Quick GN Reviews

Wolverine Legends, vol. 3: Law of the Jungle

by Frank Tieri, Sean Chen & Tom Palmer, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson

Collecting Wolverine #181-186, in which Wolverine gets involved with the mob. People die, and bad guys get their comeuppance. It's not a terribly deep plot, but Tieri makes it work well enough. This is almost a textbook example of modern decompression and writing for the trade; the story is stretched out longer than it needs to be, but reading it in one package makes it seem not so bad. The art by Chen & Palmer works well for the story, showing a few echoes of Romita Jr. The final collected issue, featuring Wolverine facing off in an issue-long throwdown with The Punisher, is meant to serve as a denouement but is just monotonous, and the art seems out of place, clashing with the rest of the book and not up to the usual high standards of the Dodsons.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




What's Michael, vol. 5: Michael's Favorite Spot

by Makoto Kobayashi

What's Michael often gets compared to the American comic strips Garfield and Heathcliff, but those are really poor comparisons. The only thing What's Michael has in common with those is that it features an orange-haired cat. So how is What's Michael different? For one thing, it's often funny, with much more regularity than the afforementioned strips. Kobayashi writes short stories (usually eight pages or so) in which a cat name Michael is either central or peripheral. Although the cats look the same and have the same name, they're different cats in different situations; in other words, there's no real continuity from story to story (so no need to start with volume 1--just pick one and dive in). Also, Kobayashi's art, while a bit cartoony, is very good. He especially does a good job at rendering cats which manage to show human-like expressions while still looking more or less like real cats. Never a deep experience, What's Michael nevertheless provides a quick dose of feline-related humor.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Canvas

by Alex Follows

Canvas is a typical alt-comic teenage girl having typical alt-comic teenage girl experiences, like meeting a kind of creepy guy at a party and going to a campground with her parents where she experiments with booze and sex. It's made slightly surreal by the fact that her parents are anthropomorphosized animals, but other than the fact of that oddity nothing is never made of it. That's fairly typical of this story as a whole: every time it threatens to get interesting, it backs away and returns to the clichéd path. A Xeric award winner, Follows shows some talent, but he needs to let go of the conventions and follow his instincts.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Quick Ultimate Reviews

Ultimate Spider-Man #68

by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley & Scott Hanna

Bendis is at his best when focusing on Peter & Mary Jane and their friends, and except for the cover there's nary a Spider-Man costume in sight in this issue. Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch, for those of you living in caves) has to finish a last semester of high school, so he comes to Peter's school in Queens. Lots of teenage angst, and lots of word balloons. If you like Bendis-logue, you'll like this.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Ultimate Fantastic Four #12

by Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger

After a couple of s-l-o-w moving issues, Ellis picks up the pace for the conclusion. The FF use a combination of smarts & fighting to take on Doom and his minions. Doom starts to get the better of them until, descending from the sky in their machines, the U.S. Army arrives to save the day. It's not really an ending so much as it's a stoppage of the action. Sure, the FF weren't going to defeat Doom and bring him to justice, but after six issues we deserve a little finality. One other thing that confuses me: is this Ultimate Doom not wearing armor, has his body been transformed into metal? Anyway, this is my last issue of Ultimate Fantastic Four; if I decide to continue following it, it'll be in the trades. I've got seven or eight months to make up my mind...

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Quick All-Ages GN Reviews

GoGirl! vol. 1: The Time Team

by Trina Robbins & Anne Timmons

Science geek girl Doc, cheerleader Heather, and teenage super-heroine Lindsay (aka GoGirl!) are accidentally transported back in time to the Cretaceous Era, where they have to overcome their differences and work together to stay safe from the rampaging dinosaurs and out of the clutches of alien zoo keepers. While lessons are learned and it threatens more than once to go off into sugary afterschool special territory, Robbins keeps the story under control and doesn't let it get too serious or self-important. It's hard to go wrong with aliens and dinosaurs! Timmons' art is breezy and moves the story and action forward; with no more than three panels per page it doesn't seem cramped in the small format. It makes for lighthearted, all-ages fun.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Emily & the Intergalactic Lemonade Stand

by Ian Smith & Tyson Smith

Emily is a ten-year-old girl with a lemonade stand. And a powerful robot who can juice lemons and instantly transport across interstellar distances. Life would be hunky-dory, except for rich neighbor girl Daisy who wants to put Emily out of business, and the approaching alien invasion force. It's a fun little book, highly reminiscent in story and art of what you might find on an original show on the Cartoon Network. The best part of the story is Pheef, the ultimate warrior of his people, who just happens to resemble a cute tiny pink Japanese toy, and his internal monologues. Pheef livens up the story and gives it an edge.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Previews-o-Rama part 1: The Front

It's time to go through the latest Previews to discover the good, the bad, and the strange.



