Chew
#2
This book could become the sleeper hit of the summer. The first issue
sold out. A reprint was issued. This second issue was also sold out
(I got them both before they sold out apparently). Why? It's a book
with a good premise, terrific writing and great art. The only problem
really is the coloring. It's all pale yellows and not bright and fun.
The story has a Chinese policeman getting a new job with the FDA.
He's a Cibopathic. When he eats something he can tell the history of
the food. If he takes a bite out of a corpse he can also tell who
killed them. Sick? Yes. But it's also comical. This second issue
features a fight with ninjas. Agent Chu also falls in love at first
sight. & a bad guy wants Chu's head on a silver platter. The
first issue obviously was a lot better. Now that we're beyond the
interesting premise it is more of the same. And how long can this
book exist? The premise may wear thin. So far, though, it's a great
little book. ***
Savage Dragon
#150
Big things always happen in Erik Larsen's milestone issues. #125 had
Glum getting a hold of the God Gun and taking over the world. #100
had the Dragon permanently move onto a parallel world which started
the Dragon as a husband and father storyline. #75 created the
parallel worlds when Dragon killed the baby Darklord and started the
Savage World storyline. This milestone is easy to sum up: it's the
one where Overlord kills Dragon. Granted, we've seen him die a
million times before. This time could be different. Why? Really? It's
too complicated to explain. I'll try. There was this evil monster
that went around sucking the brains and life force from others. He
did this to Dragon but the monster turned into Dragon. Dragon's old
body is still around...and will probably end up being used after this
issue. Also, Overlord is back. It was him that caused the big police
station explosion. But we still don't know who's in the metal suit.
And Dart's niece? Allison Summers? Yeah, she's resting and fucking
Daredevil. She also hacks one of Daredevil's kid partners into little
pieces and feeds them down the garbage disposal. All in all an
excellent issue. The art, now that an awesome colorist is aboard, is
as good as ever. & with Dragon dying...and evil Allison
lurking...and the mystery of who's Overlord...there's a lot in store
for the future. The back up stuff (the actual Dragon story is 30
pages) is pretty lame stuff, though. There's the origin of Dardevil
(it's from the forties or something...he was raised by Australian
tribesmen). There's a Vanguard stuff. There's also the re-printed
origin of Dragon. I'm getting really sick of these big books with
tons of extras nobody cares about. Other than that, good issue. After
all these years he's still got it. ***
Irredeemable
#4
This is writer Mark Waid's big, new independent book. It's about a
superhero that turns evil all of a sudden. He starts killing other
superheroes. In this issue he sinks Indonesia. Why? Well, that's part
of the mystery. The rag-tag superheroes left are trying to figure out
a way to stop him. It's definitely an interesting idea for a book.
It's also very bizarre. Last issue, The Plutonian (he's the evil
superhero), made a guy and girl fuck. He made the girl wear a blonde
wig and told them what to do and what to say. Apparently he was
reliving sex with an ex-girlfriend. Weird, right? It's just a wild,
ride of a book, though. And it is super serious but also it's a
readable one. ***
Buffy the
Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #26
I've
been reading this book off and on. I really loved the Drew Goddard
arc. The Joss Whedon arcs were okay. This new arc is the longest.
It's also written by Jane Espenson, a former writer of Buffy
and current writer of Dollhouse.
She's typical of the old Buffy
writers. She's good at comedy and one-liners. This is very funny and
amusing book. The story is mediocre, but does that even matter? The
slayers are on the run. Faith and Giles meet up with Buffy and the
crew. They fight monsters at a castle and then head off in a
submarine to go find Oz. Oz is living at a monastery. The problem I
have with this book is that there are so many locations and so many
huge battles that these plots would never have been an episode or
season of Buffy.
Buffy
the show was contained and smaller. This is epic and sprawling. I
guess that's the point, though. The writers have the freedom now for
mega-budget plots. It's fun, sure. Entertaining, sure. I miss the TV
show. ***
Captain
America: Reborn #1
Boy
did this book get ripped apart online. First off, the storyline has
Captain America stuck in a time paradox. He keeps moving around to
different times in his life. One minute he's fighting on the beaches
of Normandy and the next he's a little kid with his parents. This
isn't a bad idea (and since he hasn't been in the book for two years,
they had to come up with some reason why he hasn't been around), but
the TV show Lost
just did the stuck-in-time plot this season. It feels like such a
rip-off. That's not to say that you can look beyond it and still
enjoy this issue. Writer Ed Brubaker is joined by superstar Bryan
Hitch for this mini-series. Hitch is very slow so Butch Guice helped
out the art. It shows. Some of the art is very good but a lot of it
is dark and sloppy. The other storyline has Sharon Carter unraveling
the mystery and getting into a battle with the Dark Avengers. The
only problem I have with any of this is the fact that this is a
mini-series. Why not just continue it in the pages of the regular
book? I think it's because Marvel thought they could make more money
out of it this way. With the awful reviews, though, number two won't
sell half as much as this monster. *** (out of ****)
Sadly, this is probably the worst issue in what so far has been the
book of the year. It's mostly a flashback. It tells the story of how
Ellie became controlled and manipulated by the evil teenager that's
really an old witch. Ellie has a retarded son that is seemingly in
control of things. The big shocker of an ending as the retarded son's
army men talking to each other. His army men are ready to fight. Huh?
This book has consistently brought forth new and mysterious ideas to
the forefront. The key that can open one's head started out as silly
but turned out to be fascinatingly fun. The army men that can talk
and are alive could make the next six-issue stint awesome or awful.
We'll see. Terrific art as usual. Just a great book, really.
Definitely one of the best out there. And now we have to wait until
the Fall. ***
Batman &
Robin #2
This
continues the storyline of Batman & Robin vs. The Circus of the
Strange. Basically, Batman & Robin are fighting circus freaks
that work for a mysterious, pig-mask wearing Mr. Pig. The story isn't
anything new or shockingly entertaining. The art makes it seem like
it, though. Frank Quitely is jaw-droppingly awesome. His art is so
detailed, so ramshackle and alive. It's unique for sure. It also
would work a lot better with a bigger page format, as I had to squint
to see every detail, every line. If you remember (and hell, how can
you forget?), Bruce Wayne died during last year's Final
Crisis
mini-series. The new Batman is Nightwing. The new Robin is Damian, a
ten year-old and apparent spawn of Batman and The Devil (or something
ludicrous...I haven't read Grant Morrison's entire run). So this
issue makes it known that it's hard settling into new roles and
trying to save Gotham as the new Batman. At the end of the issue,
after the circus freaks break into the jail and kill of Mr. Toad,
Robin heads to their lair and is swiftly kidnapped. Batman to the
rescue! Grant Morrison has said that he wants this to be a 60's
style, “fun” Batman book a lot like the silly TV show. It's
actually more serious than that, but it is a lot of fun. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment