Saturday, November 10, 2007

Comics Reviews: Week of 11-07-07

In what I intend to be an ongoing series, here are my comics reviews for titles that shipped on November 7th, 2007, in alphabetical order.

A few notes going in:

A) I only review comics that I either buy or read in their entirety. Since it's coming out of my own pocket, this means that I'm really only reviewing comics that I'm interested in. If I seem to have a general tendency towards positive reviews, then that's why. I'd review a lot more books, good, bad and in between, if I had the money to spend on them.

B) I'm not reviewing every single comic I buy. I'll try to stick to notable titles or issues that I take issue with.

C) I'm also going to try to keep these reviews short. I know, I know, it's going to be an uphill battle. But I swear I'm going to try.


ASTONISHING X-MEN #23 (Marvel)
Writer: Joss Whedon
Penciller: John Cassaday

Whedon's and Cassaday's run on X-Men ranks among Claremont's and Morrison's as my favorite runs on any x-related title, but the sporadic shipping schedule has indeed hurt the book. Joss Whedon - possibly my favorite writer, period - has crafted a series of memorable tales with spot-on characterization and a number of surprises, but his organic pacing suffers a bit when you don't clearly remember what happened last because it's been so long since you read the last issue. I guarantee you, however, that this thing will read like gangbusters in trade.

In this issue, the Breakworld saga continues, Cyclops gets to kick ass (which, let's be honest, he's hardly ever done outside of this series), and Whedon recycles a plot device from Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Normally that's something that I would complain about, except that it's such a good idea that he actually tricked me with it both times. As always, Cassaday proves that he's probably the best damned artist in the business today, and probably one of the best ever.

B+


THE EXTERMINATORS #23 (DC/Vertigo)
Writer: Simon Oliver
Penciller: Darick Robertson

Some critics make a big deal about whichever comic is at the top of their pile each week - the one book that they just can't wait to read. Me, I make a big deal about what I keep at the bottom of my pile. That's the book that I'm confident will make every other thing in my buy pile look bad if I don't save it for last. And every time it comes out, that book is The Exterminators.

If you haven't been reading it, issue #23 is not the issue to start. Actually, The Exterminators is one of those books that really need to be read from the first issue to be fully appreciated. The manner in which Oliver and his team of artists has taken a seemingly slice-of-disgusting-life series and turned it into an apocalyptic tale of survival is nothing short of a marvel.

In this issue, the battle continues, having officially begun a few issues prior. It's the Bug-Be-Gone boys versus an army of Mayan Hissers (giant cockroaches) and their messianic resurrected human leader. The most action-packed issue of the week is from Vertigo. You don't get to say that very often. Classic stuff.

A

FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH #1 of 6 (DC/Wildstorm)
Writers: Jeff Katz and James Anthony Kuhoric
Art: Jason Craig

Based off the unused screenplay for the film everyone on the planet (who counts) wants to see, this mini-series brings us the long-awaited face-off between Ashley J. Williams, Jason Voorhees and Frederick Krueger. It just doesn't bring it to us in the first issue. Sigh...

Playing like a direct sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason, the story opens with the two surviving cast members from that film returning to Crystal Lake because, as Ash himself admits, they're idiots. We're then introduced to the new status quo. Jason continues to haunt Camp Crystal Lake, but he's haunted in turn by the decapitated head of Freddy Krueger who torments him with some pretty horrific visions. Freddy himself posits a solution - Jason needs to acquire a copy of the Necronomicon to free both unstoppable monsters from their torment. On the last page, Ash (who has been narrating this whole time) shows up. Presumably, he's going to have something to say about this Necronomicon business.

I'm cutting this issue a little slack. Normally, decompression is a frustrating storytelling style in comics (I'm looking at you, House of M), but given that this series is supposedly based pretty closely off of a screenplay it makes a certain degree of sense that this is the structure we're getting. Aside from the a-little-overused voice-over, this issue plays like the beginning to what might be a very fun movie. I just hope that they get to actual "versus" part of the title soon.

B


GROO: HELL ON EARTH #1 of 4 (Dark Horse)
Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier
Art: Sergio Aragones

Groo is back! This is a good day for people of the world everywhere who know how to A) read, and B) find a comic book store. In this latest mini-series, Groo finds himself in the Kingdom of Uslip, currently suffering from two princes arguing over who deserves to reign. Prince Buco, who has managed to actually become king, spends all of his energy on building weaponry, even though there aren't any wars at the moment. Prince Guco spends his energy bitching about not being king, and warning the people about the effect all of the new factories are having on the environment.

The people listen to Guco enough to be dissatisfied, but not enough to change their lifestyles. Meanwhile, neighboring kingdoms hear that Uslip is building weapons, so they start building weapons too. Everyone is preparing for war, but no one knows why.

If those metaphors are pretty on-the-nose for you, that's because they are. But the delight of Groo is the way Aragones and Evanier manage to tackle topical issues head-on without ever feeling like, oh, I don't know... Crash. It's deft and it's funny, albeit in a smile-to-yourself constantly manner more than a laugh-out-loud one. And Aragones art is pleasantly cartoony whilst at the same time being insanely detailed. The spread on pages 2 and 3 holds up just as well as some of Hitch's crazier issues of The Ultimates, and that's not something that can be said lightly.

Oh yeah, Groo is in this issue too. He hasn't killed too many people yet, but the mini-series is still young.

A


HOWARD THE DUCK #2 of 4 (Marvel)
Writer: Ty Templeton
Penciller: Juan Bobillo

Someone asked me recently why anyone gives a damn about Howard the Duck when the Marvel Universe has Spider-Man, the Avengers and X-Men vying for our attentions too. The reason is simple: In the Marvel Universe, filled with iconic heroes, villains and anti-heroes, gigantic space battles and Civil Wars, the only voice of reason is a anthropomorphized talking duck. That's how insane the Marvel U is these days (and, if you think about it, always has been).

This latest mini-series got off to an entertaining start, but as of the second issue I'm a little concerned. The writing is spot-on and Juan Bobillo cements his position as one of the best unsung artists in the biz, but with all of the craziness going on in the world - both real and fictional - it seems somewhat anti-climactic to use a Howard the Duck book to comment on fame and viral videos. Still, it's not fair to judge the book based on something it's not trying to be, but it does lose points for - at the moment - being more-or-less completely disposable.

B


THE NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #5 of 5 (Marvel)
Writers: Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed
Penciller: Jim Cheung

So after four issues of showing how the Illuminati dealt with previous major Marvel events, we get an issue setting up the next Marvel event. And it's pretty good. After Spider-Woman brings the Skrully corpse of Elektra to Tony Stark (which isn't very well explained in the issue itself, so it helps if you've been reading New Avengers), he gathers the Illuminati to discuss the ramifications, and to determine if Earth is truly at war... and possibly already conquered.

Then *SPOILER* Black Bolt talks without destroying the planet. Apparently, he's been a Skrull since shortly after the Kree/Skrull War. Didn't he use his vocal powers between then? I might need to read Paul Jenkins' Inhumans mini-series and Silent War again, but hasn't he? And speaking of Silent War, does this mean that the Skrulls want Maximus the Mad in control of the Inhumans? How could that possibly help anyone's cause, besides Maximus of course?

