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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Saturday, March 19, 2005
From COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1603 [April, 2005]:
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
There was a growing lump in my heart before I finished reading the first paragraph in the special bulletin sent out by Will Eisner biographer Bob Andelman:
Legendary comics and graphic novel artist and writer Will Eisner died last night, Monday, January 3, 2005, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the age of 87, following complications from quadruple heart bypass surgery.
I startled my neighbor's cat, who was visiting my office, with my plaintive cry of "Oh, no!" Hadn't it been reported that Eisner had come through the surgery in good shape? Wasn't he expected to be back at work soon?
Why was the universe doing this to us?
Once I got through the various stages of grief to acceptance, I started wondering if there was something I could do, something I could write, which could be sufficiently brilliant to honor one of the most brilliant creators the comics industry has ever been lucky enough to know. I came up blank.
Far better journalists than I will be telling you of Eisner's life and his amazing accomplishments. I can only add that he was an inspiration to every comics creator worth a fig.
More perceptive students of the comics art form will elucidate his artistic contributions to the field. I learned from his books on sequential art and from his stories, but I lack the language to explain what I learned and how I used it.
People who knew him far better than I did - we talked maybe a couple dozen times over the years, once sharing information on the vertigo we both suffered from - will be able to paint for you the picture of a truly great man who also an uncommonly good man. His kindness to creators and fans has been and will continue to be held as the standard few others will ever attain.
I feel like the little drummer boy of Christmas myth. I have no gold, no frankincense, no myrrh to offer to the memory of this great man, even if I were entirely sure what those last two things were. It's a no go on the drum, as well, because I couldn't carry a tune if I had a kangaroo's pouch.
So here is my "gift" for Will Eisner, though it's really more a suggestion of a gift that the comics industry itself can give him in the years to come.
At age 87, Eisner was still creating comics as remarkable as he ever had, as remarkable as those created by artists and writers who were his juniors by decades, sometimes half a century and more. In an industry that has rarely embraced its older creators, he was shining proof that entertaining and even innovative voices need not be stilled by age. That should be as much a part of his enduring legacy as THE SPIRIT, A CONTRACT WITH GOD, COMICS & SEQUENTIAL ART, THE DREAMER, and his other works.
In recognition of that part of the Eisner legacy, I would like to suggest the establishment of a special award to be bestowed with the existing Eisner Awards...
The Will Eisner Spirit Award.
Each year, a panel of industry judges would review the current work of comics artists and writers over a certain age - 65 comes to mind - and select one to receive a figurine modeled after Eisner's most famous creation in recognition of their continuing creativity in the field of comics art.
I don't know what it would take to make this idea a reality. I don't know that there aren't a dozen reasons why this might be a bad idea. I just think - and mostly hope - that this is the really good idea I want it to be.
For Will Eisner and for all the other comics art creators who have entertained readers their entire lives.
It was either this or a drum.
Generous as he was, I think Eisner would prefer I not pick up the sticks in his memory.
Thanks for all the wonderful comics and astonishing insights, Will. I'll never forget them or you.
******
I have rarely experienced such pure edge-of-my-seat, giggling-like-a-child joy as I did when I read Jeff Smith's BONE ONE VOLUME EDITION [Cartoon Books; $39.95] from cover to cover, all 1332 pages of one of the best comics stories ever. I paced myself - it took about a week - but even when my life necessitated putting it aside to do the grocery shopping or pick up the kids or read and review something else - BONE was never far from my thoughts.
BONE opens with the three Bone cousins - loyal and thoughtful Fone Bone, goofy-but-good-hearted Smiley Bone, and avaricious con man Phoney Bone - on the run after being driven out of Boneville in the wake of one of Phoney's crooked schemes. They end up in a deep valley filled with strange creatures and mysteries, not realizing the pivotal role they will play in the momentous events unfolding in this hidden world.
