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Friday, September 3, 2010
Free Comic Book Day Reviews
Amelia Rules/WJHC
by Jimmy Gownley (Amelia) and Jane Smith Fisher, Kirsten Petersen & Ravil Lopez (WJHC)
Renaissance Press, Wilson Place Comics
The former: Amelia's "origin" story, in which she moves to her new neighborhood and meets her friends for the first time. The latter: the cast of the long-running series about a high school radio station gets locked in the school library during a thunderstorm. I'll talk about WJHC first since I'm new to it. The story presented here was created as part of a schools and libraries promotional giveaway, so the whole point is to show off how cool libraries are to younger audiences, and in that, it succeeds. We get the whirlwind tour, complete with an array of book genres and library services available. Outside of that, though, there's not much else. The bland characters are little more than types -the nerdy one, the nosy one, the princess, the beatnik (?!), and the token ethnic kids. As a tool for getting kids interested in reading in general, it works. The dialogue does what it's supposed to do without crossing over into preachiness, and the art is clear and direct. I just wish it had livelier characters. (Also, I couldn't help thinking as I read this, "These modern teenagers are trapped in a library and none of them have cellphones?" I've seen 10-year-olds with their own cellphones!)
Amelia is Amelia. I can sing Jimmy Gownley's praises all day, and have in the past. His stories have so much warmth, emotion, and genuine humor to them, with a delightfully playful art style that makes great use of layout, composition, and even lettering. Amelia is the total package and deserves every bit of praise it has received and more. Amelia: A, WJHC, B-
Hysteria/Sharknife
by Mike Hawthorne (Hysteria) and Corey "The Rey" Lewis (Sharknife)
Oni Press
The former: what appears to be an ensemble crime/sci-fi/psuedo-manga pastiche, this particular story follows the path of a stray machine gun. The latter: a psuedo-manga/video game-like fight scene between the eponymous hero and his adversary, with some help from a little kid. I think it's safe to say that I am not the target audience for either of these books, and yet I can't deny that they both display a high level of craft. Hysteria's strength lies in the relationships between the characters, brought into finer focus once the machine gun enters the picture. We get a sense not only of history between them, but of the possibility of future events unfolding as a result. The art is very stylish; manga-influenced yet still with its own distinct look.
As for Sharknife, well, there's not much in the way of story here, but the hilariously over-the-top nature of the fight - complete with scoring "graphics" as if it were a video game (and it may as well be) - has a certain charm to it. The layouts are a bit hard to read in places - I'd like to see at least a couple more shades of gray - but there's no doubt that manga aficionados will eat it up. Points off, however, for both covers having near-illegible logos. When I saw this book it was standing on a rack behind the counter, Sharknife side out, and I had to ask for it as "the Oni Press book" because I couldn't figure out the title.
Once again Oni proves itself to be among the industry leaders in diversity of product. While neither of these books are my cup of tea, I believe they have the potential to reach new audiences, and that's what counts in the end. Both: B
G.I. Joe/Darkstalkers/Defex
by various
Devil's Due/Udon
G.I. Joe: based on the long-running animated series and toy line, this story take splace after the Joes escape from a Cobra raid on their HQ. They plan on nuking Cobra's HQ, unaware that Cobra has a new location. Darkstalkers: a prequel story about a child of destiny and how the powers she stands to inherit could one day corrupt her. Defex: a Gen-13-like team of young adult metahumans searching for one of their own.
I suppose reading a completely serious G.I. Joe story shouldn't have been such a shock to me, but it kinda was. I mean, we all remember the dopey cartoon, right? The one where both the Joes and Cobra fire a million shots and never actually hit each other? And don't forget about those PSA messages at the end of every episode! ("Now you know - and knowing's half the battle!") G.I. Joe's militaristic good guy-bad guy paradigm does seem appropriate - for all the wrong reasons - in this post-9-11 world, particularly since Cobra Commander himself is faceless. When you declare a war on a concept (terror, drugs), you don't have to put a single face on it... which means anyone can be the enemy. I'm sure John Ashcroft would agree, don't you think? Anyway... if you read this sans any real world correlatons, it's actually not bad. Cobra Commander is every bit as ruthless as you'd expect, and though the Joes continue the tradition of corny codenames (Lady Jaye, Gung-Ho, Lifeline, etc.), they seem very 21st century high-tech. The art is beautiful - realistic, yet still maintains that heroic action flavor. It's extremely difficult to divorce G.I. Joe from the context of the Reagan 80's, the era of Rambo and Schwarzenegger and J.R. Ewing. This new comic incarnation does its best, though.