Decent questions. Marvel has a history lately of asking decent questions, then failing to give us interesting answers. Civil War and M-Day never satisfactorily dealt with most of the ramifications of their events, at least across the line (a few series did a decent job, but they were exceptions, not the rule). So we'll see where this goes. Still, that's the future. This issue? Bang-up job by everyone involved. Great writing (it's nice to see Tony Stark openly doubting himself for a change, and basically echoing everything Luke Cage has been saying since Civil War ended), excellent pencils. If Secret Invasion fails to impress, this issue of Illuminati might suffer in hindsight, but as it stands:

B+


SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP: MODOK'S ELEVEN #5 of 5 (Marvel)
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Penciller: Francis Portela

One of the shinier gems of the year ends on a high note - full of unexpected twists and turns, yet never hard to follow. Excellent characterization, quality art. If you missed this series, you'd better get the trade. I mean it. I now realize that I don't have much else to say here besides a general praise for everyone involved with this series. As usual, one of Marvel's ancillary titles has again outshined most of their flagship best-sellers.

Series Rating: A


WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY: ARMAGEDDON #1 (of 1) (DC/Wildstorm)
Writer: Christos Gage
Pencillers: Neil Googe & Horacio Domingues

Confession time. Aside from the aborted runs on The Authority and WildC.A.T.S., the only two Wildstorm titles I've been reading are Stormwatch P.H.D. (now passed) and Welcome to Tranquility. So when the writer of Stormwatch pens an issue of Tranquility, I'm in, but skeptical. Original characters are increasingly sacred these days, with only Brian Michael Bendis attempting to tell stories with new characters once their originator is done with them. Frequently, this is because writing characters using their popularized voices if very difficult. Would you want to write a Y: The Last Man issue, knowing that you're just going to be compared to Brian K. Vaughan?

Well, Christos Gage steps up to the plate and knocks Tranquility out of the park. This issue feels almost exactly like an issue of the regular series. It's a bit more dense than usual (that's Gage for you), but the characterizations are spot on and fit comfortably into the word Gail Simone originally created. No easy task, particularly for a writer as talented as Simone.

In this issue, Maximum Man - the elderly hero who turns into a young Greek God at will, and at the start of the issue is enjoying it immensely with all of the young women in town - gets sent to the near future, where a sudden attack from all super-villains past, present, and possibly future has left all of the world, with the exception of Tranquility, in ruins. Maximum Man does what he can to help the world, although an interesting conversation with Acolyte raises some doubt. Isn't the world supposed to end someday? Who are we to prevent it?

The rub comes at the end of the issue, which almost makes it a disposable Elseworlds title (Superman kills Lois Lane? It's okay, it's just Elseworlds!), although given that the issue advertises that we should read Wetworks: Armageddon next, I guess it's an Elseworld destined to pass, although the story we just read might have almost no relevance to it except as a teaser. If this issue does contribute to the story later on, I'll be very pleased, but given the uncertain possibility that it won't...

B


Y: THE LAST MAN #59 (of 60) (DC/Vertigo)
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller: Pia Guerra

All good things come to an end. It's been argued, however, that the good things in Y: The Last Man actually came to an end 5 or 6 issues ago. It's true that this series lost a bit of much-needed steam after the revelation of why all the mammals in the world with a Y-chromosome died (an explanation which, as of this issue, is in still in dispute in the comic itself), but there are some surprises to be found. Namely, the ending of the last issue, which managed to shock the hell of out everyone I know who has been reading the book.

The follow-up, however, is a little anti-climactic, making a key character's death seem a little less significant than it probably should have been. Add to that the unexpected revelation of why Alter has been so obsessed with finding Yorick Brown all these years, which I think a lot of people forgot was even in question (if you think about it, it was never really even set up as a mystery... maybe this issue would have been more effective if it was). It was interesting, but lacked the dramatic heft that would really have helped the series truck to its finale. It does make a certain degree of sense, and deftly ties into an earlier (seemingly stand-alone) storyline, but for what looks to be the last big revelation of the series... it lacks "oomph."

Still, Y: The Last Man remains a quality series, even if the last 6-7 issues play more like an extended denouement rather than a climax. Maybe Vaughan can pull this all together in the last issue to really make the ending sing. If anyone can, it's definitely him.

C+

(Note: No DC U books this week. Weird...)

Friday, November 9, 2007

Film Theory 1.02


Cellular phones have killed movies.


