Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Kiss Kiss Bang Stab

Title: Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Kiss Kiss Bang Stab

ISBN: 9781401262525
Price: $16.99
Publisher/Year: DC, 2015
Artist: Chad Hardin, John Timms, Stjepan Sejic, Joe Quinones, Ben Caldwell, Kelley Jones, Mauricet, Brandt Peters, Amanda Conner, Darwyn Cooke, Aaron Campbell, Thony Silas
Writer: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
Collects: Harley Quinn # 14-16, Harley Quinn Annual #1 Harley Quinn Holiday Special #1 Harley Quinn Valentine's Day Special #1

Rating: 3.5/5

Either Harley Quinn's getting funnier or, more likely, it was funny all along and I'm getting better attuned to its humor. After a rough first volume, I liked Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Kiss Kiss Bang Stab a lot, and in different ways than I did the second volume (probably closer to the authors' intentions). Harley isn't laugh-out-loud funny so much as the puns are occasionally happily groan-worthy, and in her misadventures there's a certain joy simply in watching Harley run around like a Looney Tune. That might not be my everyday fare, but set as it is in the DC Universe (and featuring a Batman appearance, this time), it's a refreshing change of pace.

Kiss Kiss Bang Stab collects just issues #14-16 of the main Harley series plus an annual and two specials. This would be a wholly disappointing number of regular-series issues for a series with a strong ongoing story (the New 52 Teen Titans series did this once), but for a book as random and episodic as Harley, it's no big deal. Writing team Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are present throughout, and the closing regular issues reference the annual and specials in such a way that it all feels of a piece; further the specials are arguably even better here than the regular issues.

There's a similarity across the Harley Quinn Annual #1, the Holiday Special, and the Valentine's Day Special, in which they all see Harley committing crimes or otherwise misbehaving (stealing parachutes, stealing money, secretly giving people puppies), generally in the interest of doing a good deed. This is the fun of Harley Quinn, that she and her tenant-friends in her Brooklyn apartment building are generally kind-hearted people, nice to one another, who do completely "nutbucket" things (as the book likes to say) in accomplishing their goals. Like Mark Waid's Impulse series of yore, there's no barrier between thought and action for Harley, and so she's the entertaining pure id that the reader might long to be but can't.

Ultimately, however, I liked the specials more than the regular issues, and it's precisely because of an extended sequence in issue #17 where Harley runs into a burning building, rescues the trapped occupants, and takes out a fiery supervillain called Tinderbox. There's "supervillains" in the other stories (including Dynamic Duo analogs the Mighty Carp and Sea Robin), but the issue #17 sequence seemed profoundly of superhero comics instead of being born from farce, and I found that less effective; that's not entirely what I'm looking for from Harley Quinn comics.

The Valentine's Day Special has a similarly incongruous moment. Harley brutalizes a billionaire to get the money to bid on a date with Bruce Wayne, which is plenty fun, and then also that Conner and Palmiotti have Bruce talk his way out of the Mighty Carp's kidnapping entirely peacefully (just before Harley bursts in guns a'blazing). But even as I acknowledge that realism and continuity are fluid concepts in the Harley-verse, I had trouble believing Bruce Wayne would actually take a date with Harley (a person one step removed from the Joker, mind you), and then the sequence where Batman semi-kindly scolds Harley seemed like a conversation Batman would have with Catwoman Selina Kyle, not Harley. Here again, what I like is Harley as goofy anti-villain, not necessarily Harley as true hero/anti-hero.

But it's all Conner and Palmiotti, and so it's hard to argue there's not a consistent vision for the character in this book. Rather, I think the whole book's Harley is purposefully inconsistent, as in a great set of pages in issue #16 where first, Harley-as-Dr. Quinzel comically dominates an old man obsessed with S&M, and then a page later, perfectly straight, Quinzel performs CPR on a dying woman, with serious and scientific narration boxes to match. One page after that, Harley daydreams about getting into bed with love interest Mason, only to be confronted by a ghastly Joker. That there are multiple personalities here is an understatement, but also clearly the writers have fun with Harley without making light of her, recognizing the character's issues and facets across many interpretations. (And further, two issues later the writers have wacky Harley again pitting a roomful of wannabe Harleys against one another in bloodthirsty battle.)

