Comic Book Marathon

Lots of stuff I'm lukewarm to this week, starting with ...

WE3

"Best Mini Series of 2004" - Alan David Doane
"A marvelous aberration" - Jog
"As a reader, you will be hard-pressed to find something better" - Greg McElhatton
"WE3 is a fantastic graphic novel" - Matthew Craig
"A real winner, and it would seem to me that only the most heartless of cynics would fail to be moved" - Johnny Bacardi
"But . . . but . . . I don't think Grant Morrison is a very good writer!" - me

Ok, fine. Blah blah best of 2004 blah blah I'll read it. And those people above do have fine taste when they aren't talking about the Great Grant. But still, any book that gets compared to Flex Mentallo is a negative in my world. Come on, that series was such a wankfest that instead of writing a third act, Morrison just basked in his own cleverness until he hit the last page.

But I digress. Best of 2004, sure. I'll be there with bells on, heartless cynic that I am.

HULK: GRAY

Over the past decade, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have formed their own side industry at Marvel and DC by publishing their interpretations of super-heroes' early days. Beginning with the excellent Batman: Haunted Knight, Loeb and Sale have created "Year One" tales for Batman (Long Halloween, Dark Victory), Superman (For All Seasons), Daredevil (Yellow), and Spider-Man (Blue). Most of those are works worth reading, but there's a definite sense of diminishing returns with Dark Victory and Blue. Accordingly, the reviews for Hulk: Gray were pretty tepid and the current Catwoman mini-series has been heavily derided by critics. I think this will be the last Loeb/Sale volume for me, but on flip-through it certainly looks pretty.

DAREDEVIL: YELLOW

And to complete the Loeb/Sale set, I picked this up, which was published in 2002. Looks to me like it tells the same story as Daredevil: Man Without Fear, but the reviews were mostly positive, so I'm hopeful.

NEW TEEN TITANS: WHO IS DONNA TROY?

As you may have noticed by now, I don't pay much attention to the current DC universe titles. It seems there's just too much crap to pick through, and the cross-continuity doesn't help. However, I wholeheartedly encourage mainstream publishers to mine their back catalogues for "Best of" collections that reprint the comics from past years that actually stand the test of time. This looks like a good one, and it will be new to me, as I was probably about 2 or 3 years too young to enjoy the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans when they originally were released.

CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL Volumes 1 & 2

As far as I can tell, this is an excessively dry and absurdist series that should tickle the same parts of me that Heathers, Fight Club, and Battle Royale do. What parts are those, you ask? Parts you don't want to know about, my friend.

DOROTHY #3

Really pretty, but I haven't read #2 yet! Soon.

BURGLAR BILL #3 (of 6)

Paul Grist's OTHER other book reaches its 3rd issue, still in reprints, but the 4th issue will be all new. Yes, this is a reprint of an issue that I already own, but anything I can do to encourage this master of the form to keep publishing is fine by me.

TRIGGER #6 (of 8)

Since writing my comments on the previous issue, I think I've convinced myself that if Vertigo would re-release Jason Hall's concept with a new artist (let's say Philip Bond, he seems like a swell guy), that this series would be a huge hit. John Watkiss's art just doesn't tell the story that Hall is trying to tell. Anyway, two issues until cancellation on this poorly-received (but could have been a hit, I think) series.

STRANGE #6 (of 6)

I just don't get it. This is irreconcilable with any previous version of Doctor Strange, and I just don't mean the continuity revisions, which are pretty massive. I mean in terms of character, Stephen Strange is entirely a different person here. The Stephen Strange that I know is not the arrogant Chosen One, he's a humbled failure who is hoping to redeem himself by doing what is right for the right reasons. This is the story of some other sorcerer, I guess, that's the only way I can wrap my head around this. And it's a pretty medicore story at that.

PLASTIC MAN #10

It's the Kyle Baker kinetic madness magazine, man! I just can't wait two months between issues, good thing there's older ones to tide me over! (published in 2004)

SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #5 (of 7)

Oooka chaka ooka chaka ooka ooka ooka chaka . . .

THE QUESTION #4 (of 6)

The first time I bought this comic, some of Tommy Lee Edwards' gorgeous pages were missing and replaced by some pages from Vimanarama! This is my replacement copy, so now I am unsoiled by Grant Morrison's demonic post-modern presence. If only Philip Bond could say the same.

And yes, the comments do accept hate mail.

Other stuff of interest

Detective Comics #807 (David Lapham on Batman, but I'll w.f.t.t. (wait for the trade))
Y: The Last Man #34 (w.f.t.t.)
Villains United #2 (Suicide Squad vibe, w.f.t.t.)
Superman Batman #20 (another Jeph Loeb / Ed McGuiness guilty pleasure, w.f.t.t.)
Birth of A Nation SC (I already have the HC edition).


Remember, the bars are temples, but the pearls ain't free.

So....what DID you end up thinking about We3?

All in all, it was pretty good.

The ending was great, as emotional as any recent comic that I have read, so for that I'm glad I got this.

Quitely's art was attractive, and his stylish "security camera" sequences were very cool. In my book, it definitely helps that he didn't have to draw too many people, as I don't think I will ever get used to his squishy/lumpy figures.

Still, it doesn't live up to the hype, as the story is redeemed by its ending. Chapter 1 in particular was lackluster; other than those security camera sequences, it was pretty boring and predictable. I found the scientist-who-is-too-kind-for-her-own-good to be particularly trite and irksome. Thus, I have a hard time understanding why readers were excited about this story after only the first issue. Doane even said this was the best mini-series of 2004 before the 3rd issue came out, and I just can't wrap my head around that.

Beginning in chapter 2, Morrison does bring a fair amount of characterization to his trio of protagonists, something I think he tends to neglect in most of his works. On top of that, the characterization works despite a limited verbal and visual language, which is a credit to both Morrison and Quitely.

Still, the characterization doesn't start rolling until after the railroad bridge stand-off, so up until then I think the story is pretty weak.

Overall, I found this to be an unessential but good comic. Parts of this book were lackluster, but all I have to do is recall the final stand of the cat to bring a smile to my face. That sequence was Morrison and Quitely firing on all cylinders, so you can call me impressed.