Previews XVIII #12 ~ Goddamn Marvel cancelling She-Hulk - there's something wrong with the comics industry, if a book like that can't survive in it. Sorry, I'll stop now. Okay, stuff that hasn't been cancelled (yet). In comics, what caught my eye (randomly) this month was Amber Atoms (p148) from Image, billed as a modern-day (and female) Flash Gordon, and that sounds worth a look to me. Marvel (grr) have Agents of Atlas (Marvel p13), evidently following on from their appearance in the Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? one-shot, which I desperately hoped would happen, so yay. And there's Models Inc. (Marvel p51) is... well, it's hard to know what to think, quirky detective adventure, aimed-at-girls heroine-chic, who knows? I'm intrigued enough to give it a shot. In the indie section, Banzai Girls Annual 2009 (p207) sound off-beat enough to be fun; Power of the Valkyrie (p222) might take itself too seriously, but might not, and I'll give it a chance; Masquerade (p241) spins out of the Project Superpowers title I haven't been reading, but has a leggy femme fatale on the cover, and that's worth buying an issue; and Shrapnel (p300) has its second issue solicited (I must've failed to spot the first), and maybe it's the She-Hulk-cancellation doom-n-gloom, but I could go for some post-apocalyptic mayhem right about now. Lastly, Atomic Robo: Dogs of War (p301) will be available as a trade paperback, so if you're not buying the issues, buy the TPB. Unless you're one of these freak people who hates good comics. There seem to be a few of them about...
In merchandise, again I'm trying not to strain my meagre budget. There's an Umbrella Academy book-and-figurine set (p56), and although I glanced over the comic and decided I wasn't that interested, the image of the woman with the violin design on her torso is stunning (that's what made me look at the comic to begin with), so I'll have that just for the figurine. Ame-Comi (p137) will have anime-inspired versions of Huntress and Black Canary; Marvel Select is doing a Marvel Girl figure (Marvel p78), both the classic Jean Grey and a variant of the current Rachel Summers or whatever her name is; and on p398 there's a doll of Lara Croft, and if you collect figures or dolls of heroines, you must have at least one Lara Croft in your collection (I've got five, so I'll wait and see what this one retails for locally before I commit to it). And on p227 (the comics section, but this is kind of more merchandise than comics, in a way) Broadsword is offering The Art of Jim Balent, featuring all manner of lovingly-drawn luscious heroines, probably in very little clothing and loving it.
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #53 ~ Jon, a.k.a. 'Skeleton Man', gets the spotlight for this issue, in which his ghostly ex Crypt Chick draws his attention to the plight of a quartet of spirits in a graveyard not far from Jon's own, and he being a heroic chap takes off on a mission of mercy which goes real sour real fast. This issue is Tarot doing horror, which is a genre the title dips into occasionally - along with its other two primary moods, superhero-adventure and comedy-adventure - but the use of Jon as the hero, rather than Tarot herself, puts a different spin on things, since regardless of his heroic intentions and good heart, he's up against the odds any time he confronts the supernatural, having little in the way of otherworldly powers himself. The story here is a kind of 'noir slasher', a vivacious but brutal supernatural tale that combines a slasher's mix of visual allure and high body count with a noir-esque nihilism regarding the story's progression, with no guarantees that the hero will arrive just in time, or even be able to cope with what the bad guys (or girls, in this one) throw his way. Unusually for the title - although natural in a way, given Tarot's absence - the subtext of the story is left largely unspoken, for the reader to interpret however they please; Jon's a far more immediate, action-first character than Tarot, less inclined to introspection regarding his actions, or putting his motivations into words, though Crypt Chick serves as a conduit for some analysis of what it is that drives him, reminding us that he's got more tragedy in his past than the average boyfriend-of-superheroine. The art, as always from Balent, is luscious, but slanted towards the macabre this time around - the sexiness has a chilling side to it, coming largely from the malevolent ghosts.
Contract Solo Missions: Jessie ~ Naturally this was the Solo Missions issue I was most keen to see, and it doesn't disappoint. Jessie Garrett, CEO and gorgeous team leader of the Stellar Rangers Inc. mercenary squad, heads home to her father's farm for a break from her hectic lifestyle, only to find her father temporarily absent on a trip, and in his place a rather hunky young man taking care of the house while he's away. Since he's quite amiable she invites him to stay for dinner, and talk turns to how she became the kick-ass mercenary she is today, show in an extended flashback which is the issue's main selling point. Only 10 of the 20 pages are used up by the flashback - the others serving to give the framing sequence of Jessie and Gene (the hunky guy) enough development to make it worthwhile, rather than just being a throwaway excuse for a flashback - but those 10 pages are used very efficiently, packing a great amount of information about Jessie's life in. The style is montage, basically, with Jessie's narration tying everything together, and that lets us see all the key moments in her life in that short page count - by the end of it, you're surprised at how much story has been told. I really need to mention the art team: Kevin Sharpe on pencils, Mark McKenna, Joe Pimentl and Rick Ketcham inking, and Fusion colouring; Jessie always looks great, but the renderings of her here, especially lounging around the house in denim shorts and a teensy top, could give Frank Cho's Brandy Carter a run for her money in the 'most magnetically desirable image of a woman' stakes. Besides the story pages there's the usual intro page outlining the planets and a few key bits of jargon, a second more extensive info page after the story detailing mercenaries, the planet Tropica, and Stellar Rangers, pencilled art pages of Jessie by Kevin Maguire and Loston Wallace, a page of Kevin Sharpe's sketches for four of the story pages, and the usual letters page (with one of mine, yay!). Overall, Contract continues to be simply excellent every issue.
Bikini Commando Squad ~ Not a book that went through the comic shop - I ordered this one direct from its publisher Harrington Artwerks, basically because I can be kind of shallow, so the words 'bikini commando squad' convinced me to take a look. But y'know what? It's really good. I don't just mean 'lots of hot women in bikinis' good, it's an action movie satire in the vein of 'Team America: World Police' - in some ways, it's even sharper and wittier. Sean Harrington (writer/artist/everything) has obviously seen a lot of Hollywood action films of the 'Commando' ilk, and barely a panel goes by that doesn't poke fun at their clichés and conventions in one way or another - it's like watching a silly Rambo movie that expertly MST3ks itself to save the audience the effort (Mystery Science Theatre 3000, if you were wondering). The art is a highly polished mix of CGI backdrops with drawn and coloured characters, a bit of a change if you're used to regular comic art, but the CG capably provides the big spectacles necessary for the action-movie feel, with stuff exploding all over the place, and the drawn art is good at visual humour to sell all the jokes. In short... well, 'Team America' is the easy answer - if you liked that, you'll like this.
She-Hulk #35 ~ Marvel's best comic continues apace, with Peter David delivering quality writing on every page, and the GG Studio art team turning in superb, eye-catching work to back it up. The dust-up between the Lady Liberators and the Winter Guard is everything that's good about David's writing - instead of just a big special-effects-laden fight, he has the various characters challenge each other's ideas, each according to their own personality. She-Hulk herself shines, in confronting the Guard's rationale for acting on behalf of the corrupt dictator of Marinmer (one of those made-up nations reflective of real-world equivalents), and actually getting some of them to acknowledge her point and make their own cases in return. And that's the beauty of the argument, they don't just advance one opinion, they - guest characters who aren't even the heroes here - have a range of views, expressed quickly but convincingly through the well-wrought dialogue. And we also get a big special-effects-laden fight - best of both worlds. The issue moves on to dealing with other aspects of the relief effort, in intelligent, emotional scenes, and concludes with a very intriguing cliff-hanger. It's a sad situation when a book this good can be cancelled.