This might seem obvious, but a self-referential bit in the Valentine's special opened up the Harley title for me considerably. Just before a wonderfully cartoony Harley dream sequence by Ben Caldwell, Harley's talking stuffed beaver Bernie (yes) explains that this is the part of a Harley story where she has a dream and a guest artist illustrates it (giving the regular artist, Bernie slyly admits, fewer pages to finish). I've seen these hallucinations before, but in my
naivete I think I thought "this is just messing about" and not "this is a cool opportunity to see someone else's interpretation of Harley." Recognizing that allowed me to relax into the process more, and indeed there's plenty of great art in this book -- John Timm drawing an attractive "regular" Harley in the Valentine's special, Mauricet's cartoony Harley and Brandt Peters's chibi Harley in the holiday special, not to mention Darwyne Cooke.

It all adds up to a good Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Kiss Kiss Stab Bang, and I'd be more eager than I have been before to read the next volume. Despite my mild concerns about the regular issues, the new "Gang of Harleys" seems like a whole lot of fun (and mayhem) and I look forward to following them. Also the next collection seems to include eight regular Harley Quinn issues, which more than makes up for the shortfall here.

Justice League Volume 8: Darkseid War Part 2

Title: Justice League Volume 8: Darkseid War Part 2

ISBN: 9781401265397
Price: $16.99
Publisher/Year: DC, 2016
Artist: Jason Fabok
Writer: Geoff Johns
Collects: Justice League # 45-50 and Justice League: Darkseid War Special #1

Rating: 3.5/5

This volume contains all the big beats that are important to know if you’re reading the DC comics coming out each week. That includes Jessica Cruz becoming a Green Lantern, a major turn for Superman that lead to his death, and a reminder as to the last time we saw Grid. No doubt, Geoff Johns has big plans for whoever takes control of the malevolent artificial intelligence of Grid. There are also major developments involving Wonder Woman you shouldn’t miss either.

As the big climactic issue, you’re going to get all the punching and kicking that’s good for you too. That includes a slugfest with Mobius who certainly looks cool as he pushes the Justice League around. Most importantly, there’s a physical battle raging whilst an internal one takes place. The characters are emotionally invested in a variety of ways which only enhances the action.

Then there’s the art, by Jason Fabok and Francis Manapul, that’s out of this world good. The choreography is top notch and the detail impressive. Because the quality of their art is so high you get the sense that you’re reading a book that will never be put on the big screen due to its scope–it’d simply cost way too much money. Brad Anderson outdoes himself on colors as well, making even the most depressing crumbled city shot look bright and vivid.

Since so much happens for so many characters–Johns appears to be trying to manipulate the futures of many characters–there isn’t enough time spent specifically on every character to have it feel meaningful. Like a breadcrumb, Johns is showing us a new direction, but doing it so quickly it’s hard to feel its impact. There are a lot of characters being juggled in this volume and thus it’s hard to get invested into one character’s story with so much cutting going on.

Flashpoint

Title: Flashpoint

ISBN: 9781401233389
Price: $16.99
Publisher/Year: DC, 2011
Artist: Andy Kubert
Writer: Geoff Johns
Collects: Flashpoint # 1-5

Rating: 3.5/5

The DC Universe has restarted before, with a bang. With Flashpoint, the DC Universe begins again not with a whimper, but with a whisper. Flashpoint places an astounding focus on interaction rather than action; it is perhaps the most accessible of all the great DC Comics events, one that may disappoint long-time fans even as it has the best chance of standing the test of time for new ones.

By the end of the first issue of writer Geoff Johns's Infinite Crisis, we'd already seen Bizarro beat the Human Bomb to death; the number of deaths and decapitations would only rise before the story ended. The body count rose equally quickly in Johns's Blackest Night. Each of these stories were two-to-three issues longer than Flashpoint, and yet I believe those books had really started by the second issue (the Indio Tribe whisking away Green Lantern in Blackest Night, for instance). In contrast, Flash Barry Allen is powerless until the third issue of Flashpoint and spends most of those three issues in the Batcave talking to Batman -- almost half the miniseries -- and ultimately only engages in one or two action sequences in the entire book.

That's not wrong, necessarily, but to be sure it singles out Flashpoint as something else -- a different kind of event miniseries than Geoff Johns has delivered before.

Flashpoint does present the first appearance of the DC New 52 costumes (and some characters), but the new continuity is not its focus. Whereas in DC's ultimate continuity-shattering tale, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Golden Age Superman Kal-L famously wakes up in a world that no longer remembers him, Barry Allen never explicitly understands that the "real" world has changed (things are the same, Barry says, with a fourth wall-breaking glance at the camera, "as far as I can tell"). In this way -- and perhaps because Flashpoint's role in the DC New 52 relaunch was decided after the story's original conception -- Flashpoint is not about continuity-cleaning in the way the other events are. Flashpoint has that as its result, but not as its focus.

Instead, Flashpoint examines one of the central conceits of the DC Universe, that the death of a parent might inspire a child, perhaps obsessively, to a lifetime trying to make up for that loss. Batman is the best example of this in DC Comics, of course, and Flashpoint is very much about Batman even if Bruce Wayne only appears in a handful of pages. Superman is another, the consummate orphan even if, depending on your continuity, he never much knew his Kryptonian parents.

And under Geoff Johns's pen specifically, over the past five years or so, we've seen Superman lose his father Jonathan Kent, Green Lantern Hal Jordan's origin revised so his father died in Hal's childhood, and then Flash Barry Allen's origin revised so his father went to jail for the murder of his mother (and this is aside from Johns's creation Stargirl who dealt with her father's abandonment). It got to be repetitive, frankly, and possibly Johns knew it.

Barry Allen takes a Parallax-like turn in Flashpoint, only worse. The shocking revelation in issue five is that the alternate Flashpoint reality stems not from the villainous Reverse Flash, but from Barry himself having ventured to the past to prevent Zoom from murdering his mother, thus mucking up history but good. Barry's depression over his mother's death -- for which he's been so uncharacteristically distraught that the Flash family staged an intervention in Flash: Road to Flashpoint -- has him so unhinged that he broke superhero rule #1 and messed with time. In the context of Flashpoint, at least, Johns offers no excuses or mitigation for Barry's act -- Barry knew what he was doing was wrong, thought he could get away with it, and nearly destroyed reality instead (with consequences he himself can't perceive).

Johns suggests that this is the end of "parent's death as inspiration for heroism" in the DC Universe. Barry's sorrow over his mother's death has reached outlandish heights, culminating in Flashpoint. Hardly, we know, would Barry's parents want him to torture himself to this extent in their memory -- and if Barry's familial reason for heroism dissipates as he realizes the error of his ways, then so too do some of the others start to thin. Childhood trauma has long since stopped being an effective excuse for Bruce Wayne's nocturnal activities, and when Barry delivers a time-tossed letter from Bruce's father, and Bruce cries and thanks Barry, the reader gets a sense of something ending. These are grown men, unknowingly entering a new universe supposedly more "modern" than the one they just left, and Flashpoint brings a sweet, gentle end to childish things.

There are no absolutes in comics, of course, and even as I write these lines, I have no expectation that this is the last time we'll ever see Batman kneel before the graves of his parents and swear vengeance for their deaths. I was surprised, however, that Johns even kept Barry's mother's death "in continuity," so to speak; I imagine it might be a while before we see Johns visit that particular well again.

As Blackest Night re-established for modern audiences the friendship between Green Lantern and the Flash, Flashpoint does the same for Flash and Batman. This has so far been a juggling act on Johns's part -- Batman missing the Flash at the end of Justice League: The Lightning Saga is one of my favorite comics moments, but for the majority of the time since Flash Barry Allen has been resurrected, Batman Bruce Wayne has been presumed dead. When Barry tells the Flashpoint Batman that Bruce was one of his closest friends, we believe it to be true but in fact we've yet to see Barry and Bruce have a substantial conversation in any comic since Barry's return.

Flashpoint is essentially proof of its own hypothesis; the six-page conversation that Barry and Bruce have in the end is their first, really, and ties up a hanging thread from Johns's Flash stories. It is not the only thread that needed tying, but it does bring to a satisfactory close one aspect of the pre-Flashpoint Flash storyline.

Johns does not present Cyborg very strongly in Flashpoint -- Johns's Cyborg Victor Stone comports himself well, but he's far from the dynamic breakout star of Flashpoint that Mera was in Blackest Night, and also Cyborg simply disappears with no closing arc at the end of the book -- but I thought Johns's use of Barry Allen here with Vic offered a unique opportunity. Had the Flash in the book been Wally West, his relationship with Vic would be more emotional, like Barry and Bruce; had it been Superman, his relationship with Vic would be more paternal, like hero and sidekick. Barry remarks on Cyborg's increased armor, but otherwise accepts him for who he is; there's no diminutive applied to Cyborg, but rather he's simply a hero.

This is a rare moment for Cyborg -- better, perhaps, than in the New 52, when Cyborg may be a Justice Leaguer but Superman will be back to being Superman. In a rare pointed moment, one of Johns's S.H.A.Z.A.M. kids (the real breakout stars of the book) notes that "perception is reality," and it couldn't be truer here. Cyborg's role with the Justice League may be retroactive continuity, but it's important; more so is seeing Cyborg here, if only for a moment, as the preeminent hero of some DC Universe.

Andy Kubert's art helps Flashpoint's slower moments, to be sure. His crowd scenes are no slouch, but the real power is in his close-ups, whether it's a young Barry Allen on the first pages, the gathered Flashpoint heroes on the Gotham rooftops, or Bruce Wayne with tears in his eyes at the end. It's a rare treat to have a DC Comics mega-event drawn just by one artist throughout; I very much wish DC would leave the covers for the end and let a book like this read like a graphic novel. I'm looking forward to Kubert's guest-stint on Action Comics coming up (though only one issue, sadly); it seems to me that Kubert's art in Flashpoint is slightly stronger in the early issues with inker Sandra Hope than it is later in the book (and the most important reality-warping page, in issue five, looks unfortunately quite hurried), but I'm happy to see him on other titles either way.

At the end of the DC Universe as we know it, a reader expecting Crisis on Infinite Earths will be sorely disappointed. There's not much here, either, for a reader who wants the white-knuckle action of Blackest Night; Flashpoint is closest, in terms of its self-containment, to Final Crisis, but Flashpoint is minuscule next to Final Crisis's scope. Flashpoint is instead exactly what we heard it was from the beginning but perhaps didn't quite believe: a Flash story bigger than some but much smaller than others, which mostly focuses on Flash and Batman. Despite that Flashpoint may not have some of the "wow factor" of any of DC Comic's other event stories, it wins in one crucial area -- accessibility.

Flashpoint is perhaps the most accessible event story DC has ever produced, the one I'm most sure I could give to a new reader and they'd understand it. For a long-time reader, it may feel somewhat unsatisfactory in the end -- what, no red skies? -- but at the dawn of a new DC Universe, maybe this very simple book is exactly what we need to start off a new day.

My Dilemma

I have been collecting comic books for over 30 years now. I have a sizable collection that I cherish, but I just don't feel the same about getting new books as I have in years past.

I don't typically read individual issues of a comic any more, preferring to instead read a trade paperback and get a better read. Collecting individual issues has become more of a rote than a passion. Years ago, I would be thrilled to be adding issues to my collection. Now, I find the task laborious and tedious.

When I go to comic cons, I still enjoy being able to go to writers and artists to get my books signed. Do I really need to continue collecting the latest issues of titles that I'm interested in, but will never take time to actually read? There are only a handful of titles that I really would like to keep current on, for whatever reason that I can't explain. Thinking of them specifically, it may be a sense of nostalgia because they take me back to my childhood. Series like G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Star Wars still have my interest and call to me, whereas my passion for collecting Lady Death has seriously diminished.

I can remember when my love of Lady Death began to wain. When LD started taking-off under Avatar Press/Boundless Comics, for every regular issue, there would be 3 variant covers. As a completionist, a some may call my collecting habits a bit manic, I had to get as many of them as humanly possible. For every # in the different series, I would be purchasing 4 different covers from my LCS on my subscription. There would be times where additional variant covers would be published, and I would buy them as well. These additional covers were limited and so carried a higher price tag.

At the time, it really didn't matter that much to me because I felt like I need to have them to keep my collection in tact. When I couldn't get the variants at my LCS, I would have to turn to online sources to get them. There were so many it felt like I was living through the 90's again with all the various special covers that were published. Examples such as:


When they finally stopped publishing Lady Death for a time, there was a part of me that was relieved. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and I could again breath easy. But now, every time a new title comes-out, it seems like publishers flood collectors with a series of variant covers again. On Comic Collector Live, there are 121 individual entries for Star Wars #1 from Marvel Comics! That's insanity!

I admit that money also plays a role in this dilemma, as if I purchase less comic books for my ever-growing collection, I will be able to use that money for other purposes such as paying bills, expanding/continuing my fundraising activities with Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer, growing my collection of Funko Pops, etc.

I don't even know every title that I have on my subscription list. I just pick-up the comics as I can, enter them into my database and add them to the collection. I know that at least 1 of the titles that I get is being published twice a month! ACK!

As I mentioned before, there are some titles that I think I will continue to collect for pure nostalgia of it. I feel like I need to let go of several titles from my list. I don't want to give-up comics altogether, and I will NEVER stop collecting, reading and reviewing trades and graphic novels, but I know I need to step back and take an introspective look at what's on my list versus what I actually want to continue receiving.

I'm not going to say that this is the biggest decision of my life, but it does feel like a huge change for me.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Writing this post has been quite cathartic and it feels like a lot of what has been weighing me down recently is now lifted.

On that note, I think I will also provide those of you who actually read my blog through to the end a little update as to what my continued plans are for this blog.

I know that I have been remiss of my duties of producing a regular series of reviews, and for that I apologize. I haven't been reading as much as I would like, and I actually don't have a large stack of trades that need reviewed as I normally have had in the past. I will be devoting some time this week to writing, as I have decided to take some time to myself from work. I hope to have some reviews scheduled for at least the next month or 2 by the end of the coming week.

As those of you who also follow my non-profit, Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer, I have been actively working to get attending artists for this years Rose City Comic Con to donate a cover at the event. I'm proud to say that we have already lined-up 4 new artists who will be contributing to our cause: Katie Cook, Chip Zdarsky, Jim Mahfood and Valentine De Landro. I have reached-out to many others, and will continue to provide updates on our Facebook page.

I'm also proud to announce that we will again be receiving a generous donation of 10 grading services from CBCS at RCCC. The last time we joined forces, the bids for the covers were incredible. I can't wait to see what will come from this years donations. Here's what we received last time:


So excited for September!

Cable Vol 4: Stranded

Title: Cable Vol 4: Stranded

ISBN: 9780785141679
Price: $14.99
Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2010
Artist: Paul Gulacy, Gabriel Guzman, Mariano Taibo
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Collects: Cable # 16-20

Rating: 3/5

The son of X-Man Scott Summers and a clone of Jean Grey, Nathan Christopher Summers was infected with a techno-organic virus as a baby. He was only saved by being sent through time, subsequently spending his formative years in the far future where he became an unlikely and largely unwilling savior of assorted humankinds against mutant overlord Apocalypse and his vile minions such as the clone-warrior Stryfe.

Afflicted with a stubborn certainty that he always knew best – probably due to his hard-earned foreknowledge and weary experience of how bad the days to come would be – Nathan evolved into time-travelling super-soldier Cable and gradually inserted himself into the lives of key figures in mutant history: figures such as Professor Charles Xavier and his own father Cyclops – the Moses and King David of mutant-kind…

Using his phenomenal psionic abilities to hold at bay the incurable, progressive condition inexorably consuming his flesh and only held in check by the victim’s indomitable force of will, the mysterious grizzled veteran slowly began interacting with and reshaping the past…

Hope Spalding-Summers was the first Homo Superior born on Earth after M-Day, when the temporarily insane mutant Avenger Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping powers to eradicate almost all fellow members of her terrifying sub-species from existence.

Considered by many to be some sort of mutant messiah, the newborn girl was “appropriated” by militant warrior Cable – no stranger to the role of Sole Saviour – who raised her in the furious future, training her in all manner of lethal survival skills before she inevitably found her way back to the present where she was adopted by X-Men supremo Scott Summers AKA Cyclops.

Hers was a horrifically memorable childhood as this slim, satisfying collection (gathering issues #16-20 of the monthly Cable comic book from July-November 2009) will surely attest…

From the start Hope had implacable foes hunting her. The most resourceful was another time-tossed former X-Man, Lucas Bishop, who was convinced the child would cause the diabolically dystopian alternate reality he originated in. To prevent such horror ever occurring, Bishop determined to kill her before she could become a mutant anti-Christ and not even Cable’s frequent temporal relocations would deter him…

With the entire time-busting saga scripted by Duane Swierczynski, the action here begins with the 2-part ‘Too Late for Tears’ – illustrated by legendary comics icon Paul Gulacy – as Cable and nine-year-old Hope prepare to again jump into the safely camouflaging corridors of chronality after a particularly contentious battle.

However, the increasingly rebellious girl strikes out at her protector during a fateful moment and the time-shift goes wrong…

Hope materializes in the same post-apocalyptic location but two years earlier in time and, with no further information to go on, endeavors to make herself secure until Cable finds her. Stuck in her future, Cable patiently waits for her to “catch up” but his techno-viral contagion flares up and threatens to end his appalling life before she gets then…

And 127 years prior to Cable’s latest crisis Bishop activates his own time-machine and remorselessly continues his pursuit of Hope…

Stuck, but not without resources, the girl explores a dying Earth where only two warring cities are still inhabited. Soon she is approached by a young boy named Emil who is instantly smitten by the lethally self-sufficient waif…

Just as Cable forces back his latest bout of all-consuming transmogrification by invasive code, Bishop arrives and a deadly destructive but ultimately inconclusive battle breaks out. The follower’s plan is obsessively simple: as soon as he sees Hope he will end her by detonating a nuclear device inside his body.

But she isn’t with Cable any longer…

In another era, Emil has gradually broken Hope’s wall of distrust but, just as she feels she can finally relax, the girl discovers that the revered spiritual head of the boy’s band of survivors is her very familiar foe. The “Arch-Bishop” has been so patiently waiting for his time-bending bête-noir to resurface…

The seemingly benevolent holy man has no problems wiping out his entire flock to finish her for good but Hope perpetually avoids him and Bishop just can’t trigger the nuke until he’s absolutely certain.

And two long years later, Cable moves into one of the two cities, makings plans, winning allies and waiting, waiting, waiting…

When at last 11-year old Hope is reunited with Cable, it’s as both cities are on the verge of mutual destruction and the mutant has no time for her protests. He has spent his time constructing a working space ship and after forcibly dragging his furious charge aboard takes off for the safety of space leaving a heartbroken Emil behind. Happily for the lovesick lad the wonderful Archbishop can also construct star-craft. Very soon they will all be reunited…

Artists Gabriel Guzman & Mariano Taibo take over for the eerie alien encounter ‘Brood’ beginning with ‘Bishop Takes Pawn’ wherein Bishop and Emil lead their people into a final battle with Cable’s ship and crew on the edges of the solar system. Thankfully the boy finds Hope before the mutant hunter does and she convinces her long-lost paramour of the deranged cleric’s true intentions before falling to Bishop’s murderous rage.

With nuclear obliteration seconds away events overtake all the manic participants as both ships – locked together in the vacuum of deep space – are invaded by creatures even more ferociously dangerous…

The Brood are ghastly alien parasites and rapacious intelligent body-stealers who lay eggs in hosts and use the victims’ genetic material to augment their unborn generations. For uncounted centuries they have greedily hungered for the exceptional advantages gained by infecting mutants and metahumans…

In ‘Queen Takes Bishop’ the disgusting matriarch of the invading beasts specifically targets Hope as her overwhelming spawn decimate the last remnants of humanity aboard both ships. However, the little lass has met Brood before and knows just how to deal with them. Elsewhere Bishop and Cable also manage to survive the appalling assault, both obsessed with finding Hope for their drastically opposing reasons…

As an entire space fleet of the noxious beasts zero in on the last humans alive, Bishop utterly succumbs to his obsession by allying himself with the Brood Queen to ensure the final fate of Hope, but has completely underestimated the child’s resiliency, Cable’s compulsive dutiful determination, and the unmatchable power of young love in the blazing conclusion ‘Checkmate’…

Time-travel tales often disappoint and frequently make people’s heads hurt, but this bombastic romp (augmented by covers and variants by Dave Wilkins & Rob Liefeld) manages to always stick to the point, offering sly tributes – and some not so much – to Les Miserables and Alien whilst following the pain-wracked consumption of Cable by of his own non-fleshly invaders through a clever and poignant Fights ‘n’ Tights sci fi horror drama that will impress and delight older fans of the genre(s).