Dark Horse



The first two Sin City collections are released in new editions, designed by Chip Kidd. Despite the expense, I'll be looking to get the whole set, so as to make a pretty line-up on my bookshelf.



I've been waiting for the trade on Conan and... I'm still waiting for the trade, as Dark Horse has decided to first collect the series in a hardcover. I'm just not big enough of a conan fan to justify the extra expense.



Peter Bagge has a mini, Apocalypse Nerd, which features his usual losers in a post-apocalyptic scenario.



There's a fifth issue of The Escapist.



The Goon gets a third collected edition.



There's a fourth volume of Samurai Executioner listed, but aren't they already running behind on this?



Shadow Star gets a sixth collection, though I've only read the first two so far...



There's a third Clone Wars Adventures, done in the style of the animated shorts. The first one was fun--better than the Clone Wars stories appearing in the regular comics.





DC Comics



The big item is the Bizarro World collection, where once again 'indy' creators take on DC super-heroes. There are some interesting names involved, including Roger Langridge, Eddie Campbell, Gilbert Hernandez, Derek Kirk Kim, Ben Dunn, and Andi Watson. But it's expensive, so I'm going ot have to think long and hard about this one...



There's a new Catwoman collection. Buy it, dammit.



Nightwing #101 starts "Nightwing: Year One," which looks like it will rewrite the actual Nightwing origin story from New Teen Titans. Why?



Jason Alexander does guest art chores on Gotham Central. Since Michael Lark is rumored to be leaving, maybe he'd make a good replacement?



Scott McCloud writes the Superman: Strength mini; I was excited at first, but the preview pages leave much to be desired. I dunno about this one...



Greg Rucka's first Adventures of Superman arc gets collected. It's been the best of the Superman titles lately, but that's not really saying much now, is it?



Marvel ex-pat Bob Harras writes a new DCU title, Breach; again, the preview pages hurt its chances with me.



Firestorm has Firehawk and Killer Frost, so maybe I'll stick around with this title a little longer.



Plastic Man hits issue #14--every new solicitation is a victory!



Green Arrow gets a new art team: Tom Fowler & Rodney Ramos.



Chaykin's Mighty Love gets a softcover.



In the 'because three people asked for it' department, Seven Soldiers of Victory gets an upscale archives edition. I suppose they're looking towards interest in Grant Morrison's upcoming series, but I still don't see much of a demand for this.



The Incal: The Epic Conspiracy has art by Mœbius, so get off your butts, fanboys, and give it a look.



All of the CMX manga get second volumes--Seeing as these are being released quarterly, wouldn't it make much more sense to stagger them?



Majestic gets yet another series, this time back in the Wildstorm universe but with Superman in tow.



Ex Machina gets an intitial collection, and keeps with DC's policy of offering the first volumes of trades for $9.95. At that price, everybody should get this.



Grant Morrison & Cam Stewart's Seaguy gets collected. This should be another no-brainer.



Speaking of Morrison, the year's best mini, We3, comes to a conclusion with issue #3.



Lots and lots of Hellblazer stuff. For DC's sake, Constantine had better be a smash hit, and even then translation to comic sales aren't guaranteed. Still, at least DC is prepared by having many collections available if demand does hit.





Image



Jim Mahfood's early stuff gets collected in Classic 40 Ounce.



A new anthology collection, Four-Letter Worlds looks to be good, with people like Chynna Clugston-Major, Steve Lieber, Scott Morse, Jeff Parker, J. Torres, Andi Watson, and the multi-talented Amber Benson.



Ovi Nedelcu's Pigtale looks like it could be interesting, because, y'know, talking pigs.



Invincible gets a fourth collection, which is good news for us wait-for-the-trade'ers.



Caliber Comics rises from the grave with a best of Negative Burn anthology. Getting the rights together for this must have taken a good bit of work.



After what seems like ages, Rising Stars finally comes to an end.