Not in the way you think, either. Sure, we all hate those complete assholes who neglect to turn off their phones in the theater, so that halfway through a movie you might very well be enjoying, you have that annoying "DUN-nuh-nuh-nuh-DUN-nuh-nuh-nuh-DUH-nuh-nuh-nuh-NUH" noise coming out of nowhere. (And yes, I have occasionally been that asshole - but it was an accident, I swear.) I'm actually making the argument that the invention of cellular phones has had a massive, and largely negative, impact on the films themselves.

No really, think about it. The popularity of cellular phones in real life makes it outright implausible that any character in a movie wouldn't have one. As a result, they have the instantaneous ability to call anyone for any reason. Trapped by zombies? Call someone. Susan's husband is a murderer? Call her. "Hey Susan, you're husband's the murderer." "Oh, thanks!" Cellular phones would be the answer to practically every suspenseful problem ever created... and so they must be stopped at all costs.

Screenwriters are constantly forced to work around this frustrating device with the following lines of dialogue. Try to remember how many times you've heard them!

"Damn, I can't get a signal!"

"My battery's run out."

"They shot my phone!"

Every single time you hear one of these buzz-phrases, or variations thereof, think about the scene you're watching. If the character's cellular phone worked, would the suspense be dead? Would the movie, in fact, be over? Overwhelming odds point to yes.

I was doing some research on the original series of Star Trek recently, and I discovered an interesting factoid about the Starfleet communicators they invented for the show. Apparently, Gene Roddenberry created them specifically so they could break down or lose their signal, because he knew that otherwise, Kirk could just call for backup at any given time and that would be the end of the episode. Cell phones were a problem for screenwriters before they were even invented! (Another interesting tidbit is that the original Starfleet communicators were flip-phones, exactly like most cellular phones on the market today. Coincidence? Geeks working for Nokia? Or just prescient sci-fi? You decide.)


Very few movies or television shows actually embrace the possibilities of cellular phones to further their plotting, rather than work around them because they're a hindrance. 24 would be a very difficult show to write if Jack couldn't call Chloe at the drop of a hat to relay information, or receive blueprints of whatever abandoned warehouse he's breaking into this week. I'd very much like to see a season of the show in which Jack doesn't have his phone, and is constantly forced to borrow quarters in order to check in with CTU.

Another favorite of mine is the film Cellular, an already forgotten genre film in which Kim Basinger plays a kidnapping victim who calls Chris Evans at random, and needs to keep him on the phone throughout the entire film in order to save her family. Cellular actually uses cellular phones in varied and interesting ways from a storytelling perspective. Signals get crossed, so Chris has to steal someone's phone. His battery is dying, so he needs to steal a charger at gunpoint. He needs to stay silent because the kidnappers are in the room, so someone drives up next to him blaring their car stereo. Clever stuff. The film is basically a one-trick pony, but it's clever enough to keep finding new ways to milk its conceit for the full running time.

One of my screenwriting professors in college used to talk about popular movie cliches. For example, the shot of a character at a bus stop, about to leave town. The bus pulls up between the camera and the character, then pulls away, and he's still there. Yeah, it's a cliche, and yeah, we've seen it a hundred times. But as my professor said, "We keep using it because no one's thought of a better way to do the scene."

I know you writers are on strike, and I support you wholeheartedly. I just want to point out that you now have plenty of time to discover a better way to incorporate cell phones into your narrative, rather than find excuses to pretend like they don't exist. If someone ever figures out a way to ensure that cell phones always have a decent signal, it could mean the end of scripted entertainment as we know it (or they might decide to make every new film a period piece).

(Strange but true: Film actress Hedy Lamarr actually co-developed the wireless communications patent that eventually led to the invention of the cell phone. That's Hedy...)

Hollywood? I'm just going to make this clear: I swear that if I hear the line, "I can't get a signal" one... more... time...

I'm going to know that you got lazy.

(See this? This is you.)