The central character of Darkstalkers looked like a Dark Phoenix rip-off within a Dungeons & Dragons setting and the story looked like one more in an endless series of Dragon Ball Z-type battle stories. If it had half the humor of Sharknife it would be a massive improvement. Marv Wolfman's Defex wasn't bad for what it was, though I'm not sure I bought the kids' method of lookig for their friend. It seemed like a deliberate attempt to create artificial tension. Artwork is dynamite though. The art on all three stories is exceptional. None of these titles are gonna set the world on fire, but I could see comics newbies getting into them. Would've preferred them to be done-in-one stories, though. G.I. Joe: B, Darkstalkers: C+, Defex: B
Bongo Comics Gimme Gimme Giveaway
by various
Bongo Comics (duh)
Four tales from the company that makes the adaptaions of Matt Groening's animated series. Two Simpsons stories: one where Homer gets Lisa's class lost on a field trip, the other where Homer tries to apply the lessons learned from a book about parenting; a Futurama story about Bender's questionable cooking skills; and a Steve Ditko-era Dr. Strange parody written by Chuck Dixon. The art is meant to ape Groening's style, and it does, although in the "Plasmo the Mystic" story, veteran artist Hilary Barta is given a bit more leeway, and incorporates shadows and a heavier inkline than what you would find in the other stories. Dixon lays on the alliterative exclamations a bit thick, but it's all in good fun. As for the other stories, they do a decent job of capturing the humor of both of the series (although I never completely warmed up to Futurama). Throw in the fake ads and you've got a worthy showcase of Bongo's material. B+
Star Wars FCBD 2005 Special
by Miles Lane & Nicola Scott
Dark Horse/LucasBooks
In a story that takes place a few months before the events of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan and Anakin look for Count Dooku on a jungle planet. I understand that Dark Horse needed to do a story involving these two because of the movie, and I understand that there are a number of restrictions within which the creators must work (not the least of which is not spoiling the movie), but taken on its own, this individual story didn't have a sense of urgency or importance to it. There's some bonding between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but it's nothing we haven't already seen or at least intuited after seeing the first two prequels. The art is good - less concerned with getting the likenesses of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen perfect than with telling the story, and that's fine with me. I guess I'm inclined to be a little sympathetic towards the creators here, given that working on any kind of licensed property can't be easy. But only a little. B-
Betty & Veronica FCBD Edition
by Dan Parent & Jim Amash
Archie
My first ever review of an Archie comic! In this one, the girls get together to design the perfect dress for a beauty mag, but run into trouble when their best design gets swiped. God, I can't even remember the last time I actually sat down and read an Archie comic. I suppose there is a comfort in the fact that Archie and friends have remained the same after all these years. Of course, there's no way I can read Archie these days without thinking of that scene from Chasing Amy ("Face it, girl... Archie's a sista!"), but I actually think that adds to the enjoyment instead of detracts from it.
The classic Dan DeCarlo look seems to have gotten a slight manga tweak (at least here), however, it's undone by the extremely limited range of facial expressions by writer-penciller Dan Parent. B and V's big-ass grin just gets turned upside-down whenever they're upset. Plus, I remember Veronica having a bit more of a "bad girl" personality to her. She seems somewhat neutered here, and yeah, I know it's to make Cheryl Blossom the "common foe," but still, Veronica was way too "nice" here. The whole idea of B and V working together, in fact, seems wrong. It's like - remember those lame Tom & Jerry cartoons where they were suddenly supposed to be pals after years of beating the crap out of each other? That's what I thought of while reading this. B and V should be hesitant, grudging allies at best. You'd never know from reading this that they fight over who gets to bone Archie.
And then there's this "nerdy cousin" of Veronica's who suddenly decides she wants to be glamorous for once. I don't have a problem with that so much as I do with the girls making fun of her for reading comics. Is that really the sort of thing you want to include in a Free Comic Book Day book? I don't think so. Regardless, I wish she had her own book instead of B and V! Her and that fat chick who's supposed to be "a rock and roller." I'll leave Betty & Veronica to the kiddies - and the aging baby boomers. C
Ronin Hood of the 47 Samurai (excerpt)
by Jeff Amano & Craig Rousseau
Beckett
A chapter from the forthcoming graphic novel of the same name about a band of samurai forced to go underground in order to take revenge on the man who killed their master. It was recently announced that Beckett's lineup of comics will move to Image, which should work wonders for their profile. This story in particular looks promising. As the title suggests, it incorporates elements of the Robin Hood myth into the feudal Japan setting. The dialogue doesn't get too weighed down with the usual samurai cliches, and it even has some humor. The art is lovely, though there are these odd little "hair lines" (I don't know what else to call them) where there should be an even seam. It kinda ruins the illusion of three-dimensionality. I'm gonna withhold grading this until I see the finished graphic novel, but based on what I've seen here, I'd recommend getting it.
Alternative Comics Presents FCBD 2005
by various
Alternative
An anthology of stories from creators in the Alternative stable. Though this is the only FCBD book besides the Fantagraphics one labeled "mature readers," the stories are far from extreme. Most of them are either autobiographical or real world-based stories, which is definitely what Alternative specializes in. Mostly familiar names here: Dean Haspiel, James Kochalka, Josh Neufeld, Damon Hurd, Jen Sorensen - all of them at their usual high level of skill. I had heard of Gabrielle Bell, but this is the first time I had seen her work. Liked it. Would buy more from her. Ditto Derek Sakai. I suspect any comics newbie that reads this will inevitably wonder what's "alternative" about it - and they would be right to wonder. But that's another issue. B+
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
