Showing posts with label 2000s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2000s. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 January 2017

X-Men Origins: Beast (2008) # 1, Colossus (2008) # 1, Jean Grey (2008) # 1, Gambit (2009) # 1, Sabretooth (2009) # 1, Wolverine (2009) # 1, Cyclops (2010) # 1, Deadpool (2010) # 1, Emma Frost (2010) # 1, Iceman (2010) # 1, Nightcrawler (2010) # 1


(I originally read these comics in early January 2017)

You should cherish this post if you're an X-Men fan, because I won't be making many of them. The X-Men and their sundry spin-offs are the Marvel franchise for which I have the least affection. However, that's not to say I don't enjoy some X-Men comics. Given that their convoluted continuity is my main barrier to enjoying them, self-contained, short stories like those in the 'Origins' one-shots should be much more palatable. At least, that's the theory.


  
  
  

Released between 2008 and 2010, each of the comics purports to tell the origin story of a long-standing X-character. In reality, they're really just recaps. Even as a casual (at best) X-fan, there wasn't much here I didn't already know or hadn't read elsewhere. Mike Carey's script for the Beast comic is hampered by having to retell what was already a crappy story with a silly villain. However, the frankly weird art style that looks like painted-over photographs really skewers it. His Gambit book is marginally better (an' I say dis as an avowed Gambit-'ater) and showcases an interesting art style by the combined talents of David Yardin and Ibraim Roberson. The Colossus book is better and has the benefit of moody art by Trevor Hairsine, but content is slim. It's Mike Mayhew's art in the Jean Grey comic that's the standout amongst the first half dozen titles. While I'm no great fan of painted comics, Mayhew's work is simply beautiful, presumably heavy on photo reference but without the stiffness that often results. Jean's journey from traumatised tween to powerful teen telepath is sensitively handled.

 There's not much room for sensitivity in the Wolverine or Sabretooth comics, but then that's not what their fans are after. Kieron Gillen's Sabretooth 'origin' doesn't offer much beyond violence, but Dan Panosian's art is great. With more history to recap than most, Chris Yost's Wolverine one-shot is superficial and you'd expect him to have remembered who out of Logan and Colossus he'd had join the X-Men first, instead of having both his efforts blatantly contradict each other.
  
 


Of the latter five titles, the ones featuring Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Iceman are the best, though that's not saying much. Jesse Delperdang shines on the art for the Cyclops one-shot, which recaps Scott Summers' background from parents' deaths to assumption of the role of X-Men leader, taking in their first clash with Magneto in the process. The Nightcrawler one at least has a Universal horror film vibe that I appreciated, but the rest are hit or miss. 

Deadpool still sucks. 

One thing that becomes apparent in these stories, to the point of it being a running joke, is just how willing these kids were to ditch their families, maybe forever, to follow a creepy, bald dude. Whether engaging in an endless battle to "protect a world that hates and fears them" or ending up faces frozen in time and staring out from the sides of of milk cartons is the worse fate, I'll leave up to you to decide.


X-Men Origins: Beast (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Gambit (2009) # 1, X-Men Origins: Jean Grey (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Sabretooth (2009) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) # 1 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:

X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) # 1 are collected in:

Hardcover:

X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1 is collected in:

Softcover:

X-Men Origins: Cyclops (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Deadpool (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Emma Frost (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Iceman (2010) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler (2010) # 1 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:

X-Men Origins: Deadpool (2010) # 1 is collected in:

Hardcover:




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Sunday, 22 January 2017

Jingle Belle (1999) # 1/2, Jingle Belle: Naughty and Nice (2000), Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo (2000), Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (2001), Jingle Belle: Jubilee (2001), Jingle Belle: Winter Wingding (2002), Jingle Belle's Cool Yule (2002), Jingle Belle in Oni Double Feature (1998) # 13 and Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special (2000)


(I originally read these comics in late December 2016) 

Paul Dini's 'Jingle Belle' is that rare thing: a humour comic that's actually funny. It also gets better as the stories go on, which thus far in my reading is up to 2002. Not that it starts off entirely fully-formed. Stephen DeStefano's cartooning on the early episodes is an acquired taste at best, and writer Paul Dini has Jingle utter frequent profanities (becoming less frequent as it goes on). They're of the milder variety, sure, but they sit somewhat ill at ease in stories about Santa Claus' delinquent daughter that are surely aimed at readers of 'tween' age and up. It's as if Dini is unsure who he's writing for as the stories, while entertaining, aren't exactly deep. 