G.I. Joe Volume 1: The Fall of G.I. Joe

Title: G.I. Joe Volume 1: The Fall of G.I. Joe

ISBN: 9781631402203
Price: $17.99
Publisher/Year: IDW, 2015
Artist: Steve Kurth
Writer: Karen Traviss
Collects: G.I. Joe Vol 4 # 1-4

Rating: 3/5

G.I. Joe has won the war against Cobra, or so some would have you believe. Cobra has apparently given up the fight, and suddenly transitioned to a global peacekeeping force, set to rival the United Nations. In the aftermath of apparent victory, the Joe’s political enemies come out of the woodwork, along with a laundry list of covert agencies looking to siphon off the Joe’s resources, and claim their top operators for themselves. The team is in for a new kind of fight, one that takes place in the shadowed halls of the power brokers and puppet masters, not on the war-torn battlefields that they are used to. All the while, Cobra bides its time, plotting and waiting to strike at the perfect moment… The moment that will bring about the fall of G.I. JOE!

As a fan of both the original toy line, and of the Marvel comics series (mainly due to the writing by Larry Hama), I originally approached IDW’s version of G.I. Joe with a bit of trepidation, not knowing what to expect. After reviewing the first issue of this series, I came away more than satisfied with the adaptation, hoping that the tone of the initial issue would be carried throughout the rest of the series. After reading this collection, I have to report that, not only does it replicate the feel of the first issue, it builds upon it. The story by Karen Traviss is light on explosions, firefights, and battlefield action; it instead takes place in the shadows, with double agents and betrayals galore, portraying a Joe team fighting not only the obvious enemies, but politicians and covert agencies seeking to disband the unit.

While there are many familiar faces included in the story (Scarlett, Duke, and Roadblock being a few), the story chooses to travel a different path, one that focuses on behind-the-scenes dealings, and on entities that have their own shadowy agendas, rather than straightforward action. Despite having a number of parallel ongoing subplots, the flow of the story is never overwhelmingly convoluted, and the motivations of the various players are readily determined. This is a good portrayal of covert, black-bag ops, with the emphasis on covert. The Joe’s resident ninja would have a field day with this type of stuff, but unfortunately (from a long term fan’s perspective), Snake-Eyes is nowhere to be found. Oh well, the story is well-crafted and highly entertaining, even without his presence. Good stuff, indeed.

Steve Kurth’s style of art is a rather sketchy, roughed-in approach, which works both in the full color panels of the release, and in the black and white pieces that exist in the introduction to the collection. When working with close-up shots, Kurth’s line work definitely defines his character’s outer form, and then becomes more subtle with strokes that mold the character’s overall appearance and the play of light and shadow over the figure. Drawing back into more widescreen panels, he allows the dialogue to differentiate the various characters, dropping his detail and focusing on dynamic movement. While there is a dearth of true action sequences, his depictions of the few that are contained within the release are dynamic, free-flowing, and cleanly rendered. His panel composition moves the story along, at a goodly pace, and the reader is never left confused by a sudden misplaced panel. His character composition and sense of motion are both strongpoints, and highly contribute to the success of this book.

The cover art by Jeffrey Veregge is another key component to the overall appeal of the collection. When it comes down to it, a cover artist is tasked with coming up with a concept that not only draws the potential reader’s eye, but boils down the appeal of the release into a nutshell. The first thing a new reader is drawn to is the cover art, and this is a make-or-break moment, one that defines the art of selling the overall package to a potential new fan. Veregge’s clean line work, bold character design, and retro art deco style accomplishes this perfectly. Simple yet ornately designed, his cover art never fails to impress.

All in all, this is a rather superb, utterly satisfying release. It represents my first opportunity to check up on an ongoing series, after reviewing the first issue, and I’m more than pleased with the progression of the storyline. Containing an intricate, well-thought-out plot, well-crafted interior illustrations, and eye-catching cover art, this collection is an all-around win. With more double agents and double crosses than you can shake a stick at, fans of spies and covert action teams should seriously be taking a look at this series… Seriously! Happy reading, all!

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural

Title: Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural

ISBN: 9780785144090
Price: $16.99
Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2009
Artist: Jefte Palo, Gabriel Hardman, Alessandro Vitti, Alex Massacci, Gene Colan, Geof Isherwood, Mickey Ritter
Writer: Rick Remender, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Doug Moench, R.J.M. Lofficer
Collects: Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural # 1-5, Doctor Voodoo: The Origin of Jericho Drumm, The Book of the Vishanti: The Mark of the Vodu

Rating: 3/5

Stephen Strange held the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme for a very long time, so long that it was probably quite discouraging to young magicians in the Marvel universe. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them looked up at that glass ceiling and promptly opened a rift into the Vertigo dimension, where they could be free to climb higher and higher up the ropes of employment, cursing and having dangerous sex as they did. So for Jericho Drumm, the man known as Brother Voodoo, to assume that office after Strange's fall from grace, it couldn't be easy. It's like Truman's first week in the White House, tripping over all those wheelchair ramps. Luckily for Voodoo, he had a couple of things going for him. The help of the outgoing Nikola Tesla Stephen Strange, the wispy remnants of his twin brother Daniel who speaks only in blue, and a fine creative team in Rick Remender, Jefte Palo, and Gabriel Hardman.  But then again, maybe the creative team didn't make it so easy for him.