Ms. Marvel #33 ~ This title continues its change-of-pace flirtation with non-superpowered adventure - there's one reference, in the present-day framing sequence, to Carol being bulletproof, but aside from that, with the majority of the action taking place before she became Ms. Marvel, this has more in commin with '24' or 'The Bourne Identity' than Superman. Having escaped from her captors Carol manages to reach an Air Force safe house, and eventually winds up working for Air Force intelligence, on the trail of the CIA traitors whose existence she learned of while a prisoner. There's action - of the regular bombs and bullets variety, not flying around shooting energy from hands - good characterisation in showing Carol's recovery from her injuries and her maturing as a soldier, and a nice helping of spy-stuff, which although necessarily brief (since there's only 22 pages to work with) has enough complexity to it to make it look like Carol and Rossi, her new intelligence partner, are professionals doing real work. Without going into spoilers, the issue concludes with a strong hint that all this flashback spy stuff has direct ties to present-day events, which is good - I'm enjoying Carol's adventures as a regular woman, sans powers, but there's probably only so long a flashback can be allowed to go on before it touches on 'current' continuity.
Wonder Woman #26 ~ A new storyline begins here, with much drama both in the realm of gods and suchlike, with the Olympian pantheon returning from wherever they wandered off to, and finding their home in poor condition due to Darkseid and his ilk's stay, while down on ground level the situation at the Department of Metahuman Affairs is grim for Diana - while her secret identity remains intact, Nemesis's connection to Wonder Woman has become well known to Director Steel, and he's going all kinds of paranoid-crazy. Meanwhile, Diana herself goes up against a critter cooked up by Dr. Morrow at the behest of the Secret Society, which is aptly named Genocide, and proves to be both psychotically bloodthirsty and vicious, and quite capable of giving Diana her money's worth in a fight. This issue isn't so much about the plot - as the start of the story, its job is to put down the pieces for later issues to use - and what comes through most strongly is the characterisation: Diana as Agent Prince surveying her DMA team, in a quick, well-crafted scene that shows her leadership abilities, then as herself in the battle with Genocide, having all kinds of problems; the Olympians distraught at what's happened in their absence, coming home to a world that's a lot different to what they expected; and Nemesis, dealing with a bureaucratic nightmare, finally pushed to breaking point - rather sweetly - by the demand that he give up the token Diana gave to him as a courtship ritual. The only flaw in the issue is Genocide's design - I get that it's meant to look patchwork and mad-science, but the writing, it seems to me, wants it to be something akin to the Four Horsemen of 52, and it just doesn't look that nasty. It's a monster all right, but it doesn't have that psycho-biblical presence that the Horsemen had. Aside from that - maybe it's something Lopresti can refine in future issues - it's all good for Wonder Woman.
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 ~ Still functioning much more like a novel than a monthly comic book, we find the Guardians disbanded, with Rocket Raccoon leading a haphazard team of himself, Groot (who's grown back to a combat-ready size), Vance, Mantis and Bug against cyborg zombies, Cosmo interrogating Starhawk and learning worrying things about the future, Adam Warlock and Gamora (who looks pretty swish with short hair) tackling the Church of whatever it was they were fighting a few issues back, Quasar and Drax trying to locate Cammi (and getting a hint of Heather instead, yay!), and Star-Lord... well, he only appears in a couple of pages, but they manage to dump him in more trouble than everyone else put together. As usual, the weakness of this title is that it's so forcefully novellic (is that a word? 'In the form of a novel' is what I mean) - this issue doesn't start anything, nor does it end anything, so it'd be pretty difficult for new readers to jump on, and even for ongoing readers, if you like the traditional monthly format of comics, this may not be exactly your style. But that's also a strength - unlike, say, Manhunter which dragged its stories and subplots over multiple issues without real purpose, this title, having set its heart on being a multi-multi-issue novel, really goes for it without reservation; if you don't mind reading a long graphic novel 22 pages at a time, it's creating a powerful pulp sci-fi story. I just hope it lasts long enough - comics I read seem to be dropping like flies at Marvel and DC of late, and I've always wondered whether this would be able to secure a stable readership. I hope it does, since if it can last long enough to tell its story at its own pace, it'll be one hell of a ride in the end.
Body Bags ~ In a nutshell, this is a 44-page gunplay and explosion sequence, starring mercenary father-and-daughter duo Clownface (gigantic and level-headed) and Panda (impetuous and borderline crazy, kind of a killer cheerleader). The pair are planning to ambush a bunch of goons who've stolen the corpse of a former superhero - one still charged with his electricity-based powers, a kind of WMD in effect - and of course it all goes wrong and they get into a running firefight, punctuated with stunts, explosions, the good guys swearing at each other, and the bad guys scheming away. It's not what you'd call an intellectual comic - the solution to every problem is basically 'kill everything in your way' - but it's fun and frantic, and the art is nice and lively, heavy on the comedy during Clownface and Panda bickering, energetic and bloody when they're shooting people.
