Four years later, I AM paying $3.99 to read Dan Slott on a core Spidey title, and guess what, it's good!
Days before Christmas, and there are a bundle of comics under the tree. How'd they fare this season? Spoilers as always; whether as gifts or coal depends on your opinion of them.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 12/22/10:
DYNAMO 5: HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2010 #1: Jay Faerber's latest, and perhaps his best, Image superhero title to date checks in for the first time since the end of October with a one-shot issue set around the holiday season. The inability to release it in a timely fashion as a monthly ongoing series, not low sales, are what have caused this title to shift into an annual mini series format (much as HELLBOY and B.R.P.D. at Dark Horse do, or Bomb Queen does at Image). This is the sixth issue within seven months, which was a better issue to month ratio than issues #18-#25 of the ongoing series. Unfortunately, that means a lengthy gap of half a year before the next installment of the series, which likely does not aid in monthly issue sales. Hopefully those trades move at a brisker pace. At any rate, despite the title, this series is really just another issue of DYNAMO 5, where the holiday and what the characters do for it is a subplot but in no way does it overwhelm the plot. In fact, one of the epilogues even mocks some clichés of "holiday comic stories". It offers a done-in-one lead story as well as four 2-page strips that offer teases into the story line to come in 2011.
Art for the lead story is done by Marco Takara, with colors by the regular colorist, Ron Riley. It starts off with a basic Dynamo 5 story, of the sort they actually haven't had for quite some time. It seems that one of their father Captain Dynamo's old enemies has escaped from prison, and since he's dead, it is up to them to take the baddie down and save Tower City. It also is the start of the holiday season, and the step-siblings are all trying to plan what they want to do around their superhero mission. This also takes place right after the end of SINS OF THE FATHER, so there are still subplots and aftermath from that series to deal with. Spencer, who is half-alien and can no longer pose as a human, is still dealing with that state and being unable to do much in society anymore. Gage, the former telepath turned flier, is dating a reformed super-villain, "War Chest". And one of the Five had to make the ultimate decision in SINS OF THE FATHER, which has the others wary. Fortunately, Faerber's script has a slight twist on the formula in the last act and a resolution that doesn't involve a mindless brawl. The story does end with a light hearted moment that most readers will see coming a few pages in, but that doesn't mean it isn't executed efficiently. The costume design for the villain is interesting, in that it avoids the clichés of most villains having green/purple hues.
I thought this was an effective one-shot. With 28 pages of material it offered more for the price tag than quite a few $3.99 Marvel comics I could mention, or even bought this week. SINS OF THE FATHER was a very epic mini series but in some ways it was similar to territory that INVINCIBLE usually does; defend the planet from some impossibly powerful alien(s) with issues devoted to pure combat. While it's perfectly fine for the D5 to do that, and no coincidence that Invincible tagged in, it is nice to get a simpler story once in a while between those sagas that keeps things basic while also offering the stuff that the franchise does so well. The only frustrating thing I guess is looking at numbers and seeing this series rarely meet the Top 300, least this year. I mean, is this series REALLY worse than a lot of spare GREEN HORNET material? Come on, now. This issue, Faerber posted the lone letter he got during the SINS OF THE FATHER series. Maybe I should try sending in some letters; I might actually get published in this or some other Image books.
The back-up material is drawn by different artists, such as co-creator Mahmud Asrar (who also drew the cover), Billy Penn, Andres Ponce, Julio Brilha and Karim Whalen. It all sets up tantalizing details that will be explored in the next mini series, titled CERTAIN DEATH, which will also be drawn by Brilha, who drew SINS OF THE FATHER. The wait between sagas can be agonizing, but it is satisfying to get issues regularly when the creative team is ready to do so. As always, this remains a much under appreciated superhero franchise by fans, who often buy worse material in droves. The trade of these last issues should be out before the next arc begins, and with Faerber himself selling the first four trades of D5 for half price via his email (
[email protected]), now is the best time to hop aboard. At the very least, reading D5 is almost like being in a sort of club, knowing that maybe 3,000 or less of us are buying it monthly (I have no clue how the trades sell, but so long as they remain in print they can sell forever).
HAUNT #12: This issue concludes not only the first year of this title’s life, but the completion of it’s second major arc (not including a stand alone story between the first and second arcs). As of last month’s official sales reports, this is currently the 3rd best seller at Image Comics; behind WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE. The one thing it has in common with all of those is writer/co-creator Robert Kirkman, who has a successful TV adaptation of his work at his back now. As a link to Image’s old guard, it retains Image founder Todd McFarlane, co-creator, co-inker and letter column responder for the series (whose signature creation, SPAWN, is set to celebrate a 200th issue). Also involved as the regular creative team these days are Greg Capullo as penciler (a SPAWN regular who took over for INVINCIBLE’s Ryan Ottley with issue six, although he’d been helping McFarlane on inks before that), colors by FCO Plascenia and inks by Jonathon Glapion. Even though it is only a year old, that alone is longer than many new launches at Marvel have lasted; every issue, including the first, was also priced at $2.99 (another rarity).
In this issue, Daniel Kilgore (the ex-priest who can merge with the soul of his dead secret agent brother Kurt to become a being with a supernatural costume and powers), as “Agent Haunt”, completes his first mission for his local spy agency by successfully apprehending the organized criminal mastermind Hurg as well as his current buyers and associates. The mission that cost Kurt his life, which involved experimentations to create horrific super-soldier monsters, is also resolved. Kurt’s life, as bizarre and violent as it has become, has actually reached a high point from where he started in issue one. He’s now a trained agent, he has a girlfriend, he’s moving into a new place with another worker for the spy agency, and he has even reconciled with his brother. Who says that death keeps a family apart?
Naturally, the good times can’t last. Haunt still has at least one old enemy on the loose, and another seems to arise at the end of this issue. Unlike the others, this new foe may not hail from the world of black ops, where Kurt has experience. That is the best way to end an arc or even a first year of a series; a finale that feels like a finale, while leaving plenty of loose ends or new ideas for the next arc and year. The artwork may remind fans of 1990’s Image to a degree, but the writing quality from Robert Kirkman is more in line with the 21st century, especially as these recent issues have more of his sense of humor than in the first arc. While Haunt is different from INVINCIBLE or GUARDING THE GLOBE, it isn’t as humorless as many of Image’s 90’s products (which include SPAWN), which is a good thing. The dynamic between Daniel and Kurt is also very good, and despite the supernatural tones many of their interactions have felt “real”, packed with emotion or situations that manage to boil things down to human elements everyone can understand and relate to. We have all had a relative we may not have gotten along with at first.
A year in and the tag line that I have always used for this is, “it is SPAWN if done by Robert Kirkman”, but it still is accurate. There are similarities to SPAWN although it also borrows elements from a low level Marvel character, Brother Voodoo (whose latest series, DOCTOR VOODOO, debuted at the same time as Haunt, only was canceled by issue five or six). Anyone who has read Kirkman’s work knows some of his tics, such as not being hesitant around violence or gore as well as enjoying heroes who work for government spy type agencies (INVINCIBLE and ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN all had that detail). In that way, fans of SPAWN, whether new, old, or current should seriously give HAUNT a try as they may really enjoy it. Fans of Robert Kirkman’s work should also give it a try as something that is a nice middle ground between WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE in terms of themes and tones (especially since ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN is over).
While this is not the best comic at Image (I greatly prefer DYNAMO 5) nor from Kirkman’s body of work, it’s far from their worst and especially for that reliable $2.99 price tag, it is more than worth a chance.
INVINCIBLE #76: It has been a bit of a slow year for this title; it has only shipped about six or seven issues in 2010, when usually it averaged nine to twelve. The fact that Robert Kirkman did write (or co-write) at least four other titles this year as well as work on writing an episode of the "WALKING DEAD" TV show is likely a factor. To give credit, Kirkman has never sought to throw his artists under a bus for lateness as some do in "big two" companies and usually blames himself for most lateness issues. To be fair, issues 70 and 75 were "extra sized" issues with a main story over 30 pages as well as back-up material. At any rate, this is the sixth installment of Kirkman's epic "Viltrumite War" story in which the titular hero and his father and brother aid their allies in a cosmic resistance team against the empire run by others of their own alien species. There is a big fight in this issue, as Mark and Nolan take on Thragg, the king of the Viltrumite Empire. While there is a bit of action, it doesn't dominate the issue and Kirkman wisely doesn't write himself completely into a corner by wrapping things up too quickly nor does he kill off as many vital characters as he teased. This is no bad thing; too many series write themselves into corners seeking "shocks", while Kirkman is able to provide those without the dead ends. This arc will still apparently run for another two issues and the ending provides a sufficient twist.
I was also very glad that Oliver was not dead. Although given that Kirkman has become adept with making it seem like a character has been killed and they really haven't since Atom Eve's near demise, I haven't taken every "death scene" at face value yet, at least not until the subsequent issue. Of course, the next time he really kills off a regular long term character, we may not see it coming. Thragg's shift decision was a good one because there was a risk of Kirkman burning through too many of his villains too fast, like Conquest. Of course Thragg could be offed within the next two issues for all we know, but it is best to not burn every bridge behind you when you're a long term writer.
INVINCIBLE continues to be one of the best and most consistent superhero titles that has been offered by any comic book company, especially one that has been running monthly (or near-monthly) for over seven years without a relaunch.
CHAOS WAR: DEAD AVENGERS #2: This three issue mini series that stars deceased Avengers continues to be more exciting and entertaining than some Avengers titles that feature living ones! This is side material from CHAOS WAR, and it is written by Fred Van Lente, who is half of the writing team for that event . The main villain for the series is Grim Reaper, one of the Avengers long term villains and the brother of Wonder Man (neither of whom ever stay dead). The plot of this brisk series is simple, at least in comic book terms. During the events of CHAOS WAR, entire godly pantheons have been destroyed, which include the underworld, so the dead literally have nowhere to go and have thus returned to earth. This includes a half dozen deceased Avengers as well as the souls of civilians from across earth's history. Grim Reaper, alongside his equally evil lover Nekra, seeks to destroy all the Avengers once and for all, even deceased ones (to rob them of even a pleasant afterlife). In terms of functional attachments to CHAOS WAR, the Reaper is also likely there to prevent these "briefly resurrected" Avengers from somehow meddling with the Chaos King, but to be honest this story has very little to do with the event itself and the recap pages cover things nicely. Three different characters get the focus in this issue, although one of them seems to die for a second time in the finale (and who it is shouldn't shock long term Marvel fans - dying is all this particular Avenger is known for). Despite this, Van Lente is able to balance comedy as well as seriousness without the shifts being awkward. The art by Tom Grummett is timeless and exceptional, and he is flanked well by inker Cory Hamscher and colors by Andy Troy and Sotocolor (hopefully a pen name).
The only demerit is that this series may be for what are termed "completists"; hardcore fans who are genuinely interested in a solid story about characters who have been dead for anywhere between six and twenty-five years, especially for $4 an issue (even for only three issues; an investment of $11.97 for characters many fans may not recognize). However, the major advantage is this is a very well done and well drawn story that won't over-stay it's welcome and featuring characters who have been abandoned by prior writers. It is another success for Fred Van Lente (who is quickly becoming one of Marvel's rare set of consistently excellent writers) and a pleasant surprise for jaded Marvel readers. I know I have been enjoying this one quite a bit, and I do actually hope that some of the characters survive. I do think Rita DeMara and Deathcry could add to the Marvel Universe.
