![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In which we see God, strange drug trips, and other unusual things.
Who wants to be a Superhero: And the winner is ... Feedback! (Stan Lee/Will Conrad; Dark Horse)
Chronicles of Wormwood 5 of 6 (Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows; Avatar): Garth Ennis ... does not like religion. Garth Ennis really does not like religion. His depiction of God (no, really, GOD) in issue 5 could, I'm reasonably sure, have the more archconservative and militant of all the peoples of the Book -- Muslims, Christians and Jews -- considering ways of committing mayhem upon his person. And, quite honestly, the only reason to depict God in quite the way he does is to be gratuitously offensive; considering this is a series in which Joan of Arc is depicted as malicious and emphatically sexual, one person has a penis for a nose and continuously commits oral sex upon himself, Jesus is a brain-damaged black man (and the people who wouldn't be offended at the idea of a non lily white Jesus would probably twitch hard at the brain damage), and the antichrist not only runs what sounds like a particularly revolting version of HBO but is trying to prevent the end of days because he hates his father ... really, Ennis had to go some to achieve gratuitous offense after all that, and yet, somehow, he managed it. The issue is still interesting and generally well done, aside from the whole God thing, and the storyline (yes, there is one) hangs together. I'm really curious as to what happens in the last issue.
Dynamo 5 #5 (Jay Faerber/Mahmud Asrar; Image) ...Huh. Apparently, Captain Dynamo really was a spectacularly fertile and indiscriminate turboslut. I mean, spectacularly indiscriminate. (This, of course, assumes that his most recent apparent indiscretion was entirely voluntary, and tnot the result of him being drugged, and that he really did do what he appears to have done.) In the meantime, Maddie has been severely distracted, because of the other things happening around Captain Dynamo, and thus has been singularly unhelpful to the team she put together, thus resulting in them being placed into situations they just can't handle. At some point, I really should let this series drop to trade, but ... it probably won't be the next issue.
Welcome to Tranquility #8 (Gail Simone and various artists; Wildstorm): An interesting triptych of stories from the past, giving us origin stories for Thomasina (sort of), Zombie Zeke and the Emoticon. Thomasina's story is really touching, if not precisely sweet; Zeke's story is a tale of terror, somewhat in the "be careful what you wish for" vein; and the Emoticon's story is simply horrifying in all details, as it was meant to be. Presumably all of these characters have a role to play in the current story arc (beyond Thomasina's obvious role, that is), and their past is relevant, so that's why we're getting these stories now. I'm really curious to see what happens next. I love this series with a love that is pure, and I wish more people were reading it. I hope Simone was able to wangle some sort of long-term promise for this series when she took on Wonder Woman; maybe once a trade or two is out, it can build some readers.
Faker 1 of 6 (Mike Carey/Jock; Vertigo): An interesting setup, although it takes a while to get there. Some people seem to be both having all memory of their existence being wiped from records and from memories of people whom they didn't know intimately; at the same time, others seem to be getting assigned identies not their own. Before we get this information, however, we meet Jessie, who seduces and then blackmails her bioethics professor, pretty much just because she can; Kate, Jessie's friend and possibly roommate; Marky, rampaging bisexual (the sort of guy who gives bisexuals a bad name, really; careless with the feelings of the people he sleeps with, and I assume all this is going to be relevant at some point, because it's an amazing amount of detail to know about a supporting character so early); Yvonne, another of Jessie's roommates; Sack (ditto), who dislikes Marky for reasons yet unspecified; and Nick, who is apparently their "fucking mother superior". Something of an ethnic mix; Yvonne appears to be either black or Hispanic, and Kate is apparently black (one assumes that the afro-puffs are signifiers). It's ... interesting. Jock's artwork is highly stylized and sort of loose, yet works with the story. That said, I think I'm going to let this one drop to trade, at least; somehow, it just didn't grab me.
Earthlight, volume 2 (Stuart Moore/Christopher Schons; Tokyopop): In which everything set up in part one explodes spectacularly. Damon and Nikolai display a great deal of initiative and courage -- though, of course, it doesn't start out with either of them thinking that they're going to need to be brave, because they don't know about the takeover, or who's doing it, when they start out. Moore maintains the tension from the end of volume 1, and actually ratchets it up considerably. Schons' manga-style art works, without pushing to the extremes of the form, which I like, allowing that I'm not really the target audience for the book. The situation is resolved in a way that sets up the next book in the series, to which I'm looking forward. (That said, the setup itself is sort of a handwave moment. Without giving too much away, it would simply never be allowed to happen that way in real-ish life, for reasons that actually become apparent near the end of the story. Interpersonal relations on Earthlight would simply become too fraught to allow that situation to continue.) Handwave aside, it's a fun read that I think most people will enjoy, especially if they're into science fiction at all. Rated for teens, which seems reasonable; there's one bad word -- and only one -- but also a fair amount of violence and black and white blood, and some death as well.
Easy Way (Christopher Long/Andy Kuhn; IDW): Take a few ex-drug addicts in a state-sponsored halfway/rehab house. Add in a bit of desperation; Duncan, the main character, is about to lose his wife and child, who are going to go back to Utah to live with her parents because his wife is tired of his addictions and his continuing joblessness and irresponsibility, and can't afford to live where they are any more. Stir in a very bad idea, an idea so bad it sounds as though whoever came up with it must be on drugs themselves (and there's a reason for that): Duncan's roommate Raz proposes that they rob a big drug dealer, currently in jail, because he knows where the guy's stash is; all they have to do is take it and sell it and then get the hell outta Dodge and they'll make some money the easy way. The results of this idea play out over the next 100 pages. Christopher Long has a great writing style; he keeps you reading even as you turn a page and think, "Oh my god, these people are so STUPID! How can they think this is a good idea? I wonder what they screw up next..." Andy Kuhn's art is kinda sorta black and white, but with brown tones as highlights for most panels, and red occurring brightly, shockingly when blood gets spilt, which is kind of often after a certain point. Definitely not a book for the squeamish, but recommended for those who aren't.
Who wants to be a Superhero: And the winner is ... Feedback! (Stan Lee/Will Conrad; Dark Horse)
Appearing only almost a year after it was initially promised; apparently someone decided at some point that it would be good to issue this as part of the publicity blitz to begin the second season. I was somewhat surprised to see that this was both Dark Horse (which I knew) and written by Stan Lee (which I did not); I thought he was contractually bound at the brain to Marvel.
And I'm futzing around with unimportant detail because ... it's a peculiarly difficult issue to review, in a way. I mean, we know Matthew Atherton's story, what he shared on the show, and we know a lot of this comes from his personal background, and he seems to be a very nice, genuine guy.
But, lord, this comic is dreadful.
We first meet Feedback lying in the rain, having just been struck by That Fateful Lightning. His life then flashes before his (and, necessarily, our) eyes. And, OK, fine, in a one-shot, you're probably going to have to throw in the origin story. But the flashback structure is retained, even after we reach the point when the flashback clearly ends, which is both noticeable, unnecessary -- he's doing everything he's talking about; why do we need narration? -- and very awkward. Meeting the presumptive love of his life is so badly handled that it feels like one of the recent Marvel Romance parodies; the hackneyed sexist angle appears when he realizes that he needs a costume, doesn't know how to sew, and so calls this woman whom he has just barely met and asks if he can trade repairing her computer, which he's already agreed to do, for her sewing skills instead of money. What he may or may not have done to the villain at the end is rather shocking, especially his attitude toward it and especially given the view of him as a comparatively nice guy that we've had so far; it's entirely out of keeping with the rest of the issue. Conrad's artwork is good and does as well by the story as it possibly can. Unfortunately, I really can't recommend that anyone buy this issue, which makes me sort of sad.
Chronicles of Wormwood 5 of 6 (Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows; Avatar): Garth Ennis ... does not like religion. Garth Ennis really does not like religion. His depiction of God (no, really, GOD) in issue 5 could, I'm reasonably sure, have the more archconservative and militant of all the peoples of the Book -- Muslims, Christians and Jews -- considering ways of committing mayhem upon his person. And, quite honestly, the only reason to depict God in quite the way he does is to be gratuitously offensive; considering this is a series in which Joan of Arc is depicted as malicious and emphatically sexual, one person has a penis for a nose and continuously commits oral sex upon himself, Jesus is a brain-damaged black man (and the people who wouldn't be offended at the idea of a non lily white Jesus would probably twitch hard at the brain damage), and the antichrist not only runs what sounds like a particularly revolting version of HBO but is trying to prevent the end of days because he hates his father ... really, Ennis had to go some to achieve gratuitous offense after all that, and yet, somehow, he managed it. The issue is still interesting and generally well done, aside from the whole God thing, and the storyline (yes, there is one) hangs together. I'm really curious as to what happens in the last issue.
Purely a side note: odd that in two different media, the idea of the second coming has arisen, and in both, Jesus just ain't quite right. In Chronicles of Wormwood, he has trauma related brain damage, which grieves Wormwood mightily, since Jesus was his one real friend, and understood him in all his particulars. In HBO's John from Cincinnati, Jesus, if it be he, appears to be a moderately high functioning autistic who nonetheless not only doesn't use the bathroom, but doesn't quite even understand the concept, who seems to have decided on a particular constellation of a family and their associates to do ... well, we know not what at this point. However, the miracle granting parakeet, the floating surfer dad, and the bit where all metal implants spontaneously heat up when one person is told to "see God" are just ... odd. To put it mildly.
Dynamo 5 #5 (Jay Faerber/Mahmud Asrar; Image) ...Huh. Apparently, Captain Dynamo really was a spectacularly fertile and indiscriminate turboslut. I mean, spectacularly indiscriminate. (This, of course, assumes that his most recent apparent indiscretion was entirely voluntary, and tnot the result of him being drugged, and that he really did do what he appears to have done.) In the meantime, Maddie has been severely distracted, because of the other things happening around Captain Dynamo, and thus has been singularly unhelpful to the team she put together, thus resulting in them being placed into situations they just can't handle. At some point, I really should let this series drop to trade, but ... it probably won't be the next issue.
Welcome to Tranquility #8 (Gail Simone and various artists; Wildstorm): An interesting triptych of stories from the past, giving us origin stories for Thomasina (sort of), Zombie Zeke and the Emoticon. Thomasina's story is really touching, if not precisely sweet; Zeke's story is a tale of terror, somewhat in the "be careful what you wish for" vein; and the Emoticon's story is simply horrifying in all details, as it was meant to be. Presumably all of these characters have a role to play in the current story arc (beyond Thomasina's obvious role, that is), and their past is relevant, so that's why we're getting these stories now. I'm really curious to see what happens next. I love this series with a love that is pure, and I wish more people were reading it. I hope Simone was able to wangle some sort of long-term promise for this series when she took on Wonder Woman; maybe once a trade or two is out, it can build some readers.
Faker 1 of 6 (Mike Carey/Jock; Vertigo): An interesting setup, although it takes a while to get there. Some people seem to be both having all memory of their existence being wiped from records and from memories of people whom they didn't know intimately; at the same time, others seem to be getting assigned identies not their own. Before we get this information, however, we meet Jessie, who seduces and then blackmails her bioethics professor, pretty much just because she can; Kate, Jessie's friend and possibly roommate; Marky, rampaging bisexual (the sort of guy who gives bisexuals a bad name, really; careless with the feelings of the people he sleeps with, and I assume all this is going to be relevant at some point, because it's an amazing amount of detail to know about a supporting character so early); Yvonne, another of Jessie's roommates; Sack (ditto), who dislikes Marky for reasons yet unspecified; and Nick, who is apparently their "fucking mother superior". Something of an ethnic mix; Yvonne appears to be either black or Hispanic, and Kate is apparently black (one assumes that the afro-puffs are signifiers). It's ... interesting. Jock's artwork is highly stylized and sort of loose, yet works with the story. That said, I think I'm going to let this one drop to trade, at least; somehow, it just didn't grab me.
Earthlight, volume 2 (Stuart Moore/Christopher Schons; Tokyopop): In which everything set up in part one explodes spectacularly. Damon and Nikolai display a great deal of initiative and courage -- though, of course, it doesn't start out with either of them thinking that they're going to need to be brave, because they don't know about the takeover, or who's doing it, when they start out. Moore maintains the tension from the end of volume 1, and actually ratchets it up considerably. Schons' manga-style art works, without pushing to the extremes of the form, which I like, allowing that I'm not really the target audience for the book. The situation is resolved in a way that sets up the next book in the series, to which I'm looking forward. (That said, the setup itself is sort of a handwave moment. Without giving too much away, it would simply never be allowed to happen that way in real-ish life, for reasons that actually become apparent near the end of the story. Interpersonal relations on Earthlight would simply become too fraught to allow that situation to continue.) Handwave aside, it's a fun read that I think most people will enjoy, especially if they're into science fiction at all. Rated for teens, which seems reasonable; there's one bad word -- and only one -- but also a fair amount of violence and black and white blood, and some death as well.
Easy Way (Christopher Long/Andy Kuhn; IDW): Take a few ex-drug addicts in a state-sponsored halfway/rehab house. Add in a bit of desperation; Duncan, the main character, is about to lose his wife and child, who are going to go back to Utah to live with her parents because his wife is tired of his addictions and his continuing joblessness and irresponsibility, and can't afford to live where they are any more. Stir in a very bad idea, an idea so bad it sounds as though whoever came up with it must be on drugs themselves (and there's a reason for that): Duncan's roommate Raz proposes that they rob a big drug dealer, currently in jail, because he knows where the guy's stash is; all they have to do is take it and sell it and then get the hell outta Dodge and they'll make some money the easy way. The results of this idea play out over the next 100 pages. Christopher Long has a great writing style; he keeps you reading even as you turn a page and think, "Oh my god, these people are so STUPID! How can they think this is a good idea? I wonder what they screw up next..." Andy Kuhn's art is kinda sorta black and white, but with brown tones as highlights for most panels, and red occurring brightly, shockingly when blood gets spilt, which is kind of often after a certain point. Definitely not a book for the squeamish, but recommended for those who aren't.