Somewhat of a short week to kick off October, although a better week than last week was. At any rate, reviews are up at Examiner first, and let's get started. Full spoilers.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 10/7/09:
HAUNT #1: Image is making something of this newest launch, with five variant covers (akin to a typical issue of NEW AVENGERS). Not only is it another Robert Kirkman title, but Image founder Todd McFarlane is working on it as co-creator, inker, and according to Kirkman on the last page, almost akin to an editor. Greg Capullo from SPAWN does layouts, while INVINCIBLE regulars Ryan Ottley work on pencils with FCO Plascenia on colors. In essence a merging of the Spawn and Invincible houses. And in some ways, this is almost akin to Spawn crossed with a bit of Marvel's Brother Voodoo (believe it or not, which also launches this week) filtered through Kirkman's filter. The result is an interesting debut issue; not the best, but good enough for me to give a second issue a try, especially considering I read other Kirkman stuff like DESTROYER, CAPES, and even TECH-JACKET. In fact the biggest difference between this and those other Kirkman works is the lack of humor. Even series with gore or horror like ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN sometimes have a line or so of humor, whether dark or light. There was even a comedic line in the middle of INVINCIBLE #60, after all. This issue is all played straight, straighter than Kirkman usually does on his own. It perhaps harkons to a time when Image took itself very, very, very seriously, and the audience did too (accepting like 17 debut issues of YOUNGBLOOD, after all).
HAUNT has quite a few of McFarlane's tics from Spawn; military ops, a murdered soldier with a wife to protect, a supernatural resurrection, the creation of a scary anti-hero who violently wants revenge, etc. The hook is that this soldier, Kurt Kilgore, has a brother, Daniel, a bitter priest who employs a prostitute and has to hear confessions of his brother's slaughter-filled ops missions semi-frequently. Kurt had a mission to extract a scientist doing biological experiments, but executes him when he finds his subjects were live. Kurt loses the professor's notebook and is tracked down by forces who want it; he's tortured and killed. That isn't the end, of course. His ghost haunts Daniel, and Dan naturally figures it is all psychological. When goons threaten Kurt's wife (Dan's sister in law), however, Kurt seems to "merge" with Dan and they form this black and white ghoulish superhero figure. Naturally things are kept a mystery as the issue is mostly focused on the back-story and set-up of the origin; even brisk origins take about 2-3 issues these days (although thankfully not 7-8 issues like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, sheesh). The story is gritty and again, seems more from Todd's wheelhouse since Kirkman usually injects some sort of line of humor somewhere, even in gore or horror stories. This is played straight for 22 pages. It's not bad; but humor displays some self-awareness, and can sometimes make an absurd premise go down easier.
Granted, the idea of two brothers who could barely stand each other now sharing a superhuman body to tear bad guys apart is fodder for that sort of thing given more issues. Daniel is a priest who sleeps with a hooker; while not a killer like Kurt, he's hardly as "holy" as he acts. The artwork is different from what Ottley usually provides, with the different layouts and inks. The cover from McFarlane naturally has his figure who looks like a demonic version of Spider-Man (as Spawn would without the cape), but Ottley's interiors aren't that blatant, yet. Having the spirit of a dead brother merge with a live one for power has, as noted, been done with Brother Voodoo, and it is ironic that Marvel is launching his ongoing this week. Haunt probably has a better outfit (although 1998's SUPERNATURALS had a redesign for Voodoo that had a skull mask motif to it). It took WOLF-MAN quite a few issues to fully find it's way so I am willing to give HAUNT a few issues, especially as it's still $3 an issue, unlike Marvel's launches. Kirkman expresses his pride to be collaborating with McFarlane, owner of Mark McGuire's worthless home run ball (he may as well have bought a wad of andro), but the question is that if the era of 90's grit has passed McFarlane by for a project that seems to be steered by him for 2009. Kirkman, after all, is a talent of the present, while McFarlane's heyday was about 15 years ago. Just ask Frank Miller or Rob Liefield, or even Jeph Loeb, if what worked in 1994 will work today (they'll say it does, while anyone with good sense will roll their eyes). One can only hope Kirkman can infuse more of his own mix into things, rather than play star-struck ghost-writer for McFarlane's drafts. Because as neat a premise as HAUNT is, if every issue is as humorless as this is, things could get blander than they need to be. Lord knows what has made Jason Aaron rock on GHOST RIDER(S) is his ability to mix in dark humor, to contrast the tight-cheeked 90's era that was humorless; the era McFarlane thrived in, but an era that is gone and rarely missed.
Still, a fine debut issue; probably better than VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT #1 that I read last week. I'll give it time to find it's feet. Given that Ottley & FCO are only off of INVINCIBLE for about two issues, I am curious how they will juggle things once Cory Walker leaves again.
GHOST RIDERS: HEAVEN'S ON FIRE #3: The first issue that actually has both Ghost Riders in action within interior pages! Basically, "swift" in Bendis/JMS-style compression ("Anything worth doing is worth spending ten issues to do!"). This issue hits a stride better than the last issue as Blaze and Ketch finally team up against some of Zadkiel's rent-a-stooges trying to prevent them from finding a gateway to Heaven, which Ketch has sold his soul to Satan to uncover, so long as the Anti-Christ is kept safe. Blaze naturally thinks Ketch is a gullible psychopath, while Ketch just wants to do whatever it takes to get his revenge. Both of them wind up helping each other when they're jumped by the first of the goon squad.
What makes Jason Aaron cool is his useage of old time characters that he fits for his own purposes; one of his last issues of GHOST RIDER dusted off Highwayman from U.S. ONE after all. This one has the Big Wheel, a Spider-Man F-Lister, and that isn't even the half of it. The issue is all but stolen by Trull the Mighty, a monster created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby way back in TALES TO ASTONISH #21, circa July 1961 (as in pre FANTASTIC FOUR #1). He was basically this alien who could transfer his mind into machines, and usually picked construction vehicles. Didn't Stephan King make a movie like that years later? At any rate, while Big Wheel takes on Blaze, the verbose Trull the Mighty takes on Ketch with virtually everything within a lumber-jack site they stumble upon, and it's good pulp fun. That's what Aaron brings to the table with GHOST RIDER; a lot of the stuff from the 90's was tight-cheeked, humorless, and so on; he brings a sort of Horror B-Movie feel to it and makes it work. The issue ends with Blackout getting the key to Heaven while a new squad of killer nuns locks & loads for a fight with the Ghost Riders. Roland Boschi's art kicks butt and is a big improvement over Huat, who drew most of the end run on GHOST RIDER and is on some Punisher book now (which can keep him).
Some have criticized Ketch here for being "evil", but I don't find him so. He's more zealous than Blaze is, often to a fault, but wasn't that always true? Blaze was the Rider of the cheesy 70's horror comic era, who formed a superhero team with Iceman and Hercules for F's sakes, or would team up with Morbius, Werewolf By Night and Man-Thing. Ketch was the spiked leather, metal chained fire-breathing rider; the one who first used the Penance Stare. Blaze was the flaming skull biker with dark blue spandex, who was a carnie when he wasn't fighting some freak like Witch-Woman. Blaze is experienced but sometimes hesitant to plan and more of a reactive person; Ketch is more zealous who is willing to make long term goals, which might screw him in the present to try to reach an end-goal. His retort to Blaze screaming at him for his newest bargain with Satan was, "And what was YOUR idea?" and Blaze really has nothing. Bluntly, Blaze is the idealist Rider while Ketch does what he thinks should be done to accomplish a goal; at times that sets him up for being tricked, but it's not being a cackling villain. Even if it can be exploited by one or two. Hellstorm, Sarah, and the others take the issue off, and I didn't miss them. This issue captures that difference between Ketch and Blaze when after they have dispatched the goons, Ketch starts "punishing" the workers of the lumber site for "sins", even one man for "strongly considering" beating his wife, and Blaze has to calm him. The Bible, after all, says that even thinking of committing a sin is almost as bad as doing it, but many don't strictly adhere to that philosophy.
There is a reprint of GHOST RIDER #2 to justify the $4 price-tag. It doesn't quite work. The recap page also has a tag-line that seems to be an homage of HEROES' debut season. At any rate, Aaron's swan song arc here for GR may end up being one of his best, and I'm excited to see how it ends. He really picked up the ball from Daniel Way and scored quite a few touch-downs these last two years.
VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT #2: A Marvel comic in which the Sentry guest appears. As rare as a comic that guest-stars Wolverine, Iron Man, Norman Osborn and/or the Dark Avengers, Spider-Man, or Deadpool! At the very least, Greg Hurwitz actually gets a decent scene out of Sentry, better than other writers. Apparently acting on his own for a moment, he has a "talk" with Moon Knight, now back on the NYC crime fighting scene, basically psycho-a-psycho. He claims that he has his godly powers keeping him in check, while Knight has nothing, and will fall back into his SIN CITY style roots in due time. Moon Knight, or "Jack Lockley" (his Marc Specter persona is seemingly dead; the cabbie is in control now), to his credit, vows that Sentry will "fail" as well. They don't quite fight but Sentry more or less drags Knight along as he performs some heroic feats like a rag doll.
Moon Knight has operated usually poorly on the fringes of whatever event Marvel was doing. It took him far too long to tie into Civil War and he stumbled awkwardly into the Initiative. Now in the middle of Dark Reign, the general idea is that Norman Osborn would like to just lock him up, but he can't locate him (even if Sentry located him easily, albeit while Moon Knight was standing on a rooftop in broad daylight). Osborn hires The Profile from last volume to get a bead on Moon Knight, at least to confirm whether or not it's the same guy. He confirms that it is...sort of. Another advantage to being a multiple personality I guess (just ask Sensui from YU YU HAKUSHO about that one). After giving Marlene a Moon-Copter ride to work (because a motorcycle wouldn't be enough), Moon Knight takes one one of Mark Gruenwald's creations, the Slug. Y'know, the OTHER fat mob boss, only he usually hung out in Florida, and unlike the Kingpin, all his fat is actually fat, and not muscle. Moon Knight even manages to hoist that chunky fella into the air with a grappling line; he's got to have a Bo-Flex body for that one.
Jerome Opena's art is still pretty good, capturing the superhero action well as well as the civilian stuff with Marlene or Frenchie. Khonshou is still there taunting Moon Knight into being more gruesome, but he seems to have a handle on it. However, Profile and Hood seem to want to dig up Moon Knight's past to drive him over the edge...literally. My only gripe is similar to the gripe during the Initiative; all it really would take is one raid wit the (Dark) Avengers, and Moon Knight's done. He's basically Daredevil only swap the radar for sporadic low level super strength and vehicles. Bullseye and Ares could probably drag him in on a commercial break. Huston throught up some awkward stuff to keep Moon Knight on the fringes, and to be fair Hurwitz probably has a better go of things. Osborn is trying to lock on him, and Sentry for once acted independently, at least for a moment. I have to admit their scene wasn't bad, the two mentally challenged heroes having an argument. I probably liked this better than the first issue in a way, but hopefully things will start to pop in the next issue or two, otherwise I may lose interest before long. It's not a bad book, but it still feels a bit middle of the road, although toning down the grittiness and bleak gore is a plus.
X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS #1: Saving the best for last this week. Despite the heavy presence of the X-Men in this issue, this is really almost AGENTS OF ATLAS #13, as it awkwardly relies on an unresolved subplot left over from the just ended ongoing series. Venus, the Siren, has been captured by an agent of Venus, the goddess, who works the Olympus Group, who have become the enemies of Hercules in INCREDIBLE HERCULES (the title that AGENTS OF ATLAS will soon become a back up strip in, presumably next year). To that end, the Agents need Cerebra so Bob Grayson can try to find her; they attempt to "borrow" it while the X-Men continue to set up their new island base, and it goes wrong and both teams fight. As the recap page notes, Wolverine and M-11 have bad blood, and Gorilla-Man is always in a surly mood (as is Namora, actually). The art is by Carlo Pagulayan, and Jeff Parker seems to follow from Matt Fraction's angle of things from his X-Books. Which I suppose is good for a fan like me who has mostly avoided things.
The recap is that the X-Men moved from New York to California, because CA is supposed to be more liberal and accomodating towards freaks, especially mutants; the X-Statix were celebrities out there, after all. Unfortunately, allegories about mutant communities no longer worked narratively since there are a grand total of maybe 200 mutants in America, and probably less. Nearly half of them have X's on some form of their bodies, and the others are villains; 200 individuals is barely an apartment complex, much less a "community". Basically, mutants are the new Inhumans (since the Inhumans are in space now). Taking that cue, after about a year the X-Men have moved to the former Asteroid M, now an island called "Utopia". What, "X-Island" was too blunt? It's the Mansion with a moat, basically. The upshot is that Cyclops is a tactician again. The downside is that M-Day remains a dead-end storyline, keeping the X-Men franchise trapped in the same endless cycles of soap melodrama with whatever roster they have until it is reversed or some editorial idea can work well with it; much like a Presidential administration, if a good idea hasn't been thought up within four years, it never will be thought up by that particular administration. It says a lot that four years after M-Day was supposed to "put the genie back in the bottle" the X-Men as a franchise spent a year ignoring it in space, and the last two years desperately trying to revive and relaunch themselves under the awkward new premise; failing every time (or feeling the need to shift from one set up to the next, with no time to settle). But I digress. Joe Quesada believes the world would spin off it's axis and streak into the sun if he dared admit a mistake and reverse an editorial agenda for the creative good of any franchise, and in reality it doesn't much matter for this two part mini.
An endless amount of X-Men are introduced and some of the introduction captions are cheeky and amusing. Apparently anyone who has ever been an X-Man who is still alive and powered is involved in the current roster; it's like 1997 all over again (when the core X-Book had some 14 X-Men in interior panels, even if Joseph, Cannonball or Psylocke just stood in the background...and lo! Psylocke is back!). Madison Jefferies, a.k.a. The Box from Alpha Flight (serving the role Forge used to) is still in CA sort of unplugging everything before moving back, only that Graymalkin base has been infiltrated by the Agents of Atlas. Cyclops soon figures out something is amiss and rushes to the rescue with some X-Men. Without Venus to instantly save the day with a song, the Agents seem overwhelmed until Uranian instantly saves the day with psychic illusions (Emma Frost is stuck in diamond form and couldn't counter, although seemed aware they were psychic illusions). The Agents seemingly flee with Cerebra, only for the X-Men to storm their Hidden City base for a second round. Cloak is back to being everyone's teleport taxi like in CIVIL WAR; I hope he's paid by the mile.
The fight is pretty good and as usual Parker gets in some great lines; M-11's exchange with Wolverine is quite memorable. There is an 8 page back up strip that seems to tie into X-MEN: FIRST CLASS with art from Chris Samnee. It's fun unless you try to think about continuity. At any rate, Beast seems to recognize Gorilla-Man in it, which could help quell their current conflict. The only caveat is like many superhero team battles, the premise is somewhat obligatory. The Agents could have simply explained themselves to the X-Men, exploiting, say, Namora's ties to Namor, and ask permission to use Cerebra to find Venus. To be fair, there is the dilemma of Wolverine and M-11 hating each other, and the fact that the Agents have a rep as a criminal enterprise, and may not have been trusted. Still, the X-Men of all teams should be used to having a bad rep or trying to exploit a bad rep to do some real good. Cyclops, Angel, and Beast were perfectly happy to pretend to be mutant-hunters to try to be heroes via X-FACTOR for years. Cyclops now encourages Wolverine to lead teenagers into battle and mercilessly slaughter enemies in X-FORCE (even having Elixir coerce an old villain, Vanisher, into working with them via a quickly grown brain-tumor). The X-Men in general exploited their seeming televised death to avenge themselves on enemies for years during the "Australian Era". Their teammates keep involving Earth in wars with aliens. But, at any rate, this was handled better than, say, the Mighty Avengers fighting the Fantastic Four in MIGHTY AVENGERS some months ago. It still felt obligatory, but less so than some other recent hero vs. hero brawls, and still was quite a lot of fun. There was a lack of Temujin and Khanata, though, although that could be solved next issue.
I also have respect for any mini that knows to end before things get too long; in an era when any story is usually stretched 4-6 issues, this one will end in two, and I appreciate that. Can't wait for the climax next month. Even if poor Colossus got spanked. The artwork was solid and 30 story pages makes $4 easier to pay out than a reprint. I naturally liked Parker tying together various ends from his stories in AGENTS and even FIRST CLASS. The fight against the X-Men is a shameless way to milk the X-Men's popularity to gain exposure for the Agents; while the X-Men have had a harder time supporting spin off titles lately, it should still sell about double what AGENTS OF ATLAS #11 likely tallied. Marvel wants to promote and build this franchise, and that's a worthy effort. I naturally look forward to more of one of Marvel's most unique teams since the RUNAWAYS.
I guess it's minor in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed odd to me.
