Sunday 30 October 2016

Dick Tracy (1990) # 1-3, Plastic Man 80-Page Giant (2004), Shazam! and the Shazam Family! Annual # 1 (2002), The Punisher Movie Special (1990)


(I originally read these comics in early March 2016)

Finally acquired a copy of Dick Tracy # 3 last week, after years looking for it. The first two issues are a prequel to the Warren Beatty movie about the tough, gun-toting police detective by John Francis Moore, the third an adaptation by Len Wein. It's good stuff and all the famous baddies - Flattop, Pruneface, etc, show up. The art's the big draw here, though. Kyle Baker does a typically great job and colours his work with what looks like ink, crayons and chalk. It's very loose and cartoony and might not be to all tastes, but I loved it.


  


Next up, two treats from DC in the shape of an 80-Page Giant and an 80-Page Giant by any other name, done in retro style. The Plastic Man one has the origin tales of "Plas" and sidekick Woozy Winks by creator Jack Cole, but is too weighted towards later, inferior material from the '60s onwards. I question the wisdom of including a crappy 'Dial H for Hero' strip in which the protagonist Robby Reed uses his "magic dial" to turn into Plastic Man for only the final four pages out of a sixteen-page story. 


 


The Shazam one is better, with material dating from between 1942-'45 only. However, reading eighty pages of Golden Age fare in one stretch is a bit wearing as no matter how charming the material is, it's still very much kids' stuff. Still, it's head and shoulders above much GA stuff I've read and it's no wonder Captain Marvel was the wartime best seller, even over Superman. 




Finally, the adaptation of the underrated 1989 Punisher flick I watched a few months back. It's lacklustre and looks like Brent Anderson knocked the art out in a week. Given that there's no effort made to match the actors' likenesses (least of all Dolph Lundgren's), I have to wonder if he'd even seen the film. Still, it does rectify one of the movie's missteps and has Frank Castle don the famous skull shirt before the end.


Dick Tracy (1990) # 1-3 are collected in:

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Saturday 29 October 2016

Avengers: The Origin (2010) # 1-5, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2005) # 1-8, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II (2007) # 1-8, Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin (2007) # 1-6


(I originally read these comics between late February/early March 2016)

So here's four retro tales from the early years of the Avengers, all written by Joe Casey. The 'Origin' series is actually the most recently published and is a retelling of the events of 1963's Avengers # 1, padded out to five issues. The story's been given a modern sheen, but it's a somewhat dull read. 


  
 


The two 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' series are much better. The first retells events in Avengers history around the time of the first major line-up change in Avengers # 16, when Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp left and were replaced by Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to form 'Cap's Kooky Quartet.' The second takes place around the time just after the induction of the Vision to the team, with coverage of the Black Panther's assumed civilian guise as a Harlem school history teacher and Hank Pym's (first) mental breakdown and assumption of his 'Yellowjacket' persona. Both series go into (perhaps too) much detail about the behind-the-scenes red tape and dealings with government and S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucracy. I don't recall having read too much from Casey in the past, but these two are the stories I've enjoyed most. 


   
   

   
   


'Enter the Mandarin' is a retelling of Iron Man's first encounter with his premier foe, padded out to six issues. I found the art style unusual and interesting, but it probably put a lot of readers off. The story is long-winded and a bit of a drag. 


  
  


Casey has also done retellings of the X-Men's and Fantastic Four's origin stories, so he was obviously the go-to guy for this kind of thing at the time. 


Avengers: The Origin (2010) # 1-5 are collected in:

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Softcover:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2005) # 1-8 and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II (2007) # 1-8 are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2005) # 1-8 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II (2007) # 1-8 are collected in:

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Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin (2007) # 1-6 are collected in:

Softcover:



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Friday 28 October 2016

Avengers (1963) # 500-503, Avengers: Finale (2005) # 1, What If? featuring Avengers Disassembled (2006) # 1


(I originally read these comics in mid February 2016)

The 'Avengers Disassembled' arc by Brian Bendis is where Marvel clearly realised their flagship Avengers comic wasn't working. So, instead of trying to turn the boat around the hard way with better art and writing, they decided to decimate the team in a story full of shock moments. Avengers Mansion is destroyed. Jack of Hearts, presumed dead since the conclusion of Geoff Johns' run, returns to the team - and dies. Ant-Man (Scott Lang) dies. The Vision dies. Hawkeye dies. EVERYBODY DIES. Well, just those four, though the Scarlet Witch is left comatose. 2004's 'House of M' would spin off from this and Bendis' 'New Avengers' would rise from its ashes, setting in motion the Bendis/Millar age of escalating 'event' stories (Dissassembled> House of M> Civil War> Secret Invasion> Dark Reign> Siege> Heroic Age, etc) that lasted nigh on nine years and resulted in a near-impenetrable continuity intimidating to even a hardened Marvel fanboy like me.


   
  


Avengers (1963) # 500-503 and Avengers: Finale (2005) # 1 are collected in:

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Softcover:

Avengers (1963) # 500 is collected in:

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What If? featuring Avengers Disassembled (2006) # 1 is collected in:

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Hawkeye (2003) # 1-8, New Invaders (2004) # 1-9, Avengers/Thunderbolts (2004) # 1-6


(I originally read these comics in early/mid February 2016)

After reading Chuck Austen's run on Avengers, I took a brief diversion into Hawkeye's first ongoing series. It's a strange, low-key title by Fabian Nicieza that doesn't really fit into the concurrent Avengers continuity, nor that of the Thunderbolts, the team Clint Barton had been affiliated with immediately preceding it. Despite the covers, Clint doesn't even get into costume until issue # 4 and you get the impression it would have been later had they not seen the sales figures. The first arc is a complex tale of Clint coming to a stripper's aid and getting involved in a conspiracy that dates back to Vietnam. Interesting but flawed. The change of direction with issue # 7 (costumes, more traditional storytelling) proves forgettable and obviously came too late to save the title.


   
   


The slightly less short-lived 'New Invaders' title spun out of Austen's 'Once an Invader' crossover. John Walker (previously USAgent) as a second, slightly more hard-edged Captain America, leads a team comprised of Namor, the original Human Torch, the Blazing Skull, Union Jack, Spitfire and others in uninvolving adventures that might have benefited from my having greater knowledge of the bit players. They aren't aided by an unappealing art style that gives the impression of photographic models having been traced. I'm surprised it lasted ten issues. Obviously, the gratuitous Wolverine appearance in # 6 did nothing to help.


  
  
  


After that came a wordy and somewhat laborious Avengers/Thunderbolts mini from Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza that is really more a Thunderbolts story and bridges the two volumes of their ongoing series. Again, I'd have benefited from greater knowledge of the Thunderbolts' then-status quo.


  
  


New Invaders (2004) # 1-9 are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers/Thunderbolts (2004) # 1-6 are collected in:

Softcover:



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