A small week but more expensive than I planned, thanks to two books that cost more than $3. Fortunately it was all thumb's up, more or less. Two launches, too.
As always, full spoilers.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 8/15/07:
BOOSTER GOLD #1: I was somewhat hesitant about getting this book, if only because with all, or at least 90%, of DC's book wrapped up in COUNTDOWN/FINAL CRISIS/CRISIS IS AS CRISIS DOES/etc, eventually it may get confusing. But the benefit of it being a small week combined with the fact that Booster Gold was one of the characters I liked from 52 sealed the deal. This book also allows me to comment on some trends that DC is doing now. Anyway, the book is written by Geoff Johns, who is easily writing or co-writing more books for DC than Bendis is for Marvel, and Katz, with Jurgens & Rapmund on art, and it all looks spiffy. Fortunately, unlike some #1's, this one remembers that sometimes new fans buy first issues, and recaps Booster Gold's origin for those not in the know, which is fine. The art is fine although Skeets looks "flatter" than he used to and it always made me think he was draw poorly. I know he's not, he's just looking flatter like a yellow flying discman rather than a football, but it still was somewhat jarring to me. This picks up after 52's ending, a time DC likes to remember because 52 actually used to sell within the Top 10 until the final months. Booster Gold is still a hero with a crappy reputation who is cojoled into working with Rip Hunter again to repair issues in the time-space continuum left over from their battle with the demonic Mr. Mind (which in itself is silly if you look at it the wrong way; a demonic Mr. Mind. That's like Mephisto possessing Impossible Man and him becoming a serious Marvel villain for an event. I understand wanting to do stuff with obscure characters, but you can hear the scrape of the barrel bottom). Booster Gold has to choose between working to earn the respect he feels he deserves and the fame he always wanted, including rejoining the JLA, or playing the fool to better be able to repair the damages to time, as well as to stop this New Mysterious Evilperson who is exploiting this to try to kill heroes. Where Booster Gold shines is that he has that hard-luck appeal. Sure, he wants to do good and is a genuine hero, but he also wants rep and glory for it, which is how most of us are, right? He also has to consistantly answer for his previous ills, especially during 52 (when he needed to convince the public he was fixing his own adventures and then die off for the plan to work) and his JLI days (before Max Lord turned out to be evil). He still mourns the death of his best friend, Ted Kord, the only person who took him seriously (probably because BG took him seriously). The JLA show up after he pummels the Royal Flush Gang (who are starting to look like DC's Wrecking Crew with how often they are trucked out for random beatings), and offer Booster a shot, albeit with some caveats. On the subject of the JLA, Red Arrow is lame. DC has a time honored tradition of sidekicks growing up and taking on their mentor's mantle, but if one overdoes it, it becomes cyclical and repetitive. Especially when some sidekicks grew up and became their own heroes with distinct features, like Speedy did when he became Arsenal, a man who relied on not just a bow and arrows, but all launchable weapons. Imagine if after decades of Nightwing, Dick Grayson decided to give it up and don a cloned copy of Batman's costume and call himself Batman Junior (or Red Robin, now that we are at it). That is what Red Arrow looks like to me; and while this was all fine with KINGDOM COME, inserting these bits into DC lore over a decade after KC really shows nothing besides a lack of editorial imagination, and that Ross' ego can never be stroked enough. At any case, Booster's younger "ancestor" from modern time is hanging around in his Supernova jammies playing video games, until he is attacked by New Mysterious Evilperson. After Rip Hunter takes Booster down a ride of time travel gobbledegook that I DARE someone to completely understand, Booster decides to go for the greater good over glory, but for a price; Hunter has to bend his "prime objective" not to muck with the past to help Booster save Ted Kord. Despite the Time Travel babble (which I usually dislike), this was a solid first issue, and I probably will stay aboard for a little bit. The art is solid and the interplay between Booster and Skeets is as fun as it always is. The fact that DC's sales are slumping may have something to do with the fact that unlike Marvel, which has a different event every year and also has side events, like ANNIHILATION, DC books have all been marching under the same drumbeat for over 2 years now and may be going through a line-wide decline (as all titles slowly lose readers over time, very rarely gaining any for long). While connected, HOM was not the same as CW, which isn't the same as WWH. But to DC, Crisis is a Crisis is a Crisis, and it may be waring thin even on their diehards (especially as they seem to now want to cater to diehards who remember Pre-Crisis, a full 21 years ago, which HAS to exclude about half their audience). DC issues aside, BOOSTER GOLD is solid so far. The energy is bogged down a bit from the time travel housekeeping that it doesn't burst forth with the same energy as, say, DYNAMO 5 #1 or ANT-MAN #1, but it's fine.