Rick Remender is really sort of a bastard. In the opening pages of this volume, he pits Voodoo against the nefarious Dormammu, handing the good Doctor an early and impressive victory over one of Marvel's gnarliest villains. But at the conclusion of that first issue Voodoo's dealt the hand of Doom. Little Green Riding Hood takes him on a cosmic level Tom & Jerry marathon through the nether realms in pursuit of the articles of the Sorcerer Supreme. Without getting too specific, all hell kind of breaks loose. Or a good enough portion of it to keep Doctor Voodoo scrambling for a way out in the first few days of the job. Walking away from encounters with Dormammu and Doom in one issue? It's only the start of an incredibly ambitious storyline. 

What I love about Marvel's magic universe, it's arcane frontier, is the same thing I revel in with their cosmic offerings. Every word balloon's a party bag of possibilities. Forget hoary hosts of Hoggoth. How about 'psychlodermic mindphibians'? As with his Frankencastle tenure on The Punisher, Remender serves up some truly trippy concepts. His reverence for the Marvel monsters is clear, but he's also done his homework on voodoo culture and lore. In his introduction to the collection, Roy Thomas talks about creator Len Wein's initial reluctance about constructing an ongoing series around voodoo magic, concerned that there wouldn't be enough material to draw upon. Remender shows the texture of this culture, of the loas and the greater mythology. He also shows how Stephen Strange's brand of magic isn't the only way to operate in the Marvel U. That there are other demons and other planes and other approaches to this office of Sorcerer Supreme. There is a point where Voodoo is chided for his audacity, and I think that's part of what we love about what Remender's been doing at Marvel. I'll admit to being among the fans who was disappointed when he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, thinking that company work might be a waste of his creative ferocity. That's hardly been the case. Creativity isn't about making something of nothing, but taking what you have and making something great. Remender has adopted the Marvel monsters and done some pretty compelling things with them. At first it seems that he's treating them with absolute abandon. But it turns out that pushing them to their limits and beyond is actually the best way of respecting them.

I was incredibly saddened to learn of the series' cancellation, and I have no grasp as to whether this five issue story is everything it was meant to be. If it's the organic end to a chapter or if that final issue was adjusted for truncation. Either way, this often feels like a tremendous six or seven issue story trapped within five. Those final issues tell of a large scale battle involving the entire magical community, I won't spoil the extended cameos here, but there are some real crowd pleasers. It doesn't fully gel, so for a lot of readers, this might seem like abstract magical concept after abstract magical concept. It's really difficult to make solutions seem concrete when they're anything but, and that's the tragic flaw for many stories of this kind.

Jefte Palo can draw a terrific shrunken head, and he's incredibly well-suited to capturing dire nightmares. His style is a little sketchy, but that's perfect for all these hellscapes and magician's parlors, all those faces twisted in agony. Doctor Voodoo himself is almost constantly dour, a very serious man with an impossible burden. Most importantly, Palo is dynamic. These aren't just wizards pointing wands at each other. This magic hurts. And it moves. The equally talented Gabriel Hardman steps in for sepia-toned flashback sequences that tell of Drumm's childhood and his curse. It's pure pulp, and the old man who puts a hex on the boy is one of the scariest character I've seen in a mainstream comic. Real Universal horror. There are a lot of books out there with characters three times as popular as Voodoo, and they don't look nearly as good. This was a labor of love and the look is 100% first class.

This isn't a book for every reader. It will assume you know the intricacies of Marvel magic or, more likely, that you're willing to live with a little ignorance and proceed into the dark. Which, you know, if fun sometimes. It certainly prodded at my imagination. If you're hungry for magic. If you love a little Doom. If you like more than a little audacity in your comics, it's definitely worth a peek.