That's Good Whedon! April 4th Books.

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That's Good Whedon! April 4th Books.
I was kinda late getting around to reading most of this week’s books, largely due to the Wednesday night sneak preview of GRINDHOUSE. This movie, despite its flaws (Rodriguez’s installment, PLANET TERROR, is a bit front-loaded with wall to wall insanity, while Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF gets off to an unforgivably slow start), is a cinematic experience unlike any other. Like many a night at the pictures, the best part is the trailers—particularly our own home-grown entry, Jason Eisener’s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (attached to all the Canadian prints!), Edgar Wright’s DON’T, and the unbelievable genius of Eli Roth’s holiday slasher flick THANKSGIVING.

But enough about that. We’re here to talk about comics, aren’t we?

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #2: Season Eight continues, as the mystery of that weird symbol from issue one deepens and Amy makes her move. Joss Whedon writes these characters like he never left them, and Georges Jeanty does a great job juggling the action and intrigue with character likenesses (he does a particularly spot-on Willow). Also, there’s at least one character moment that, as a fan of the show, made me almost yell out “WHAT?!?!” in surprise and shock, not in a bad way. If you’re a fan, you’ll know what part I’m talking about. Something Buffy said to somebody else, know what I mean? I wouldn’t really recommend this book to folks who didn’t follow the TV show, but faithful BUFFY fans should not miss this.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7: The team gets its official lineup and new HQ, and it only took seven issues. That might seem interminably slow, and it kind of is, but if you’re a JLA nerd like me you won’t mind. The reveal of Roy as Red Arrow is a very nice scene, one that was unfortunately spoiled by the solicitation of his action figure (not that it was a huge surprise, but still). The team’s new headquarters combines a few nostalgic touches, and should hopefully please everybody. However, I have a few technical qualms with this issue. First off, the much-ballyhooed jam cover is really only available to fans who buy both covers, in a shameless bit of cash-grabbing (I didn’t even mention the third cover by Michael Turner, with its barely peripheral story connection). This sucks, because the overall image is really nice, featuring art by JLA creators past and present, but I for one absolutely refuse to support all this multiple cover bullshit. Also, there is a cool gatefold section with a portrait of the new team, but as a result, the page order of the book is all screwed up. Finally, this is the second double-sized, higher-priced issue in a row. Mind you, as I said, the nostalgia factor (Meltzer is obviously an ever bigger JLA nerd than me, or most people) is carrying me through on this one, but some quality control issues need to be worked out…as well as the money-grubbing on DC’s part.

SUPERGIRL #16: I normally wouldn’t be caught dead reading this book, as it has been a perfect storm of misfires right from the get-go (first, nonsensical T and A from Loeb and Churchill, then confusing One Year Later nonsense from Rucka, which was cut off in midstream by that writer’s departure, then picked up and confused further by an incoming Joe Kelly), but Rachelle’s recommendation made me curious to check out this issue, featuring new co-writer Mark Sable. This is a step in the right direction—Kara’s revamped origin has a cool, creepy new angle on the Phantom Zone, and ties in with the revised Krypton stuff we’ve seen recently in ACTION COMICS. However, some of the storytelling is a bit confusing, possibly because it’s really hard to differentiate between artist Ale Garza’s depictions of teenaged Kara and her grown-up mother. Complaints aside, this is probably the best issue this troubled series has seen so far, and I couldn’t be happier to see a rich concept like the Phantom Zone getting so much play after lying fallow for what feels like decades.

MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #1: This one didn’t actually arrive at our store this week, due to some sort of warehouse screwup that saw the entire East Coast shorted. Still, we got a copy in our Image First Look envelope, so I got an early eyeful. Frank Einstein’s entire history is recounted, which is helpful for new readers, but it’s done in a kind of annoying “everything he knew is wrong” scenario that left me a bit cold. Still, Frank is an endearing creation who has been absent from comic shops for far too long, and Mike Allred’s art is always a joy to behold (although what’s going on with Laura’s colouring lately? It looks really…muddy or something. She’s still one of the best in the biz, but I think she’s trying some sort of weird filter or something and it just doesn’t look right).

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #1: Like we needed a THIRD ongoing AVENGERS title. However, Dan Slott is a pro, and he makes the best of a bad situation (the whole post CIVIL WAR status of registered heroes, etc.). This new series follows several new registered super-teens as they go through super boot camp, so they can then be placed in one of the new teams being developed for all fifty states. Slott, normally known for humour books like GREAT LAKES AVENGERS and SHE-HULK, gets serious here, with tragedy striking the recruits very early on. Stefano Caseli didn’t impress me too much with his work on YOUNG AVENGERS/RUNAWAYS, but I’m starting to think that his art on that book might have been coloured in an overpowering fashion—it’s been toned down a lot here. This could be a fun, if dark, look at the new status quo in the Marvel Universe—sort of like a super-powered STARSHIP TROOPERS, based on the first issue’s tone. Like this week’s JLA, though, it has what should be a wraparound cover (a cool group shot by Jimmy Cheung) but instead is a 50/50 split variant cover. Unlike JLA, though, the first thing you see when you open it is a smaller version of the full cover image. So that’s something, I guess.

FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA: WOLVERINE #1: How’s that for a clunky title? Wolverine doesn’t believe Cap is truly dead, so he goes on an unnecessarily guest-star-filled quest to find the truth, courtesy of Jeph Loeb and Leinil Francis Yu. The art is fine, and for once, Loeb dispenses with his usual barrage of narrative captions, but this is still an unnecessary spin-off and obvious cash grab. As usual for Loeb, it’s full of ridiculous dialogue (at one point, the Winter Soldier says, “It was…THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA.”) and unintentionally hilarious one-liners (Crossbones: “You here to do me?” Snicker!) But hey, it’s from the screenwriter of TEEN WOLF and COMMANDO, so why wouldn’t hilarity abound?

RUNAWAYS #25: Joss Whedon takes the reins of Brian K. Vaughan’s book, in a fairly smooth transition—although I’m not sure how this picks up from where #24’s cliffhanger ending left off. They escaped, I guess? I’m sure we’ll find out sometime, I suppose. I had no worries about Whedon—his and Vaughan’s styles are similar enough, and Whedon clearly knows these characters and has their personalities down—but incoming artist Michael Ryan had me a bit nervous. However, my fears were groundless, as his stuff here is a nice mix of detailed and cartoony that has its own identity without straying too far from the visual style established by co-creator Adrian Alphona.

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #2: This was kind of a nice surprise—it’s one of those double-sized books that’s half new material and half reprint, but the lead story is by Sean McKeever (SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE) with art by Kano (GOTHAM CENTRAL). The plot revolves around a bunch of shifty doctors getting whacked by a vengeful Venom (with a couple of references to the film version of THE FUGITIVE), and Peter Parker/Spidey tries to solve the mystery of why. A fun whodunit, with gorgeous artwork to boot. The next story, featuring the Lizard, has art by Vasilos Lolos (PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND), and one of the reprints is a cool Green Goblin story by Len Wein and Ross Andru. A bit on the pricey side (six bucks CDN), but lots of good stuff inside.