   


'Jing' is a teenage elf who lives in the North Pole with her Dad, Santa Claus, and her Mum, the Queen of the Northern Elves, whom she refers to as 'Moms'. She's selfish, given to jealousy and a bit of a tearaway who consistently tops her father's 'Naughty List' for bullying her cousin Rusty and sneaking out to get off with the local Eskimo boys, etc. By the conclusion of the first series, which introduces Santa's archenemy the Blizzard Wizard and Jing's flying steed Thrasher, a farting musk ox, everything is in place for an consistently entertaining succession of occasional limited series and one-shots. Jing shows remorse over a previous, long-ago transgression and tries to right it in the Holiday Hullabaloo issue, in which she also enlists the shrouded, spooky Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come as Santa's stand-in for a store appearance. This issue sees Bill Morrison, J. Bone, Jeff Smith and others on art duties, all of whom have more appealing styles than DeStefano, to my eye. Bone is a frequent contributor from this point, and is arguably Jing's signature artist, drawing all of 'The Mighty Elves' comic and a portion of 'Jubilee', which features a crossover appearance from another of Dini's creations in Sheriff Ida Red. She, Polly Green (a teenage witch) and Tashi Ounce (a snow leopard-girl) would appear to become regular guest stars from this point on.


   

 


I can heartily recommend 'The Whole Package' to fans of Dini's Harley Quinn who don't mind reading something outside of the super-hero milieu. However, be aware that the collection is erroneously titled as it misses short, online strips from the previous collections and comics and the 'Dash Away All' original graphic novel.

NB. The Oni Double Feature # 12 issue doesn't feature Jingle Belle but does feature a Dini-written strip that is concluded in the succeeding issue and which fans might want to track down.


The Jingle Belle strips from Oni Double Feature (1998) # 13 and Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special (2000) and Jingle Belle (1999) # 1/2, Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo (2000), Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (2001), Jingle Belle: Jubilee (2001) and Jingle Belle: Winter Wingding (2002) are collected in:

Softcover:

The Jingle Belle strips from Oni Double Feature (1998) # 13 and Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special (2000) and Jingle Belle (1999) # 1/2 are collected in:

Softcover:

Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo (2000), Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (2001) and Jingle Belle: Jubilee (2001) are collected in: 

Softcover:



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Saturday, 7 January 2017

Zombie (2006) # 1-4, The Zombie: Simon Garth (2008) # 1-4


(I originally read these comics in mid December 2016)

Marvel's adults only 'MAX' imprint seems to have been the place where a lot of moribund, old characters in need of trademark renewal got a brief shot at revival, with varying success. Unlike some others, this post-Romero updating of the '70s Simon Garth Zombie character is well worth a read. 


   


Bank Teller Simon Garth is having the worst day of his unremarkable life when two robbers burst into his branch, kill the manager and kidnap Garth and co-worker Layla because they need him to deactivate the paint canisters in their money bags - or so they think. Things get immeasurably worse, however, when the quartet is stopped in their tyre tracks by a chemical spill on the Interstate. This isn't your average chemical spill, though, as it has the effect of turning people into ravenous, undead cannibals, one of which bites Layla's throat out. The remaining trio take refuge in an abandoned burger joint with a rag-tag assortment of new characters, including an infected soldier who will inevitably 'turn', as the chaos outside swells to apocalyptic proportions and the zombie hordes attempt to claw their way in. As always in these situations, everybody's unsure of their allegiances and betrayal might lurk just around the corner. It's spoiling nothing to mention that, yes, Garth does end up infected. 

If you've seen any zombie film made in the last forty-eight years, then you'll find nothing groundbreaking here. However, the story by Mike Raicht is solid and is lifted higher by the atmospheric and super-gory artwork of Kyle Hotz. (You'll feel like you're sloshing ankle-deep through a sea of intestines, by the end.)


   


Raicht is gone for the follow-up series and I expected a dip in quality as remaining artist Hotz was an unknown quantity to me as a writer. However, he doesn't miss a trick and picks up right after the events of the first series with an infected Simon Garth, now a fully-fledged (yet benevolent) zombie, let loose after his rescue helicopter crashes. From here, another epidemic begins. Hotz has fun introducing a family of inbred hunters modelled after the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Sawyer clan as adversaries for our zombie hero and now protector of a little girl, lost in the woods after a car crash. Hotz's artwork is as good as ever, like a latter-day Graham Ingels, and if you enjoy the first series you'll want to read this too. Before reading 'Zombie', I considered Hotz to be "like Kelley Jones, just not as good," but I'm forced to revise that opinion now.