Marvel



Greg Land finally gets around to doing some interior work again with X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong. Gee, do you think there'll be a trade?



X-23? Who asked for that?



Combat Zone is subtitled: True Tales of GI's in Iraq. Now, is that 'true tales' as in the Jessica Lynch rescue? Shouldn't something like this wait oh, I dunno, at least ten years or so after the war is over? There's no way these tales can have any sense of perspective, and I imagine that this is just going to smack of exploitation.



Beta Ray Bill gets his own mini with Stormbreaker. It's written by Michael Avon Oeming and drawn by CrossGen ex-pat Andrea Di Vito, so it might be worth pickingup the inevitable trade.



Peter David is back writing Incredible Hulk! 'Nuff said.



And David gets his own Hulk Visionaries volume, featuring his early work with his good buddy Todd McFarlane.



Is The Pulse still bi-monthly? I thought is was going monthly after the first arc was over. Although I guess if Brent Anderson is also drawing Astro City at the same time, bi-monthly is all we can hope for out of him.



Is there really a market for a fifth Fantastic Four comic? (I guess they want to have enough stuff to collect for when the FF movie comes out next year.) And isn't Robert Kirkman strietching himself awfulyl thin these days?



Speaking of movies, lots of stuff available for the Elektra flick.



Peter Millgan comes on board X-Men. I'm sure this won't be at the same high level as X-Statix, but at least Sal Larroca will get a script that's worth of his talents.



Loki gets a hardcover collection, while District X gets a trade.



Marvel Age trades include a second Emma Frost collection and a first collection of Araña (from Amazing Fantasy).





That's it for part 1. Part 2 tomorrow (probably...)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

From issue #3 of Phil Foglio's 1991 Angel and the Ape mini, it's Sam vs. Gorilla Grodd in a story that not only tied in with the rest of the Gorilla DCU but also featured the Inferior Five. Phil Foglio is a frickin' genius—you are reading Girl Genius, right? Angel and the Ape may not be his best work, but the next time you're rummaging through a quarter bin, seek it out for some fun comics reading.

(Standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image is courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a full-sized version.

New This Week: November 3, 2004

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:



The pick of the week is the paperback collection of the second volume of Phil & Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius. It's gaslamp fantasy fun for the entire family, and in full color.



Running a close second--and only because it's already been out in bookstores--is the second volume of The Complete Peanuts from Fantagraphics.



From DC there's Fallen Angel #17; the first issues of The Intimates and Grant Morrison's JLA Classified; a hardcover of Jill Thompson's Little Endless Storybook; the collected edition of Road to Perdition 2; the first issue of The Question; and the fourth Tom Strong hardcover.



Marvel has the end of Joss Whedon's first arc on Astonishing X-Men (#6); the Marvel Age collection of Mary Jane; the latest Ultimate Spider-Man collection (vol. 11: Carnage); and the final issue of Avengers (#503).



Dark Horse has the first issue of the next BPRD series, The Dead; Image has the return (finally!) of Rising Stars (#22) and the second issue of Hawaiian Dick: The Last Resort; Arcana has the second issue of 100 Girls; Antarctic has the fourth Gold Diggers Perfect Memory.



Indy books of note include a Savage Henry one-shot from Aeon; Mike Allred's adaptation of the Book of Mormon, Golden Plates, from AAA Pop; another issue of Mark Oakley's wonderful Thieves & Kings (#45)--if you're looking for a replacement in your life for Bone, this is a good way to go!



Collections/GNs include No Dead Time from Oni; and Mister X vol. 1 from I Books.



Manga-wise, Tokyopop has Planetes vol. 4 pt. 1, new printings of the 2nd and 4th volumes of Paradise Kiss, and the first volume of Boys Be; Viz has the first volumes of Dolls and W Juliet; AD Vision has the third installments of Aria and Apocalypse Meow; Dark Horse has the fourth volume of Ring; Del Rey has the third volume of Tsubasa.



Again, there's something for just about everyone. So if you can't find something you like, you're not looking hard enough!

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Superboy has been turned into a giant ape! And he's attacking Clark Kent! How can this be?! I've never read Superboy #142, so I have no idea how writer E. Nelson Bridwell managed to take this cover by Curt Swan and George Klein and turn it into a story. Perhaps I'll never know...

(Standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies.)

Image is courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a full-sized version.