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST: QUASAR #2: Gage thankfully doesn't feel ladies are the weaker sex, because Phyla and Moondragon aren't getting any breaks here as Conquest chugs along. Phyla, a new and inexperienced Quasar (or Protector of the Universe) is cut off from her quantum-bands' power battery, and has Annihilus' corruptive voice inside her. Plus, Moondragon has been getting headaches and they're searching for some champion who they don't know (Will it be Space Emo, a.k.a. Wraith? Somehow I doubt it). After a fight with a gigantic Brood (maybe a Queen or one of her Firstborn guardians), Phyla and Moondragon wind up on a planet where their champion last was, and fend off more bugs before coming under attack from the Phanalax-controlled Super-Adaptoid again, who has shaped up into a dymanic, cool, and powerful villain. Phyla is a character trying to live up to two legacies (Capt. Marvel and Quasar) and Adaptiod literally has the power of all the Avengers to throw at her. Another crystal goes dark to symbolize her dwindling quantum batteries as Adaptoid seems to copy her gauntlets, and Moondragon retells her origin in time to seemingly become posessed by the Dragon of the Moon; nice to see Gage reads those handbooks. Lilly's art is good, sometimes reminding me of 90's style art, but in a good way. All we know about this person Phyla is looking for is he/she has a rep as a "magician". This series has a break-neck pace where there seems to be no lag or dead spots to the story, which is good. Definately enjoying this.
SUPERVILLAIN TEAM-UP: MODOK'S 11 #2: That didn't last long; villains not backstabbing each other, that is. I suppose supervillain alliance stories are always full of backstabbing and whatnot, and in real life, hoods almost fall over themselves to squeal once they get pinched for deals, but even when written well, it always becomes a shame because it always keeps these guys from winning, because they can't stay together. MODOK starts to train his team of "minions" (Armadillo, Chameleon, Nightshade, Rocket Racer, Living Laser, Mentallo, Puma, and Spot) in how to steal a Maguffin device from the Infinicide, a race of time-travellers who will be coming to Earth to chronicle their recent superhero wars (an endless battery that MODOK may use to make a new Cosmic Cube, the Grand-Daddy of Maguffin Devices). Naturally, the squad doesn't take to training fluidly and MODOK's offputting nature starts to ware on some of them. Mentallo is tasked to tinker with Chameleon's mind for the job to fool the Infincide, but secretly plots to sell out MODOK to AIM for a quick buck, only to find out Chameleon's not who he appears to be and seemingly end up roasted alive and at the bottom of a river. Turns out he's not the real villain but an Ultra-Adaptoid created by Dr. Rappaccini, the Scientist Supreme of AIM, to stop MODOK. Meanwhile, Puma's tribal elders seek to cut off his powers once and for all. There is some humor to be found here (Armadillo wondering if "minion" is an ethnic slur) and MODOK is naturally amusing to listen to. Chameleon clears up some of his muddled recent history by claiming it all being acts to confuse his enemies, which works. The tone is kept light here, as a decent caper story should be. It carries along with comic book conventions but that is something one is expected to go for the ride for. I especially liked the page or two of the gang trading "almost got 'im" stories (yes, yes, familier to the B:TAS episode of the same name by Paul Dini). The Spot is so amusing it is almost a shame little has been done with him. Van Lente is definately earning some stripes in my book with this one. With two Adaptoids running about on Earth and Space, I am one away from Adaptoid Overload, but so far it seems fine. The art is crisp and effective for action and character banter. Not the best thing on the racks, but definately entertaining and full of stuff for old school comic fans who don't mind seeing a little caper every now and then.
TERROR INC. #1: This new mini launches from MAX, which means it has extra violence and non-bleeped cursewords, and also will be $1 extra, because they sell worse than most core Marvel titles. Terror is a character I only know from his Handbook bio in MARVEL HORROR 2005 and in his appearence in MTU's League of Losers arc (the highpoint of Kirkman's run on that title, IMO). He has an origin that even ties into the old Shadowline universe, but has enough bare bits that one can embellish on some of the details in-between, as Lapham does here. Terror has lost his distinctive spikes on his cheeks, and without them he sort of looke like Green Skull. But in a way he looks more scary without them, as they sometimes looked like whiskers to me. His origin is recapped and embellished, which is always a good idea with a #1 issue, before we get into the crux of the work, which is Terror, Inc taking an assasination job from a member of Homeland Security to execute a mole who is leaking intel to a domestic terror racket. Terror uses his unique talents to infiltrate the group, but it soon leads to a shoot-out and the revelation that he's been set up. My quibble with the gig was that Terror could have easily kept from blowing his cover by simply covering his metallic hand with a glove, but one also gets the feeling that he enjoys slaughter more than spywork. Mrs. Primo is there to provide assitance and someone to have sexual tension with. Lapham gets Terror's personal tone right, a sarcastic, sometimes bitter sort of look at life, yet also blunt. He started out as a warrior who raped and pillaged for a living and despite becoming an immortal flesh zombie, and centuries of time, that hasn't changed. He's a scoundrel, but he is a cool scoundrel, and he still misses a woman he once loved, so he has some sympathy. I liked him before and I like him now, so this #1 does it's job. I'll definately get the rest. This title wouldn't need much cleaning up to avoid the MAX label, which always means "low sales", but at least it isn't too over the top. Marvel needs a dark corner, and this is it.
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #4: This book is sort of a mixture of anthology and reprint series, as it usually has 1-2 original stories along with various reprints of Spidey related work. This one has a new story from Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk featuring the AGENTS OF ATLAS, who sold too poorly to merit an ongoing but at least are being kept alive, so I plunked down $5 for this. As usual for Jeff Parker, the story is simple and straightforward, a style that almost seems out of place with the meandering style and over-importance of other works, but one I appreciate as a change of pace. The Agents of Atlas are tracking down yet another corrupt angle of Jimmy Woo's inherited business, this one that transforms people into monsters in the guise of a popular broadway show, and Spider-Man coincidentally gets roped in. In a way it reads like a MARVEL TEAM-UP story, and as I liked those, it's fine (Jeff Parker would also have been gold on a MTU book, had it lasted beyond 25 issues and Robert Kirkman). The monsters are beaten, the bad guy is punished and there are plenty of wisecracks between Spidey and Gorilla-Man. There's also a Puppet Master story from the same guy who does those FRANKLIN RICHARDS, BOY GENIUS stories, and it is fun, although it is hard to read when you remember that in the actual comics, Puppet Master has become a serial killer and white slaver of superheroines. There also is a reprint of MARY JANE #1, circa 2004, which naturally evolved into the SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE series, beloved of tween girls and men who don't like admitting they like something made specifically for tween girls. I read it and it actually was sort of cute, in that girly high school kind of way. It's not in continuity but that doesn't matter because it was pretty fun and quirky (although it has been 3 years and Miyazawa's art has thankfully improved somewhat since). I likely won't get more, though, because I'm a man, and real men don't like girly stuff, at least unless they have a girlfriend to come home to.
There also is a reprint of ASM # 178 and a manga comic called Spider-Man J which, on a flip, adheres to every stereotype people have of manga and anime. I don't always like parting with $5 for a comic but it was rather enjoyable.
And my review of the
DOCTOR STRANGE animated DTV is here:
http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=12481791&postcount=63
t:
