This page is intended for discussion of comics I've recently read. Not everything I read is mentioned here, but if I have something to say about a comic story, either good or bad, you'll see it here.
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Firebirds, by Jay Faerber and Andres Ponce, 2004, Image Comics This book was one of those "el cheapo" grabs for me (I paid $1 for it) when I never would have paid full price for it. The creater, Jay Faerber, has built a reputation around doing non-standard things with the superhero genre, but since I don't pay much attention to super hero books, I didn't pay attention to his stuff. After reading this book, however, I might have to go out and get some of it, because this book is good. The plot revolves around a teenage girl, almost sixteen years old, who finds out that her mother is the superhero known as Firebird. And the girl is beginning to manifest powers just like her mother. It's more complicated than that, though. The girl has been in boarding school for years, and hardly knows her own mother. And the only reason they get together is because her mother had taken life-threatening injuries and needed a blood transfusion, which only her daughter could give. Even that could be rather droll, but the dialogue is what saves this story. The dialogue is snappy and enjoyable, and gave some personality to the characters, which is hard to do in a 48page one-shot book. The pacing is also good, with the story never slowing down or feeling like it was moving too fast. Just a well-written story, though one that ends in such a way that you wonder if the whole thing was intended as being a pitch for a continuing series or a film. Still, it was a good read, and I'm glad I got it. |
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Drafted issues 1 - 4, by Mark Powers and Chris Lie, 2007, Devil's Due Publications I first heard about this series last summer, but for whatever reason I couldn't find it at my local comic book store. Then, a few weeks ago, I found everything published to date. Weird. Anyway, the general plot of this series is that a group of alien beings shows up one day and tells humanity that they are being drafted to fight in an intergalactic war against some bad aliens out to kill everything in the universe. You say you don't want to fight, eh? Not an option. You will fight or die. And these aliens seem to have no problem killing people to try to convince humanity to fight on their side. I'm not sure why they think that will work, but it's only been four issues; I'm sure there will be plenty of time to find the anser to that question. What I like about this series is the fact that aliens have thrown people together, seemingly at random, to form fighting teams. For example, the team this series has been following consists of the President of the United States, a paramedic from St. Louis, a shopkeeper from New York, a software engineer from Vancouver, a freedom fighter from Afghanistan, and a psychiatrist from London. These people have to work together if they want to survive. And the aliens don't seem to really care if they do or not, just tossing them all onto some alien world and having them fight against robots with psionic laser guns. While the author could do more with the material, the story does move along at a fair clip. However, a lot of factual information is kept from the reader, which can be annoying. I'm sure they do this because none of the characters really know what is going on, and you can empathize better with them when you don't know what is going on, either. Still, it makes it harder to know if I want to read the series all the way, or not. The aliens sure aren't likable characters, I can tell you that. And they're supposed to be the 'good' guys! |
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Wyrms issue 6, by Orson Scott Card, Jake Black, and Vitor Ishimura, 2008, Marvel Comics Wow, this series has never made any sense. Now that I have read the final issue, I still don't understand what has happened. The story revolved around a young girl named Patience. She is the king's assassin, or something, until the day the bad thing, called Unwyrm, called for her. Then she became an enemy and ran away. And unwyrm, a giant, alien worm-creature wants to make babies with Patience. For real. As I said, it doesn't make sense. This series has included lots of ridiculous dialogue that doesn't even make sense on multiple readings. I think that this story was originally a novel, and Jake Black probably had a devil of a time getting all of the dialogue into a six-issue comic book series, but it all falls flat on its face. I kept thinking the story was going to come together here, but it never does, at least not in a way that makes any sense to me. Definitely something you can skip. |
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Lords of Avalon - Sword of Darkness issue 1, by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Robin Gillespie, and Tommy Ohtsuka, 2008, Marvel Comics Yet another Marvel adaptation of af an existing novel, Lords of Avalon takes a different spin on the familiar Arthurian story. Rather than focusing on the good guys, this story focuses on the bad guy, a nasty fellow with a magic sword that makes him invincible. The plot revolves around a prophecy about the next Merlin being born, and both the good guys (shown as well-meaning idiots in this book) and the bad guy want the girl they think will be mother of this important person. The writing and adaptation here are OK, but not as good as the Anita Black adaptations. Still, what we have here works. The art is good, too. I thought it had a bit of manga influence on it, and your love/hatred for that form may impact how much you enjoy the art here. Still, I enjoyed it, but I enjoy most of the various takes on Arthurian legend, so that doesn't surprise me. I hope that things continue to develop well as the story progresses. |
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The Spirit issue 13, by various creators, 2008, DC Comics I have thoroughly enjoyed The Spirit since DC started printing new stories. Darwyn Cooke has been quarterbacking it, and his art and story-telling styles really seem to fit the character. Think of a campy, sometimes clueless version of Batman, but with better clothes, and you have The Spirit. This issue of the series makes a good jumping-on point for new readers, as it consists of three separate short stories by different creative teams. My favorite is the last one, "The Cold Depths of the Icicle Heart," for the way it handles everything without traditional dialogue. Just a fun way to read your comics. While this may not be a "normal" Spirit book, it is still a good one, and not as serious as the series had recently gotten. Recommended. |
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Pax Romana issue 1, by Jonathan Hickman, 2008, Image Comics Wow, this is looking interesting. I wasn't sure what to make of this when I first heard this new series, but after the first issue it is looking fascinating. Here is the basic gist of the plot: roughly 50 years in the future, the Roman Catholic church's scientists, working secretly and away from public notice, develop time travel. Real, honest, time travel. So what does the church do? They develop a secret plan to gather their own army of devout (to various degrees) mercenaries, and send them back to the fourth century AD to heal the rift between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and keep Mohammad from founding Islam a few centuries later. Yeah, they're not thinking small, are they? While the story is quite good and interesting, I found the art style to be kind of distracting. It isn't like what I am used to, with heavier use of larger images, sometimes with dozens of word bubbles imposed over the image. Part of this is because there is just too much dialogue, but I think part of it is also simply an artistic choice to go with larger, but fewer images. It's not great, but it works OK, so I won't complain too much. Still, the story is fascinating; I just hope it ends as well as it has started. |
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Teen Titans Lost Annual issue 1, by Bob Haney, Jay Stephens, and Mike and Laura Allred, 2008, DC Comics This book is called a "Lost" Annual because it is written by a creative team that really wants this story to have been done in the 1960s. They accomplish this by having the original Teen Titans ensemble, (as opposed to the current roster in 2008), and their guest star is John F. Kennedy! Yes, America's favorite Cuba-hating president is back, and he needs the Teen Titans to save him from the aliens that kidnapped him! So, what makes this book so awesome? Let's see: original Donna Troy version of Wonder Girl, intentionally campy art with classic coloring, those goofy but lovable '60s Teen Titans, and a story that if true would mean that the real JFK is still off in alien space fighting villains and saving the universe. Sometimes you just want to read a comic book because it is fun, not because of the dark, brooding stories or pretentious writing that people seem to strive for these days, and if that is you, then you want this book, because even though it doesn't make much sense, it is a lot of fun. |