Before long, the Bones are battling vicious rat-creatures who would be deliriously happy to bake them into a quiche; befriending the human and animal inhabitants of the valley, including a rather large dragon; helping a young woman find her destiny; and ending up on the front lines of a valley-wide war to determine the fate of the world. Twelve years in the making, it is an epic adventure so deserving of the designation that it has forevermore raised the bar for any future comics works which might claim it.
My plan of "attack" in reading BONE was to read it as straight through as possible without ever referring back to the comic books in which the story first appeared and any of the volumes collecting those issues. Smith had revised some of the material reprinted in those volumes and I knew he was doing the same for this one-volume edition. This was the "director's cut" and I was prepared to read it on its own terms.
Digression. I finished reading BONE just before Mid-Ohio-Con. While chatting with Smith at that November event, I was shocked to learn his revisions to the one-volume edition amounted to over 150 pages of story and art, more than 10% of the material in the thick tome. Now *that* is dedication, determination, and quite possibly a dollop of dementia. End of digression.
BONE delighted me as much this time around as it had in years past. Fone Bone is everything I could ask for from a hero, rising above his circumstances to do great deeds while still remaining as human as you or I. He can be our clown in one chapter and our hope in the next. So many facets to the little guy...and that's equally true of the overall story. Some chapters are laugh-out-loud funny, others are thrill-a-minute exciting, and some are almost unbearably tragic. What a ride!
Smith's literary and artistic skills were put to the test in BONE and take top honors. He built a believable world encompassing both the magic and the mundane. He filled it with true characters with true emotions. I never doubted the Bones were the Bones they had to be, that Thorn, Grandma Ben, Lucius, and other characters, good and evil, were who they had to be.
The visuals? BONE was allegedly black-and-white, but, when I read it, I saw color. Smith the artist was as true to this tale as Smith the writer. The drawings were so dead-on, the panel-to-panel progression so certain, that they created a reality as clear as the one outside my window.
This year, Scholastic Books begins publishing BONE in full-color volumes a bit larger than a typical manga volume. I am looking forward to these - colorist Steve Hamaker is definitely a talent worth watching - but, like I just said, I already see BONE in color, which won't stop me from picking up the new editions and enjoying the story all over again.
The BONE ONE VOLUME EDITION is one of those books every comics enthusiast should own. It's a story to be enjoyed again and again, told by one of comicdom's most gifted creators. On our inadequate-in-this-case scale of zero to five, Jeff Smith's stunning chronicle receives the full five Tonys.
******
 
My favorite Marvel Comics title is ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, so I stopped buying it. What happened is this:
My comics reading habits are changing. It's become difficult for me to keep up with ongoing bi-monthly, monthly, and, as in the case of USM, which appears more than 12 times a year, super-monthly titles. In addition to the comics and magazines I buy, hundreds of review copies come to Casa Isabella every month and, when I look them over with an eye towards what to read and review, the items which catch my eye and the done-in-one issues and those offering what fellow CBG columnist Heidi MacDonald calls a "satisfying chunk" of entertainment. There aren't too many ongoing super-hero titles, which thrive on extended story arcs and soap operas, that meet that standard for me...despite my life-long enjoyment of the genre.
However, despite the mildly deceptive proclamation with which I opened this review, I am not depriving myself of the pleasures of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. Instead, I've switched from the super-monthly comic books to the far more gratifying and slightly more economical - given the easy availability of discounts on higher-ticket items - hardcover collections of the title. I'm still grooving on the fine work of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley, but I'm grooving to the tune of nearly 300 pages of their work per volume, including cool behind-the-scenes character designs and commentary. I feel good about shelling out my cash for these books.
The first three such volumes of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN can still be found in the special three-in-one ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN COLLECTION available for $49.95 from Barnes and Noble. It's easily worth that price, but, with a little judicious shopping, you can usually find it for less. This volume contains the first 39 issues of the comic plus the spiffy extra features I mentioned. The next two hardcover volumes are also available at $29.99 each.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL. 4 reprints issues #40-45 and #47-53. The missing issue fit in better with a spin-off series reprinted in the following volume.
The Peter Parker who appears in these stories is not exactly the same guy I've known since the 1960s. USM tells the stories of a contemporary Spider-Man, one growing up in a world much changed from the world I grew up in when he and I were the same age. It's the world my own children live in, sans the fantastically-powered heroes and villains, of course. This is one of the smartest things about the series. Younger readers can see themselves in this Peter Parker while I see my son and his friends in him.
In this volume, Bendis and Bagley progress the Peter and Mary Jane romance, involve Spidey with a young mutant-in-denial and the "Ultimate Universe" versions of the X-Men, and bring Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, back to New York City, in a story that also includes a crooked politician, a surprisingly sympathetic J. Jonah Jameson, the Enforcers, the Black Cat, and Elektra.
All of the reprinted stories have great dialogue and pacing by Bendis and dazzling art and storytelling by Bagley, but the prize of the volume is "Guilt," a quiet-yet-powerful tale built around a session between May Parker and her therapist. If Peter and MJ are for the youngsters, this haunting interlude was for all us parents who face the same kind of questions of our needs and those of our kids. In 20-something pages, May becomes more real to me and more admirable than in any other version of Spider-Man.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL. 5 leads off with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #46 and THE ULTIMATE SIX limited series. S.H.I.E.L.D. is holding Norman Osborn, Doc Octopus, Electro, the Sandman, and an illegally-enhanced Kraven the Hunter to study them and perhaps rehabilitate them to enough of an extent that they can be useful in the future. This turns out to be a less-than-good idea when the bad guys break out, enlist the aid of an unwilling Spider-Man - hence the "six" of the series title - and go calling on the White House. Though it's a "bigger" story than I usually like to see for Spider-Man, I can't deny that it grabbed me from start to finish.
The feds have barely hosed the blood off Pennsylvania Avenue when Doc Octopus makes another deadly escape. Enraged because his ex-wife is getting heavy bucks as an advisor to a Spider-Man movie, he goes after her, the film crew, and the real web-slinging wonder. It's an entertaining serial, though I found the guest appearance of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire a bit too cutesy for my sensibilities, especially given the high body count in this volume.
Jeff Smith has wrecked the curve for everything else I review this month, so ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL. 4 and 5 only get four Tonys apiece. Still, if you're looking for the Spidey-series which comes closest to equaling the exhilaration delivered by the original Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita stories, these are the comics for you...whether you enjoy them in hardcover, trade paperback, or the traditional monthly/super-monthly format.
******
Created by Lee Falk, the Phantom has proven to be one of the most beloved and enduring heroes of comics. The "Ghost Who Walks" has been bringing pirates and other villains to justice since 1936 in newspapers, comic books, films, and paperback novels. Currently represented in the United States by his still-running comic strip and comic books published by Moonstone, he's an international star, more popular in Sweden and Australia than he is in the country of his creative birth.
His legend is intriguing in its directness and simplicity. He is the descendent of a man whose father was murdered by pirates 400 years ago and who, on the skull of the killer, swore an oath that he and his sons and grandsons and so on would battle such evildoers forever. "Our" Phantom is the 21st in that heroic line and, like his forefathers, is assisted by the Bandar people who champion his cause and the many friends he has made over the years. The story of his family spans the centuries.
If you're not getting enough Phantom to suit you, I recommend THE PHANTOM ala Frew Publications of Australia. They publish the title at least twice and sometimes three times a month; I have yet to figure out the precise frequency. Most of the black-and-white issues are standard 36-page (counting covers) comic books, but they also publish several larger issues over the course of the year with their annual special running 300 pages.
What are in these Phantom comics? The regular issues usually feature English-language translations of 30-plus-page stories that were originally created for the Danish/Swedish markets. From time to time, these original stories are by names well known to American fans, creators like Dick Giordano, Bob McLeod, Graham Nolan, Paul Ryan, and Roger Stern. Other issues feature reprints of newspaper stories from the 1930s to the present. Each issue's inside front cover features a chatty and informative editorial by publisher Jim Shepherd, putting the material in proper perspective with the long history of the Phantom.
Pure and simple, these comics delight me. The Phantom is one of my favorite characters - I even came close to writing him once or thrice - and Frew assures me a continuing supply of his classic and current adventures. Oh, the translations don't always read as smoothly as I would like - some stories have been translated from English to Danish and back again - and the reproduction sometimes fails to convey the quality of the art, but, for all that, I remain mightily entertained by them.
My latest shipment from Australia contained THE PHANTOM #1398-1402. The 36-page issues cost me $2.20 each plus shipping charges of $11.80. That averages out to about $4.50 per comic, a bit more expensive than most black-and-white American comics, but well worth it to a Phantom fan like me.
All of the issues had European stories. "The Ambassador" (in #1398) had the 12th Phantom rescuing Benjamin Franklin at the dawn of the War of Independence.
"Death of a Phantom" (#1399 and #1400) told the tragic tale of the passing of the 16th Phantom, the latest in a series of stories starring his first love, pirate queen Kate Somerset. These stories are somewhat more adult than the norm. The Phantom fathered Kate's only child - unbeknownst to father or son - before he met his future wife. Kate's crew is captured and raped by Singh pirates and she herself submits to the leader of the pirates to protect her son and the Phantom. There is even some nudity in the story, which is part of a series of "Year One" tales revealing the earliest adventures of the various Phantoms.
"Prisoner 21" (#1401) is a contemporary story which puts our Phantom behind bars to uncover evidence a crime lord is running his gang from the prison, while the McLeod-drawn and sexually-charged "Black Widow" (#1402) is a hitherto-unrevealed "Year One" adventure of our Phantom. If you want ratings, I give four Tonys each to the "Year One" issues...
...and three Tonys - a perfectly respectable score - to the other two.
All are recommended.
"Wait, Tony," I can hear you cry from wherever you're reading this, "where can I get these Phantom comics?"
My suggestion is that you pay a visit to Paladin Comics, whose physical presence is in the bustling city of Melbourne, Australia, but whose online home is at:
www.paladincomics.com
They make it absurdly simple to order a subscription to Frew's PHANTOM. You tell them the issue with which you want to start your sub and how often you want them to ship issues to you. They send you a PayPal invoice for each shipment and, on receiving payment, they send the comics to you. I'm sure there are other Australian comics shops also willing to sell you these comics, but I have been very satisfied with Paladin's service and so recommend them to you. Say "hi" to Sebastian for me.
I'll be back next month to thrill you anew.
******
ADDENDUM
Regular readers of TONY'S ONLINE TIPS will recognize that the opening of today's column is similar to the Will Eisner column that I posted here on January 5. Though I generally don't run material from my online columns in my main "TONY'S TIPS" column for COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE, I do make an exception when the subject matter is as important as the passing of one of the greatest comics creators in the history of the medium.
When I reprint my CBG columns here, I bring you what I call "Columnist's Cut" versions. It's the columns as I sent them to my CBG editors and includes material edited from the columns for one reason or another. For example, the opening item of my column for CBG #1604 [May, 2005] won't appear in print...because it gave my editors an idea for an entirely separate round-robin discussion in which I've taken part. However, when I reprint that column here, you'll get it in its original form.
That's why I'm repeating the Eisner material here. Because it was part of my CBG column as I wrote it. I plead no contest to any charges of extreme retentiveness.
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 03/18/2005 | 03/19/2005 | 03/20/2005 >>
Discuss this column with me at my Message Board. Also, read Heroes and Villains: Real and Imagined.
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
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