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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 Thursday, October 13, 2005
This Jerry Grandenetti cover for STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #86 [October, 1959] was recently posted to the GRAND COMICS DATABASE. It's here because I think it's a great cover. It's got impending peril and a smoking hot French freedom fighter. That's the comic-book equivalent of foreplay.
"A Medal For Marie" was written by editor Robert Kanigher with art by Mort Drucker. Here's what MIKE'S AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS [www.dcindexes.com] says about it:
Marie has located a secret Nazi weapons facility. She must signal an allied bomber with the location, but she fears a nearby tank will locate her signal first. She recalls that her grandfather and father were both in similar circumstances during previous wars. Marie successfully takes on the tank and signals the bomber. The target is destroyed, earning Marie a medal from the French Resistance.
The GCD [www.comics.org] says the story was reprinted in OUR ARMY AT WAR #177 [February-March, 1966].
I've always had a fondness for Marie, who was briefly the star of SSWS. During my absurdly brief time as "story editor" of SSWS, I had planned to guest-star her in what would have been a pivotal Unknown Soldier serial. Of course, by then (mid-1970s), Marie had acquired a harder misdemeanor than in she exhibited in her earlier adventures. But I still thought she was a great character and, in the fantasy world where someone at DC asks me about characters I'd like to write, she would be on the short list.
Farewell, for now, my beautiful Marie, as your devoted Tipster moves on to today's reviews.
******
LIGHTNING ROUND REVIEWS
When I reviewed it back on August 19, I was mildly dismissive of SNAKE EYES: DECLASSIFIED #1 [Devil's Due; $2.99]. At that time, I expressed the hope that subsequent issues would show me something I hadn't seen many times before.
Writer Brandon Jerwa managed to do that in DECLASSIFIED #2 via a decent twist to the old "Vietnam vet fighting crime" bit. Snake-Eyes shares the pain of his loved ones' deaths with assorted hoods and thugs in Jerwa's well-written script. That script was enhanced by pencillers Emiliano Santalucia and Robert Atkins, whose work deserved better than the muddy color it received. This second issue was a marked improvement over the first, so I'm kicking it up to a perfectly respectable three out of five Tonys.
SERENITY #1-3 [Dark Horse; $2.99] is a comics bridge between Joss Whedon's FIREFLY series and the motion picture continuation of that series. On that limited level, the issues appear to succeed very well. We're reintroduced to the characters and the situations in which they have found themselves. My only reason for using the qualifier "appear" is that I haven't seen the movie yet and can't say for sure if these comics do, indeed, take us right up to the start of the film.
The comics story is by Whedon and Brett Matthews with Matthews writing the script. It's a decent-enough story:
Agents of the Alliance hunt River, the beautiful young genius and subject of their experiments until her brother Simon rescued her. Captain Mal and his crew try to do some honest crime to keep the ship flying. Conflicts of a moral and personal nature have an effect on several characters.
It's a decent-enough story...with terrific art by Will Conrad and colorist Laura Martin. However, it didn't knock my socks off, which is what I wanted and needed as a follow-up to the magnificent FIREFLY. This sense of personal disappointment might be affecting my critical judgment, but the best I can do for this comics series is three out of five Tonys.
Even though G.I. JOE has a large cast of heroes and villains, even though I hadn't read the first issue of the newest JOE series from Devil's Due Publishing, I didn't have any trouble getting into the story which continued through G.I. JOE #2 and #3 [$2.95 each]. Credit the "Central Date Desk" which runs on the inside front cover of the issues and, of course, writer Joe Casey. I might not have learned everything I'd have liked to learn about the Joes and their world, but I learned enough to enjoy these issues.
Satellites have fallen from orbit and left massive death and destruction in Illinois and California. An old foe of the Joes is behind this, but other players are involved as well. The Joes are battling against time and diplomatic concerns to prevent any more attacks and bring the attackers to justice. In the midst of this, there are unresolved conflicts between some of the Joes.
Stefano Caselli pencilled the second issue with inks by the always dependable Andrew Pepoy, and both pencilled and inked the third issue. It's good-looking art, but, like many of the Devil's Due comics, it suffers from muddy coloring. The company needs to look at this area of its production and quickly.
We're not talking award-winners with G.I. JOE #2 and #3, just good solid entertainment. Each of these issues earns three out of five Tonys.
DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES #2 [Devil's Due; $2.95] is yet another solid book from this publisher. The inside front cover gives new-to-the-title readers a leg-up on the story along with labeled head shots of the cast. I could have used a little more information on those characters, but I didn't feel lost while reading this issue. Credit Andrew Dabb for the script adaptation of a story by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. As for that story:
Some sort of cataclysm on the world of Krynn appears to have left the place without its gods. There is much despair and, as to be expected, religious zealots to exploit that despair. The book's band of heroes have gotten into the business of star-crossed lovers who hold a staff of great power. The bad guys want that staff and terrible violence ensues.
I'm neither a RPG or sword-and-sorcery buff, but I liked this comic anyway. Penciller Steve Kurth did a good job on his end of the art, but, save for a few nice panels here and there, the muddy coloring remains a problem for this publisher. Taking into account my above-stated bias, I'm awarding DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES #2 three out of five Tonys.
Putting it mildly, I didn't much care for CAGE #1 [Marvel/Max; $2.99] in 2002. But, as part of my ongoing journeys through boxes and boxes of unread comics, I figured I'd read all five issues of the series before disposing of it.
CAGE wasn't a very good series. I could live with its title character bearing scarce resemblance to Luke Cage as he's appeared in every other Marvel comic book, including the ones published well after this crap. The apparent world-view of writer Brian Azzarello doesn't lend itself to heroes of any kind and his concepts of life in the inner city seems to be based on the most negative elements to be found in the most joyless and soulless of movies. His "hero" has a mercurial moral compass and no strategic sense beyond pushing bad people at each other to see what happens. Then, after pretty much wallowing in street violence for five issues, Azzarello ends on an inconclusive and unsatisfying note, a note as self-indulgent as the rest of the series.
While it was honestly something of a coup for Marvel to have Richard Corben drawing a super-hero comic, the results were truly depressing. I've loved Corben's work for decades - his BAT OUT OF HELL album cover may be my favorite album cover of all time - but these comics looked as ugly as they read.
CAGE is available in trade paperback, but why pay twenty bucks for a series which wasn't worth its original combined cover prices of fifteen? To leave no one guessing about what I thought of CAGE, it earns no Tonys whatsoever.
BETTY AND VERONICA DIGEST #160 [Archie; $2.39] gives readers a hundred pages of familiar, pleasant stories and features, so it's always a decent buy on that score. This time out, there were three stories that rose above familiar and pleasant.
America's still growing interest in soccer was the basis for two of those tales. In "Soccermania," Betty is recruited to coach a young girls team; her biggest problem is dealing with the soccer moms. It seems to be a reprint, as are most of the stories in the Archie digests, but it remains topical.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch becomes "Goal-Oriented" as she plays for her school team. When she accidentally uses her magic powers during a match, she feels awful about it and practices harder than ever to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's commendable and it made the story for me.
Finally, "Play Thing" is a bittersweet but heartwarming story of Betty visiting the playground of her youth one last time before it's torn down to be rebuilt in a more modern style. These three stories alone are worth the digest's cover price.
BETTY AND VERONICA DIGEST #160 gets three Tonys.
BETTY #150 [Archie; $2.25] was a truly disappointing issue of the title. The 11-page cover story had Betty taking readers around her town and comparing how it is now to how it was then. Instead of breaking any new ground, the tour is merely used to set up the usual Archie/Betty/Veronica "romantic triangle" jokes. The second story has Betty boosting Archie's temporarily low self-esteem only to get dumped on by him once again. The third has Betty scrimping and saving to buy the same kind of expensive facial cream Veronica uses, a silly scenario that's not redeemed when Ms. Cooper instead uses her savings to help out an old lady.
The Archie comics need a makeover. I'm not talking anything as drastic as changing the personalities of the characters or the classic style of the art. I'm talking cutting WAY back on the same old gags and looking for story ideas of a more contemporary nature. Writer Craig Boldman has kept JUGHEAD fresh for years by bringing in new characters and notions to mix-and-match with the traditional characters and situations. I think the same approach is needed for the rest of the Riverdale crew.
BETTY #150 gets one Tony and that's mostly for the sweet cover by Stan Goldberg and Bob Smith.
More LIGHTNING ROUND REVIEWS coming soon.
******
ADDENDUM
Johanna Draper Carlson may be the only other online reviewer who reviews the Archie Comics titles on a regular basis. If you'd like a second opinion on these books, you should add her COGNITIVE DISSONANCE blog to your bookmarks:
www.comicsworthreading.com/blog/cwr.html
I don't read many reviews outside of those which run in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE, but Carlson's blog is close to a daily stop for me. Consider that a recommendation.
******
TONY'S MAILBOX
My writing about ADVENTURE DOUBLE DOUBLE COMICS a few columns back brought me quite a few letters.
Here's one from ALAN PORTER:
Aaaahhh! ADVENTURE DOUBLE DOUBLE! That brings back a lot of memories of my far flung youth on the other side of The Pond. This was the way I first encountered the variety of the DCU beyond the big three. Thanks for the injection of pure nostalgia.
As for the state of the current DCU, you may be interested in this article...
www.revolutionsf.com/article.html?id=2847
...my first as new Comics Editor for the Revolution Science Fiction website. Of course I wrote this just a few days before Mark Waid's "it will all get better" statement appeared.
Nicely writ, Alan.
That's it for this go-round. Thanks to all for spending part of your day with me.
I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
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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.
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