. Miyagi’s wax on/wax off exercise. What ensues for the majority of this issue is an insightful debate on the nature of super-heroics in a world where alien invasions are just as common as rape or murder, and Batman’s opinion seems relatively simply: the brightly dressed superheroes can handle the multicolored problems, while he’ll use fear and vigilantism to combat the evils that stalk and terrorize the common man. (My summary is a little more sophisticated than their argument, and I’ve spared you a few offers of lemonade. Yeah, don’t ask.) Batman might’ve gotten away with his perspective had he not involved a child, so while Hal Jordan comes off as a doofus, he actually a valiant point.
Then he throws an angry punch and ruins everything.
First of all, I think a Batman/Green Lantern confrontation makes perfect sense. While Superman is usually hailed Batman’s polar opposite, GL’s origins are closer to Batman’s, in that both are regular men. One worked his entire life to achieve a modicum of humanity’s utmost power and influence, while the other was merely bequeathed a cosmic weapon that can seemingly do anything. I mean, if Abin Sur gave a young Bruce Wayne that power ring, and Hal Jordan’s parents were murdered before his very eyes, wouldn’t their situations be exactly reversed? Alas, take Hal’s ring away, and he’s just a guy in tights . . . that almost chokes to death by the skilled but unrelenting hands of a child. Yeah, if you haven’t read this issue, beware this spoiler: Robin almost kills Green Lantern. In the moments Batman and Robin share trying to save Jordan’s life, and in the rainy hours that follow, they emotionally connect in way Miller took eight issues to avoid. Batman takes Robin to the Graysons’ graves to say good-bye, and they share an unspoken determination never to behold death again.
If only Batman had said that, perhaps Green Lantern would’ve been more sympathetic.
Enough about the plot -- How does this issue look, eh? Well, while Miller is an unpredictable storyteller, shifting between sarcastic and tender moods, Jim Lee is always Jim Lee, with beautifully rendered if not sometimes overly stylized page layouts and character designs. Unfortunately, ASBR has basically been Jim Lee drawing Frank Miller’s DCU, so we haven’t seen him really cut lose with any of his own ideas, but I’m hoping a more complicated confrontation or battle sequence with either another Justice Leaguer or even the Joker will give Lee the room he needs to show off his real chops. At this point in his career, though, he’s like a “reliable dog,” to quote Simon Cowell. No, though, I won’t say he can draw the phone book and I’d buy it, but you get the point.
Now, if Miller resumes the slow-paced, arrogantly narrated tone from issues one through eight in the next issue, number ten, I’ll feel like the perfect patsy. If Batman hasn’t realized that his standoffish approach with Robin has been the greatest failure of his crime-fighting career to date, and if he hasn’t adopted a more sympathetic approach if not in tone than at least in body language, then I won’t know what to make of the whole thing. I mean, will Batman always be at odds with the other superheroes in this All-Star universe? If so, I think he’ll always be a little at odds with me, as well.
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