Comic World News | Pull List

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Friday, September 3, 2010

7-7-05

Quick Reviews by Michael May

Myriad #1-3
Written by Bart A. Thompson, Jay Jacobs, Richard Nelson, John P. Ward, and Christopher J. O'Bryant; Illustrated by Steve Fox, Chris A. Tsuda, Eli Ivory, Brian Laframboise, Steve Doty, James Sandman, Jason Hazel, Rich A. Molinelli, and Joseph W. Armour.
I gave a pretty mixed review to the first issue of this anthology series, but the Approbation team who put it together were still good enough to send me the next two issues to review. "ChiSai," which I didn't care at all for in issue #1 gets much deeper in the third issue. Had the three parts been collected into a ChiSai #1, it would've made a 24-page story that would make you want to check out a second issue. The main character is tragic and complicated once you get to know her; it's just unfortunate that you have to wait three months to do that. I still think "Lineage" is flawed by shortcuts the team took to get the story moving, but the concept of an elf-like culture accidentally targeting Earth for terraforming is cool and the interaction between the elf scout and the sci-fi rogue superhero who are trying to save the planet is good. "The Adventures of the Molly Be Damned" is still a mess. It jumps back and forth between two different plots before they join together. That wouldn't be bad if the art was strong enough to help explain what's going on, but it's not and reading it is a confusing, frustrating experience. "Discount Stories" remains one of the anthology's strongest contributions. Each issue focuses on a different employee at a Wal Mart-like store and just tells interesting, sometimes funny, usually touching character stories. "Frail" was my favorite story in the first issue, and though the next two installments didn't hit me as hard as the first, it's a unique, skillfully executed concept. Each installment connects with the others, but also stands on its own as an illustration of the delicateness of human life.

Superman #219
Written by Mark Verheiden; Illustrated by Ed Benes
This is an OMAC Project tie-in. At the end of the last issue of OMAC Project, we learned that Superman is under the power of the mind-controlling Maxwell Lord and here we presumably see the ramifications of that. Superman believes that Braniac has figured out his identity and is attacking him by gaining power over Lois Lane. A lot of time is spent on Superman trying to stop Braniac even though it's obvious to readers that Braniac's not the real villain here, but a hallucination put in Superman's mind by Lord (who doesn't actually appear in the issue, but you know it's him if you're reading the mini-series that this ties into). A larger mystery takes shape as Superman discovers human blood on his hands, but has no memory of how it got there.

JSA #75
Written by Geoff Johns; Illustrated by Don Kramer, Leonard Kirk, and Stephen Sadowski
To be fair, this story did a pretty good job of making even new readers care about Atom Smasher and Black Adam. It still felt a little like attending the funeral of someone you don't know though. The funeral analogy isn't necessarily a spoiler, it's just that we're saddened by what's going on, but would've been more so had we actually known the people involved. That's not really a criticism, just an observation. As a JSA issue, this was a good story. As a Day of Vengeance tie-in, it was touching to read, but forgettable once the book was closed.

Villains United #3
Written by Gail Simone; Illustrated by Val Semeiks
Nice issue. The six main villains basically sit in confinement the entire issue as one by one they're rotated through and tortured by the Crime Doctor. We learn a lot about them as they talk and try to stay strong and wonder which of them is going to break first. Some of my favorite TV episodes are ones in which the characters just sit still and interact with each other and this is the comics equivalent of that. Not that there isn't any action; there is, and Catman proves that he's still a badass, even in that goofy costume.

Y: The Last Man #35
Written by Brian K. Vaughan; Illustrated by Goran Sudzuka
It's hard to talk about the most meaningful element of this story without giving the whole thing away. Even though Yorick's making his way towards his girlfriend, I have to remind myself that he doesn't know for sure that she's still alive in order to buy what he does this issue. It all makes sense; there's just so much going on that I have to remember who knows what. Nice final scene too. I've always liked the character of Alter and it's good to see that the story's not done with her yet.

Ocean #6
Written by Warren Ellis; Illustrated by Chris Sprouse
Cool climax. Lots of action and suspense as the heroes try to save themselves and Earth from the bloodthirsty aliens and the evil corporate bastard who wants to use them for nefarious purposes. Good, tense, final scene and a perfect closing line of dialogue. This whole mini-series reads like a good summer action flick. Emphasis on "good."

Strange Girl #2
Written by Rick Remender; Illustrated by Eric Nguyen
Rick Remender continues to prove what a talented writer he is as he takes what is essentially a single, comic-length chase scene and uses it to define the relationships between Beth and the two most important demons in her life. And it's funny.

Johnny Public #9
Written by Sean Frost; Illustrated by Wendi Strang-Frost
I've enjoyed everything that Hula Cat Comics has produced so far and I'm sure that Johnny Public would be no exception if I knew what the hell was going on. What starts off as a seemingly straightforward, easy-to-jump-into zombie story quickly turns very weird as human-looking, but robotic-acting policemen interrogate the main character and ask him about someone or something called "The Mannequin." Then the main character begins speaking in an alien language before doing something very odd that I won't spoil. Rather than turn me off though, it made me want to check out back issues, so they're doing their jobs.

Marvel Team-Up #10
Written by Robert Kirkman; Illustrated by Scott Kolins
I was getting frustrated with this series, but Kirkman made good this issue and brought together the seemingly meandering plots from the last few issues. He even managed to use that weird Sleepwalker interlude as a tease for a future storyline. Confidence restored.

Shanna the She Devil #6
Written and Illustrated by Frank Cho
I began to despair that the whole issue was going to be a prolonged, not terribly exciting fight sequence, but the last half of it pulled out a nice turn of events that heightens the tension of the real story, the one about whether or not Shanna can overcome her conditioning and join the human race.

House of M #3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis; Illustrated by Olivier Coipel
I disagree with other critics who describe this issue as another dull example of Wolverine's over-exposure. Maybe it's just that I don't read a ton of Wolverine comics and can handle his popping up in other titles, but I thrilled to his being the one to start to see through the world that the Scarlet Witch has created and I'm looking forward to his doing something about it. Where I agree with other critics is that the ending wasn't nearly as cool and dramatic as it thought it was. "Dead is dead." Except when it's not, apparently.

Plastic Farm #10
Written by Rafer Roberts; Illustrated by Dennis Culver
When I read issue #9 of this series, my review was similar to the one above about Johnny Public. It was good, but it was hard coming in on the middle of a complicated and weird story. This issue feels like more a part of the larger story being told in the series and makes me even more want to go back and read back issues. Kinda like Johnny Public. Probably not coincidence that Johnny Public's creators have both been collaborators on Plastic Farm.