Probably not very good. It's a mini, though; sales generally don't matter for the mini itself, only any potential ongoings that may come out of it, and, be honest, who really expects another Defenders ongoing, like, ever?
His style is a bit light hearted and whatnot. I agree he is functional, but, well...you look at Cassaday's imposing Colossus and then Muniz's...yeah. But at least Muniz can probably keep a schedule. And Blazing Skull looks too comical. I mean I guess that seperates him from the overly spooky Ghost Rider and keeps him in that "more mainstream superhero" mold of Golden Agers, but still...
I don't mind his She-Hulk or Nighthawk, though, and still feel the colorist isn't helping. Julia Strain (RUNAWAYS, WWH) he ain't.
Issue #3 should be completely void of Giffen's breakdowns (according to Casey's interviews, Giffen got the exclusive offer from DC during work on TLD #2), so I am curious how that will effect Muniz's pencils. He could actually get better doing his own thing instead of imitating Giffen...or it could look worse. But that's a question for May, not now.
Oh, and it appears Hellcat has a good reason for being missing; apparently Marvel liked her MCP's story so much that Patsy is getting a mini, according to Comics Continuum:
Comics Continuum 4/5/08 said:
* Marvel Comics on Friday released an image from the upcoming Hellcat mini-series by Kathryn Immonen and David Lafuente.
Frankly I wasn't too thrilled with Hellcat's MCP story. It was light hearted and fun, and these days that can be a rarity, but it got overly complicated very quickly and had a lot of awkward moments. It was more of a schtick than a story. Still, hopefully Kathryn scores a better work with a second try. Patsy's a longtime Marvel character, making the leap from 50's "Betty & Veronica" rip to superheroine, and it is good to keep her in circulation (aside for background appearances in A:TI; she got thrashed by KIA last issue).
That is cool. I never knew some writers had to literally write in the speech balloons to script a comic. In terms of my own writing, I could never get comfortable with script style and that has usually limited any submission or proposal. I used to draw my own crude comics in notebooks when I was in junior high and high school and naturally you draw in the lines by hand. Like that, I could work. I can type in a narrative form, it was just script directions I seemed awkward with. It is cool seeing Carey is somewhat similar.
Giffen's style is very Bruce Timm esque.
And the colors are when Muniz's art loses some luster to me. Inked it looks better. Fabela's not that hot, IMO. We could all probably list better colorists. Even the hype's own Dew K. Mosi is better, IMO.
I wonder why Colossus would have burn marks on his metal skin? He's supposed to be immune to, what, like 4000 degrees F? Magically resistant (although no writer but Claremont likely remembers that, or has needed to within the last 5-10 years)? Maybe they're just smudges. Anyway, my biggest worry about Colossus on TLD is that he'd be a chump next to She-Hulk, and while I am enjoying the series, Casey & Giffen aren't disproving me.
Between this and the other preview, we've now seen 10 pages out of 22. Hurm.
Apparently the team is broken up by Stark after their "reckless" first mission. Which is ridiculously hypocritical coming from a guy who led his team head-first into Latveria to fight Dr. Doom with ZERO plan beyond "punch and repeat" and the only reason they won was because Sentry happened to go ape-**** at the right moment, and in a way that he didn't become The Void, which is rare, like a 1 out of 10 thing. But I suspect Colossus & Skull may be back in the fold by issue end.
Anyway, my biggest worry about Colossus on TLD is that he'd be a chump next to She-Hulk, and while I am enjoying the series, Casey & Giffen aren't disproving me.
You know, you're the only one who has any problem with Colossus in The Last Defenders. Casey and Giffen haven't made Colossus look outstandingly superior to She-Hulk, but they haven't made him look like "a chump" next to her, either. There's been one issue so far; they haven't really done anything with any of the characters aside from Nighthawk. Maybe you might want to stop scouring TLD for perceived slights against Colossus and take a look at your own preconceptions there.
I dunno, I thought two bruisers on the team was kind of silly, myself. I think Shulkie or Colossus alone would have been better, but they said there was a reason for it.
I dunno, I thought two bruisers on the team was kind of silly, myself. I think Shulkie or Colossus alone would have been better, but they said there was a reason for it.
Yeah, the fact that Iron Man placed the team in New Jersey specifically as major muscle that could be called into New York in the event of a major crisis.
I didn't actually read the article myself until today. Looking at the layouts vs. the finished pencils and reading what the scene is supposed to convey, I have to say, I really prefer Giffen's layouts to Muniz's. Muniz's art seems a lot stiffer and the characters aren't as animated. I would've loved to see Giffen's finished art.
Reposting my review, but as I am also replying to a few quotes, I'll spoiler tag the entire thing, rather just the, well, spoilers.
Dread said:
THE LAST DEFENDERS #2: That IS a Deodato cover, isn't it? Not only is She-Hulk barefoot, but her rear is facing the camera. Anyway, TLD chugs along and Casey & Giffen have made a light-hearted superhero team book that seems all over the place at times, but doesn't do any harm to the characters and offers some chuckles and action. Muniz's art still isn't quite as good as Casey gushes, but I say part of that is Fabela's colors, because these pages inked without color looked slightly better from Newsarama previews.
The core plot centers around Iron Man disbanding the team after their first mission against the Sons of the Serpent goes horribly wrong. Sure, they pummeled the magical dragon the zealots summoned and beat up a lot of grunts, but they trashed half of Atlantic City in the process, and even Stark fears the wrath of Donald "Yuh Fye-ED" Trump. She-Hulk notes how they didn't know about the dragon and whatnot, but Iron Man is on his "hypocritical safety concern" jibe and isn't hearing it; after all, his Mighty Avengers have been equally reckless, without having to repeat myself. Blazing Skull and Colossus seem to go their seperate ways, but Jen sticks around and when Nighthawk gets a signal from his SHIELD agent pal's com, She-Hulk lends a hand for the rescue. Agent Pennysworth gets in some great lines as Jen & Kyle fight each other and then encounter the SOTS' "Mad-Bomb". Meanwhile, Yandroth goes back in time and tries to form an alliance with a young Hellstorm.
Under the hands of others, I might be concerned, but Casey & Giffen are planning something here, and both are good at their craft. But more to the point, not many of Marvel's team books are this "fun" these days and so even the bits that don't quite work can be forgiven. Considering I raised enough angst about Colossus' placement on the team to sink a battleship, so far while he hasn't done anything noteworthy, he hasn't been harmed, either. I mean, sure, Nighthawk is clearly the focus, but Skull and Jen have also done more in the story than Colossus, who just seems sort of "there". Still, I guess Piotr is the sort of fellow who would work on a traditional superhero book; he is a tanker and he follows orders and doesn't have ego issues. Kind of like those B-Level players on a sports team who don't always get all the attention, but know their fundamentals and do their job, and when the team wins, are often the unsung heroes. At least the mystical fire-breath didn't do more than scuff him. It was cute seeing him in a bathrobe in steel-form. Still, I see a lot of missed potential here and hopefully the next four issues have something special for him to do.
I expect the core four to reform, although with Stark wanting to scrap the Defenders, it explains why we have some new members coming in future issues; perhaps a do-over? Defenders vs. Defenders? To sum up, LAST DEFENDERS isn't the best Marvel book out there, but it has plenty of action and chuckles, and is light-hearted. More serious than X-MEN FIRST CLASS yet not suck in melodrama and bleakness. I can't imagine the sales will be too strong, though; unfortunately, as Kirkman has hinted, any lighter hearted hero books these days sell like poo. It is only a mini, though, and I am looking forward to more madcap action and where it all will conclude for the heroes. Nighthawk works surprisingly well as the lead here, too.
Oh, and for those who missed the small Bio of Nighthawk, Agent Pennysworth apparently used to be his business partner, who had dealings with the Son of the Serpent before. Now THAT's some continuity usage!
You know, you're the only one who has any problem with Colossus in The Last Defenders. Casey and Giffen haven't made Colossus look outstandingly superior to She-Hulk, but they haven't made him look like "a chump" next to her, either. There's been one issue so far; they haven't really done anything with any of the characters aside from Nighthawk. Maybe you might want to stop scouring TLD for perceived slights against Colossus and take a look at your own preconceptions there.
My issue is I see the potential of Colossus stepping outside of the X-Box (cheesy pun intended) and into something more mainstream. This could be handled three ways; epic, poorly, or mundane.
After two issues, Colossus' placement on the team is the latter. And that is fine, as it does no harm to the character. But, well, She-Hulk gets more page time, Nighthawk is the star (and he is an interesting one), and Blazing Skull has the zany wisecracks and wacky attitude. Colossus is just...there. He says a token Russian word, he hits something, and then that is really it. I suppose that has been enough to get him by in countless X-Men stints, but I'd like something a little more out of him, especially seeing as Whedon on AXM hasn't been bothered.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is a bad idea. I'm just waiting for something actually interesting or innovative to be done with it. Because so far, you could replace Colossus on this team with ANY token mutant strong-man, and there are a few of them, and the story would not be effected one bit. That isn't good. Still, Casey & Giffen have produced a fun and readable team book, one that's not afraid to be light, and I do trust the overall direction.
I dunno, I thought two bruisers on the team was kind of silly, myself. I think Shulkie or Colossus alone would have been better, but they said there was a reason for it.
Hopefully that will be explained better. She-Hulk and Colossus do have character, skill, and power differences that are there to be exploited depending on the story.
Yeah, the fact that Iron Man placed the team in New Jersey specifically as major muscle that could be called into New York in the event of a major crisis.
Indeed, and that makes sense, just like NJ is included in the heavy anti-terrorism security schemes that go on in NYC. Combining real world issues and concerns with superhero stuff is what good comics do.
I didn't actually read the article myself until today. Looking at the layouts vs. the finished pencils and reading what the scene is supposed to convey, I have to say, I really prefer Giffen's layouts to Muniz's. Muniz's art seems a lot stiffer and the characters aren't as animated. I would've loved to see Giffen's finished art.
Giffen's style reminds me a lot of the Timm house style.
Yeah, it would have been interesting to see the Giffen art inked and colored. Still, I was most interested in how Casey applied the dialogue. I thought it was a cool method, very organic. Reminded me of my own feeble attempts at making comics in junior high, and in a good way. It was fun.
The dudes on The Stack all agreed that the book needs to decide on a tone, since it seems to be straddling the line between comedy and traditional superhero action. I don't see it, myself. I think Casey's balancing both elements well.
But they did bring up a good point about Tony getting pissed at the Defenders for property destruction when property destruction has always been a part of superhero fights, including 99% of the ones Iron Man himself has participated in. Hell, Tony figured that out a long time ago, hence his participation in the creation of Damage Control. I guess there may be more to Tony's outrage over the damage, though. Maybe it really was just an excuse for Tony to pull the rug out from under Nighthawk, like Nighthawk thinks.
The dudes on The Stack all agreed that the book needs to decide on a tone, since it seems to be straddling the line between comedy and traditional superhero action. I don't see it, myself. I think Casey's balancing both elements well.
I am hopeful that Colossus will return. Casey seemed to put a lot of focus onto selling us on the roster that I doubt he'd pull a bait-and-switch after issue #2. Besides, the "hero team gathers, only to disassemble due to hardship, only to reunify when it is the most dramatic" is Team Comics 101, or even Team Stories in General 101.
Whether Colossus does anything noteworthy when he returns is another debate. In two issues he simply is Token Strong Dude. He needs to do something distinct and unique to him.
The dudes on The Stack all agreed that the book needs to decide on a tone, since it seems to be straddling the line between comedy and traditional superhero action. I don't see it, myself. I think Casey's balancing both elements well.
I admit the book is all over the place, but I also agree with you that I like the tone of the book. The reason it feels so "awkward" to some is we have become used to countless bleak, dark, grim comics that would feel insulted if something in them wasn't taken 100% seriously. THE LAST DEFENDERS I see as a mostly straightforward superhero book that is self aware and unafraid of laughing at itself.
But they did bring up a good point about Tony getting pissed at the Defenders for property destruction when property destruction has always been a part of superhero fights, including 99% of the ones Iron Man himself has participated in. Hell, Tony figured that out a long time ago, hence his participation in the creation of Damage Control. I guess there may be more to Tony's outrage over the damage, though. Maybe it really was just an excuse for Tony to pull the rug out from under Nighthawk, like Nighthawk thinks.
That's always been the main idea of Marvel heroics post-Stamford, overreacting to the exceptions to heroics rather than the rules. It is equally silly considering how reckless and destructive many "registered" heroes are, even ones under Iron Man's direct command.
I see him as a well meaning B-Lister who can never seem to make things work. Comparing it to THE THING in tone works, although I think THING had more heart.
Rating: RATED T+THE LAST DEFENDERS # 5 The Story: It's finally come down to this -- literally the last Defender standing, as Kyle Richmond goes head-to-head with his past, his present AND his future...! And Yandroth is right there to exploit all three of them! And...at long last: Dr. Strange! The Hulk! Namor, the Sub-Mariner! Together again...for the first time! Plus, the Squadron Sinister! All this...and a last page that will leave you shell-shocked!
Rated T+ $2.99
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