Shetara ~ I've mentioned before that - finances permitting - I like to give the non-Marvel/DC shelves at my comic shop a browse every week when I pick up my order, just in case there's something there that catches my eye from the indie books. Well, they don't come much more indie than this - this is old-school indie, so far as I can tell the kind that's printed by the author and hand-delivered to local comic shops. Shetara was created in 1986, and published 20 years later; it's the story of a young woman named Ai, the daughter of a legendary warrior, who witnesses her parents' murder and sets out to avenge them, becoming entangled with the spirit of an ancient witch along the way. It's the work of a high school boy, and you can see that in places - there are some awkward poses, some eccentric dialogue, a fair share of typos, the usual telltales you'd expect in amateur work (even a pair of pages reversed - oops). But, regardless of being two decades old and fairly hand-made, the talent behind it shows through. The story, while a little shaky in parts, is well paced and told with a pleasing flair for dramatic narration. The art is black and white, inked with grey shading, and while some panels could've used a bit of polish, there are many that are eye-catching, utilising the available tools to good effect. In the postscript page, where writer/artist Wayne Mason explains the history of the comic, he cites as influences classic 80s anime like Robotech and Star Blazers, series that were radically ahead of their time in terms of visual composition - their touch is obvious, and Shetara benefits from it. So far as I can tell from Google this isn't available online, so unless you're in Sydney you may be out of luck (if you are in Sydney, Kings Comics on Pitt St had a copy left today - if they sell out, Kinokuniya might be worth a try, though I haven't checked there myself yet). Still, wherever you are, Shetara is a good reminder: don't ignore the humble hand-made indies if you ever spot one.
Terra #1 ~ It's been quite a while since the new Terra made her surprise guest appearance in Supergirl - now, finally, Terra makes her proper debut. And... it's alright. We get introduced to the woman who will be Terra (she's just referred to as 'Terran' by a few critters herein) through a series of underground exploits, in which she uses her powers in a variety of flambouyant and lively ways, saving the lives of humans and peaceful subterranean races alike, and dealing out defeat to various unfriendly cave-critters with conscientious references to how she's only doing this because they're behaving badly, and she really doesn't want to hurt anyone. She's a mystery to the surface world (although the denizens of below seem to know who she is), but her heroics gain her some media attention bringing her to the notice of the wider world, and when she gets in over her head Power Girl turns up to help her out. But for a last-page cliffhanger revelation, that's pretty much it, and that's where I feel this is a bit of a weak issue. It doesn't give you the whole deal of Terra, and trust that that's interesting enough to bring you back for more - it dangles a carrot in front of you to try to make you buy the next issue. This is an entertaining issue, with strong art by Amanda Conner, but its failure to put its cards on the table - and a fairly contrived introduction of a villain - keeps it from being a great issue, and shouldn't a debut issue be great? You'd hope so, especially with only four issues in this miniseries. I'm sticking with it, but my honest opinion is that - Daughters of the Dragon notwithstanding - this is another example of how writers Gray and Palmiotti, while they're good, aren't among the best in the business.
Ms. Marvel Special: Storyteller ~ This issue follows up on the Ms. Marvel Special from way back... well, must be more than a year ago, I don't think this site existed back then. At any rate, that issue concerned Carol discovering a child, Gavin, with the ability to rewrite reality according to his own imagination - Scarlet Witch Jr., kind of. He the idea is revisited and expanded upon - Gavin's origins with Advanced Idea Mechanics are used to tie the original issue's events in with Carol's battles with AIM following Civil War, and serve as a kick-off for this story, in which Carol locates Gavin again, and discovers that he's gone a bit... odd. Well, imagine what a boy with the power of imagination and no limitations would do - remember the episode of Treehouse of Horror where Bart had The Power? Yeah, like that - it ain't nice (although arguably this issue doesn't go as nasty as it could, given what some children are like these days). It's an entertaining little jaunt - nothing really heavy, but a story well told, and there's a nice revisiting of the 'best of the best' idea running through Ms. Marvel, showing how she's grown as a person since the title started. There are two main drawbacks. The first is that the cover is all Marvel Pirates, and Marvel Pirates are actually a pretty minor aspect of this comic - that's a bit of a let-down. The second is the price, US$3.99, for 23 pages of story. One extra page beyond a standard issue, and it's a dollar more expensive - that ain't cool. On its own merits I liked this issue, but factor in price, and honestly I can't recommend it - it doesn't earn that extra dollar, not coming from a big publisher like Marvel.
Jungle Girl Season 2 #1 ~ Frank Cho's two favourite things - gorgeous warrior women and dinosaurs - return after an opening arc which proved, to the surprise of many, to be more than just a Shanna clone. Having saved the lives of... well, one of the plane crash survivors, meeting up with her caveman best friend and witnessing a crashing space shuttle appear out of nowhere, Jana now decides it's time to find out what the heck is going on. She sets her sights on the 'god-mountain', a scary-looking distant spire surrounded by doubtless-perilous ocean, and this issue mainly concerns the small group's journey to the edge of said ocean, passing by various difficult-to-traverse landscapes and all manner of unfriendly and hungry wildlife. Let's not mince words, what this comic is about is showing Jana looking sexy and fighting giant beasts, often both at the same time - Adriano Batista's art is well up to the task of providing lively and gorgeous visuals (especially of Jana, who poses most agreeably; Frank Martin's colours can't be overlooked either), while Doug Murray fleshes out the plot co-developed with Cho into a story that keeps you nice and entertained while the parade of monster-fighting and sexy Jana images goes by. Jungle Girl isn't trying to be anything other than what you expect - but what it does, it does really well.
Justice Society of America #20 ~ Gog takes a backseat this issue, and Power Girl's return from Earth-2, with the native Justice Society Infinity on her tail, becomes a more pressing matter. We finally get an explanation for all that - which fits pretty well with what we've been told of the multiverse, I suppose - and Kara finally seems to get a bit of closure on her homesickness, which hopefully will put her in good stead to step up and lead the Society in the upcoming to-do with Gog, foreshadowed in dramatic terms by the final page here (which flows pleasingly from the Earth-2 incursion). All that said, this issue feels a bit lacking - I think it's because quite a bit of time is taken up with the Earth-2 characters, and while that's satisfying in terms of their personal development, as kicked off in the Annual, it's not really that important to our Justice Society. Plus everything in Earth-2 is drawn by Ordway, and I just don't like that art much - it's functional, but not very attractive, and the facial expressions are pretty unsubtle. Eaglesham's much stronger on the Earth-1 (or whatever it's called) pages, of course. Overall, it's good to have Power Girl home, but I'm looking forward to Gog rather than enthralled by Earth-2.
Fire and Brimstone #2 ~ I got this a few weeks late - I missed it on publication day, so I had to ask my comic shop to reorder it, which took time. But it was worth the wait, with this issue continuing effortlessly from the impressive debut. Fire (demon) and Brimstone (angel) are still arguing about Brimstone's decision to give up their millennia-long task of capturing escaped demons and rogue angels - the dialogue between them is funny at every turn, yet flows very naturally, keeping up their abrasive yet endearing relationship dynamic of a pair who've been annoying each other so long they've become friends. The art provides plenty of visual humour as well, with the expressions adding a lot to the bickering dialogue sequences - it's also dramatic and energetic when it needs to be, primarily in the two flashback sequences this issue, to times when Fire (who's narrating them, trying to convince Brimstone to stay with her) saved Brimstone from various enemies. As well as providing the quota of monster-fighting action (and plenty of Brimstone's shapely backside in various states of skimpy attire), the narration of these scenes is really cleverly handled, with Brimstone breaking in on the narrative with sarcastic asides, often derailing the scenes until Fire gets things back on track. It's smart humour, reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's better moments, and it makes this comic a real treat to read.
Secret Six #3 ~ The Six (Five, currently) have their captive, Tarantula, and now need to find the 'card' everyone's so excited about in order to deliver both to their employer and get paid. We find out at the end of this issue what the card is, and without spoiling it, while it's not the most ingenious idea (I saw it coming), it justifies the fact that practically every spare supervillain in the DC universe is after it as well, which of course puts the Six (Five) in a precarious position. This issue's main highlights are backstory on Tarantula - who looks like she might be being set up to be the final member of the Six, which wouldn't be unwelcome since her part of this issue is well-written - and action as Cheetah turns up and we get fighting and backstabbing aplenty. As always, while I'm not hugely interested in several of the characters here, Gail Simone makes all the difference, and everyone gets their moment and has something interesting to do - the writing is interesting, clever, high-content yet easy to read. Nicola Scott's pencils are standard comic book art, no stylised tricks, but talented work - her Cheetah is really eye-catching and nuanced, especially.
Avengers: The Initiative Special ~ It must be Special Month at Marvel - this one shares the Ms. Marvel Special's US$3.99 price tag, but at 40 story pages it justifies it a heck of a lot better. The main story is all about Hardball and Komodo, graduates of the first batch of Initiative recruits, now assigned to the Nevada Heavy Hitters and the Arizona Desert Stars respectively. Their relationship, and the blackmail hold Hydra (personified by Senator Woodman) has over Hardball, are revisited, both in satisfying ways - we see further evidence that the two of them are more than just a fling, and the Hydra plot advances significantly. It's fast-paced action/thriller storytelling from Christos Gage, with plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting; artist Steve Uy shows definite improvement over early Avengers: The Initiative outings, with the facial features (his weakness of old) really coming along in quality and very credible in the majority of panels, and his colouring - always strong - thus allowed to shine without drawbacks. The eight-page backup story heads back to Camp Hammond, where Trauma's fear of being alone - a natural worry for one whose power is to scare the bejeezus out of people - is getting to him, so he switches out of his usual counselor role and receives some counselling of his own from Physique. It's mainly a flashback story, revealing Trauma's origins and the path that led him to Camp Hammond to begin with, but it's well-told - Dan Slott returns to co-write with Gage on this one - and maintain's Trauma's statue as the surprise complex character of the Initiative, with Physique turning out quite interesting as well. Overall, for fans of the main title, this special is well worth a look.