True Believers #5 ~ This mini-series wraps up fairly well, with the True Believers tackling S.H.I.E.L.D. as a last resort in finding out what the heck was going on with Payback's father, and finally locating the true culprit behind his murder. It's good to see Maria Hill, but I'm a bit irked by how she's subdued by the Believers - it smacks of that old cliché where the newbie hero defeats much more experienced opponents just because it's their story and the author is basically giving them a free ride - but aside from that, the plot moves along nice and quick, with enough superhero action to keep everyone entertained. The finale is a bit of a mixed bag - once it's up and running it's quite good, but the way it's set up is almost too convenient. Again, hand of the author showing a bit. But overall the True Believers are four interesting people with a solid mission, and I hope to see more of them in Marvel comics.
Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom ~ The cracks in Gog's goodwill continue to become apparent in this final special, focusing primarily on Damage, and those in the JSA closest to him. He's over the moon about his face being healed, and ready to proclaim to the masses that Gog is wonderful, while Stargirl finds the 'new' Damage far less attractive than his restored face, and sets out to convince him to take a look at himself other than in a mirror. We also drop in on Dr. Mid-Nite, adjusting to being able to see, and having a nicely subtle conversation with Nite-Lite about the ramifications of his restored vision and the trade-off of no longer being able to use his medical-vision power to aid him in healing - despite the fairly obvious outcome that Gog isn't a good thing (whether on purpose or not), it's nice to see conversations like this that treat the subject rationally and look at it from various angles, instead of just hammering home the 'Gog is bad' message. And then there's Sand, who no longer has his nightmares - essentially he's Dr. Mid-Nite times ten, since his power tortured him even more, yet its absence has much more immediately horrifying results as he's no longer able to use his dreams to help him solve kidnappings and such before it's too late for their victims - and believe it or not, he's got even more problems stemming from what his Earth-related powers are telling him. Much like the Superman and Magog specials, this is essential reading if you're following Justice Society of America - skipping these Specials would be like skipping regular issues.
Hulk #8 ~ As with last issue, it's half Hulk in Vegas that I skipped over, and half Frank Cho drawing She-Hulk and her Lady Liberators taking on Red Hulk on Mt. Rushmore, which is infinitely more interesting. Apologies for the spoilers (though it's not so much a story as a pin-up gallery with fighting), but the last double-page of this issue's 11 Cho pages has Invisible Woman, Storm, Tigra, Black Widow, Spider-Woman and Hellcat join the fray, alongside She-Hulk, Thundra and Valkyrie - aside from dropping Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl into the mix, what more do you want from Frank Cho working for Marvel? The story is an amiable fight sequence, with the usual banter and thrills 'n' spills - nothing ground-breaking (except in the literal sense), but easy to read, and honestly, it's just there to give the gorgeous, energetic artwork something to be about.
Wizard #207 ~ Batwoman's on the cover, so I bought it. I've never read Wizard before, and it doesn't look like I'm missing much - it follows the general format for glossy magazines these days, which is to say, as little content as possible, and bulked out by advertising, more advertising, and advertising disguised as half-assed 'articles'. The cover story consists of one column about the new Justice League, with no details about it save for writer and artist, and a release date of "later in 2009". The rest is James Robinson, the new League's writer, saying about a sentence each about some vintage JLA and other DC team comics. Looking through the rest of the magazine, there's a 'Best of 2008' section, which follows the traditional Oscars/Grammies path of nominating and awarding a combination of mainstream titles based purely on name recognition, with a handful of indie picks to make them look 'hip', a list of the 50 greatest comic book movies of all time, which includes a fair number of mediocre films since, sorry, there aren't 50 great comic book movies (and Cyclops's death in X-Men 3 had "emotional weight"? What are you guys smoking?), and various other stuff too inane to bother reading.
And finally, if you haven't scurried off in terror at the prospect, here's me as Zatanna:
