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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 Friday, February 1, 2008
Gen 13: Best of a Bad Lot [WildStorm; $14.99] collects the first six issues of the teen team's current series. It also represents the longest relationship I've been able to sustain with this series, what with six issues in a row being five more than my previous longest relationship with the series. In fact, I plan to keep reading this series. I'm not shopping for a ring or anything, but I am in "like" with this new Gen 13.
WildStorm blew up its super-hero universe a while back, and it has been re-created. I don't know the details. I know Captain Atom was the bomb that done the deed. Atom then returned to the DCU, where he became really evil and where he appears in a great many really awful comic books. He calls himself "Monarch," which is Bizarro-Italian for "Dan DiDio."
Near as I can figure, writer Gail Simone has ignored previous Gen 13 stuff and started over. The characters are familiar but different, allowing her a nice clear slate on which to create their new adventures. This is a very smart move. Comics companies should make more very smart moves, which would spare them my snarky reviews.
The super-teens are outcasts from all over the country, raised by parents who weren't their real parents and beginning to manifest superhuman powers. It turns out the kids were designed from birth by your basic evil biogenetics firm. The head of the project that "made" them is a particularly twisted piece of work.
The short form version of the plot - with only mild spoilers - is that the kids come together, bond while fighting their enemies, and stay together to seek their own place in the world. Simone has made the characters far more interesting and more likable than in their previous incarnations. I want to see what happens to these kids next...and that's the mark of a good series.
Talent Caldwell penciled all but one of the issues, delivering solid drawing and storytelling. I liked his work much better than J. Scott Campbell's stupid "focus on the thrusting boobies" cover. I swear these drooling adolescent creators are an embarrassment to comics. I'm going to start deducting points for their pandering to drooling adolescent readers. You've been warned.
Since I very much enjoyed what Simone and Caldwell did inside this book, I won't penalize Gen 13: Best of a Bad Lot for the cover. It earns four out of five Tonys.
******
ADDENDUM
Writing about the blowing up of the WildStorm universe above, it struck me how very badly the "Charlton action heroes" - beloved of comics fans during their short runs in the 1960s - have fared in the hands of the DCU powers-that-be. That wasn't always the case, though. When Alan Moore initially pitched Watchmen to then-editor-in-chief Dick Giordano, Moore wanted to use those characters for that revolutionary super-hero story. Giordano, who had edited the heroes at Charlton, had a soft spot in his heart for Atom and the rest and asked that Moore and collaborator Dave Gibbons instead create new characters for Watchmen. That editorial decision benefitted the Moore/Gibbons project and the Charlton characters, a comics industry win-win.
Unfortunately, the Charlton heroes haven't been treated kindly by DC's current management. Boy Scout Captain Atom became Monarch, multiple-universe mass-murderer and tyrant. The Ted Kord Blue Beetle was written as a buffoon for years and it wasn't really until he got his brains blown out by Maxwell Lord that Kord was recast as this heroic super-genius. The Question died a painful death from lung cancer. Nightshade has been working for the detestable Amanda Wall, so you know she ain't right in the head. Sarge Steel has often been portrayed as your typical "evil government" stooge. The most memorable DC version of The Peacemaker was the certifiably insane son of a Nazi death camp commandant. Judomaster was killed by Bane in the craptacular Infinite Crisis; his sidekick Tiger became a super-villain in the L.A.W. mini-series. Only Thunderbolt, by dint of his having been reclaimed by creator Pete Morisi before Morisi's death, has escaped a dire fire similar to those suffered by Captain Atom and the others.
Makes me wonder if it would not perhaps have been kinder for Dick Giordano to have allowed Moore and Gibbons to use the Charlton heroes in Watchmen. Sure, Thunderbolt killed the Peacemaker and Captain Atom incinerated the Question, but, at least, the Blue Beetle and Nightshade found love. That's better than any of them have done in the DCU.
******
CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE
Children of the Grave by Tom Waltz and Casey Maloney [IDW; $19.99] has been reprinted in a full-color edition with a new cover by Ashley Wood. Here's what I wrote about the black-and-white edition of this graphic novel:
Children of the Grave...is a weird war story with a heart. Writer Tom Waltz and artist Casey Maloney don't hold back when it comes to the carnage of armed conflict or the madness that grips soldiers and civilians alike in the deadliest corners of the world. But it also isn't afraid to explore what lies behind that madness and to offer, perhaps, a bit of hope for a less violent and more sane tomorrow.
[This] is the story of a team of Special Forces operatives charged with the covert assassination of a vicious terrorist. But these soldiers do not march into darkness alone. They are joined by the restless spirits of the children the terrorist has murdered and the unresolved ghosts of their own lives. On this mission, the questions raised and surprises revealed don't stop until the story reaches its satisfying conclusion.
[The story] first saw print in 2005 as a mini-series published by Shooting Star Comics. In reprinting it, this IDW trade paperback adds lots of extras: a haunting new cover painting by Dan Brereton, an introduction by Beau Smith, newly gray-scaled art, a gallery of guest artist pin-ups, and a never-before-published story featuring a mysterious character called the Sorrow. That's considerable bang for your comics-buying bucks.
Children of the Grave earns four Tonys.
This new edition? As is unfortunately common with comic-book coloring these days, many of the pages look like mud. I like the black-and-white version better. Get that edition if you can find it, but don't pass on the color version if that's all you can find. Even through the mud, the story still shines.
******
FULL COLOR
There's much to applaud about Full Color by Mark Haven Britt [Image; $15.95], which was submitted for consideration in the Glyph Awards. Xeric Grant-winner Britt tackled a large project in this 166-page graphic novel about a young woman who gives herself one day to "get it all right" or she'll kill herself. I admire the dedication in takes to write and draw such a story and the skill it takes to keep the story's tone consistent from start to finish. I bellow praise to the book's publisher, a company which has matured from its start as a manufacturer of garish, usually uninteresting super-hero comics to become one of the most diverse publishers in the industry.
Britt's exploration of that pivotal day in the life of Boom, an ex-Marine who is fed up with her job - and particularly her boss stealing the credit for her work - is intriguing but flawed. Most obviously, the drawing is not up to the demands of Britt's story. Some characters look flat on the pages, others don't make enough of a visual impression to stay with the reader.
The storytelling has its problems as well. Some layouts are confusing. Some backgrounds fade away and leave characters adrift in white space, taking away from the sense of reality so necessary to this work.
Boom is a powerful protagonist, but her back story as a former Marine seems to exist just to give her the ability to kick ass as events require. Her dissatisfaction with life comes, in part, from her own bad choices and that is never addressed. Britt did keep me involved in this tale, but not enough to ignore the flaws that kept jumping out at me.
The reach of Full Color exceeds its grasp. In my view, it's not an award-winner, but it is a work worth reading. It earns a perfectly respectable three Tonys. I look forward to seeing what Britt does next.
******
BLOGGY BITS
January hit me and my family like a ton of bricks. I won't go into all the details, but we're likely to be playing catch-up for the rest of this month and then some. This TOT is dated February 1, but it surely won't be running any earlier than Monday, February 4. You can expect similar delays all month.
I remain committed to writing TOT every Monday through Friday with a day off every 10 column. That adds up to 20 columns this month and that's still my goal. However, I have to do some paying gigs as well. They may be low-paying gigs, but they represent paychecks nonetheless and thus have priority over TOT.
Some last-day "Tip The Tipster" donations raised the January total to 64% of the modest goal I had set. What I'm contemplating for March - barring my landing good-paying gigs or a patron - is a "write as you pay" scenario. Every time I received x amount in donations, I would write a column. Under this plan, the funds donated in January would have bought TOT readers a dozen columns. I'll be amazed and pleased if the February donations come anywhere near that amount.
This mercenary persona doesn't fit well on me. But times are what they are, needs are what they are, and I have no choice but to deal with them the best I can.
******
COMICS IN THE COMICS
You know the drill.
Legendary underground comix artist Robert Crumb was referenced in Jimmy Johnson's Arlo and Janis strip from January 22 of this year:
It was sent to me by TOT reader Tom Duffy.
From the same date, here's Dave Coverly's frequently amusing Speed Bump panel:
Here's another Comics in the Comics sent to me by Tom Duffy. "Mex Morgan, M.D." makes a return visit to Lalo Alcaraz's La Cucaracha. This strip ran on January 27:
TOT reader Steve Pyskoty-Olle sent me this Curtis
Finally, we have Jef Mallett's delightful Frazz strip, also from January 27:
I wonder how many of Frazz's readers know who Charles Addams was or who ever saw the classic Addams cartoon referenced in this beautifully-drawn strip. Kudos to Mallett for this tribute to one of our greatest cartoonists.
Keep reading TOT for more Comics in the Comics. You can also find them on my message board:
www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 01/31/2008 | 02/01/2008 | 02/05/2008 >>
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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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