Zombie (2006) # 1-4 are collected in:


The Zombie: Simon Garth (2008) # 1-4 are collected in:




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Wednesday, 14 December 2016

Incredible Hulk (2000) # 34-76, Hulk/Wolverine: Six Hours (2003) # 1-4, Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks (2004) # 1-4, The Darkness/The Incredible Hulk (2004) # 1

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

This run on Hulk marked Bruce Jones' first extended run on a Marvel title since 'Ka-Zar the Savage', twenty years earlier. He combines 'The X-Files' with 'The Fugitive' for a series of twisty-turny, conspiracy-laden stories reminiscent of his earlier 'Somerset Holmes'. The Hulk takes a back seat to Banner being on the run after the green goliath's apparent killing of a boy, his only ally being the mysterious 'Mr. Blue', with whom he communicates via laptop. He's pursued at every turn by cops, the FBI and a shadowy organisation known only as Home Base, whose objective becomes apparent as gaining a sample of the Hulk's gamma-irradiated blood for as-yet unspecified (but no doubt nefarious) purposes. Easier said than done, even with their agents going so far as to return from the dead to complete their mission. 


   
   
   
   

   


All Jones' arcs vary between four and six issues long. My favourites are his second, retroactively titled 'Boiling Point', in which Banner is involved in a hostage situation that takes an unpredictable turn, and 'Dark Minds, Dark Hearts', in issues 50-54. In this story, Home Base agents enlist the Abomination into their cause while Banner gets to know the former Emil Blonsky's wife rather more intimately than is judicious. 'Split Decisions' (# 60-65) also has some eerie moments as Home Base resorts to ever-more desperate measures to obtain the all-important Hulk blood. I was less keen on 'Hide in Plain Sight' (# 55-59), where the incarcerated Absorbing Man has developed the unlikely talent of "absorbing" minds, permitting him to create havoc outside. This new twist on one of my favourite Marvel villain's powers didn't fly with me and neither did his greatly upgraded intellect, even if it's implied that's only an aggregated side effect of his having absorbed the minds of individuals much cleverer than he is. Neither lasted, thankfully.


   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Jones' run comes to its conclusion following a team-up of sorts with Iron Man (which precurses Banner's and Stark's MCU status as 'Science Bros') and the not entirely surprising reveal of Home Base's villainous mastermind (whom "artist" Darick Robertson seems to want to draw as George W. Bush). 

Robertson excepted, Jones was blessed with some great pencilers during his run, not least Lee Weeks, Leandro Fernandez, Doug Braithwaite (though he draws the Hulk's head way too small) and most frequently Mike Deodato Jr., working in his then newly-adopted photorealistic style. My only real artistic complaint is Kaare Andrews' hideous and unrepresentative covers, which disgrace the first twenty-odd issues. They were ugly then and they're ugly now.

The Darkness/Hulk crossover is notable only as Paul Jenkins' as-yet last fling with the character. With art reproduced from Dale Keown's pencils, it's at least a feast for the eyes.


   


Jones also produced two limited series. The first is an engaging race against time tale as a series of unlikely events conspire to force the Hulk and Wolverine to team up to save a boy dying of a snake bite. The second has the Hulk and the Thing, barely recognisable thanks to the overrated Jae Lee, meet up in a remote bar to talk smack, throw a punch or two and then talk some more. Jones forgets to supply a plot and Lee forgets to provide backgrounds, as usual. A very poor send-off for Jones, who'd managed to write the most readable Hulk run in years.


The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 34-43 are collected in:

Hardcover:
The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1: Return of the Monster (US)
The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1: Return of the Monster (UK)
(No current Amazon links)

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 34-39 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 34 is collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 35 is collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 40-49 are collected in:

Hardcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 40-43 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 44-54 are collected in:

Hardcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 44-49 are collected in:

Softcover:

Hulk/Wolverine: Six Hours (2003) # 1-4 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 50-59 are collected in:

Hardcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 50-54 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 55-59 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 60-65 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 66-69 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Incredible Hulk (2000) # 70-76 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Darkness/The Incredible Hulk (2004) # 1 is collected in:

Softcover:

Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks (2004) # 1-4 are collected in:

Softcover:



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