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OPTIC VERVE #3 2 Sept 02 | MATT MARTIN |
| Sequart.com Columns |
Punisher #14
It's all right; you can be honest with me. You read this book, don't you? And I'm willing to bet that you enjoy it ... I dig it myself.
There's very little at this point that I can say that hasn't been said about Ennis and The Punisher. It's a match that so completely made in Heaven that nothing but the sheer incompetence of Marvel's management, prior to the Quesada Era, could stand in its way. Ennis has a proven track record of successfully mixing over-the-top violence with over-the-top humor. Usually it's sick, violent humor, I might add. And no one draws graphic violence like Steve Dillon, except maybe Frank Quitely. To put it bluntly, you know exactly what you're getting when you cough up the three bones for a new issue of Ennis' Punisher.
So with all this in mind, we finally get the concluding issue of another arc of Ennis' version of Marvel's most famous (infamous?) vigilante, the ever-popular Frank Castle (well, ever-popular except when he's doing an ill-advised stint as a zombie-killing agent of God). Punisher is one of those books that doesn't ever seem to ship on time, so in the interim between issues, I tend to forget how much I enjoy it when I can get my hands on a new issue; this issue is no exception.
When we last left Castle at the beginning of the summer, he had been hired by a coalition of the East Coast mafia families to affect the safe return of Tommy Casino, a former don currently being held hostage by a South American cartel. Castle is persuaded to assist in this endeavor only by the simple fact that without the leadership of Casino, the families will soon degenerate into open warfare, an event that will undoubtedly result in loss of innocent lives, a point that hits all too close to home for him (as his family was killed in a botched mafia hit, if I'm not mistaken). So off he goes to the jungle primeval, mixing with the dregs of the Latin American crime world in an attempt to save the life of a known criminal.
Now, if we're being honest with each other here, I think we could all see where this was going to eventually end up. Why would Castle, of all people, ever agree to a job like this? It's not like he's just some mercenary whose hobby is killing criminals in his spare time; he's a dangerous psychopath whose sole reason for living is killing those self-same criminals. The answer's pretty obvious, when you stop and think about it, but it's revealed in a classic Punisher moment where it becomes crystal clear that Ennis has everything about this character nailed (and, admittedly, he's about as deep as a kiddie pool) down perfectly.
As I said before, it's Ennis' mix of straight violence with gallows humor that makes the book work so well. I won't even touch Punisher without his name in the credits and haven't done so since I was in junior high; even then, sparingly so. While the bits with Detective Soap have become quite tired quite some time ago, they're still vintage Ennis, so it's almost hard to complain about them. As always, Steve Dillon's storytelling skills depict the gratuitous violence in sickeningly beautiful fashion; his style is just so easy to follow.
At the end of the day, if you ask me if it's art, I'll obviously say "No." Ennis and Dillon's work on Punisher clearly isn't on par with their run on Hellblazer or even Preacher. But it's an entertaining read that, due to its erratic shipping schedule, doesn't wear out its welcome too quickly. As well, it never treads into the self-indulgent, faux-soul-searching that was so pervasive in the Punisher books of the '90s. Rather, Ennis and Dillon treat the book almost as a hyper-violent Looney Tune, a la Itchy and Scratchy. And that's just fine with me.
It isn't art, but it is fun, so what the hell; I give it: .
Catwoman #10
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Selina, fresh off two consecutive multi-part story arcs, takes a bit of downtime in this issue, but continues her role as the new guardian of Gotham City's citizenry. However, in contrast to Batman, who doesn't seem to frequent any particular area of the fictional city, Selina's alter ego prowls the rooftops in the neighborhood that she's all to familiar with: the down-trodden slums and seedy red-light districts. As well, the previous story arcs have when held together by that same sense of familiarity, as both of them have pivoted on the involvement of Selina's sort of extended family (of, in all fairness, prostitutes). This time, Ms. Kyle finds herself compelled to act when a friend is sentenced to Death Row, the specifics of which I won't spoil.
However, some commentary is necessary and well deserved. The previous two story arcs have done an excellent job of showing a steady progression to the titular character. In the opening story arc (discounting the Slam Bradley / Catwoman back-ups from Detective Comics), Selina was back in town, back from the "grave," and back in costume doing what she loves. She was a woman who had come to terms with a lot of issues and there's a real sense of fun and free-spiritedness in that arc. Despite the fact that there's a hooker-killing madman on the loose, the tone stays light-hearted and that's attributable to Selina's newfound lease on life. In the second arc, it's as though some time has passed and the nostalgic high has been worn a bit off the latex and leather ensemble. That story arc is considerably darker, dealing with deliberate murder and police corruption, returning to the film noir roots that the Slam Bradley back-ups seemed to promise, rather than the upbeat, animated-style hi-jinx that were featured in the opener. I've been a fan of Brubaker for quite some time now. I previously credited Brian Azzarello as being the writer whose work brought me back into the comics-reading fold. Ed Brubaker is one of the writers that ensured that I stay there and spend excessive amounts of money, as I found his work on Vertigo's Deadenders to be extremely under-rated. As well, he had previously turned out painfully honest work on A Complete Lowlife and his track record on Batman was solid, if not overly impressive. Catwoman, in my opinion, is a real watershed moment in Brubaker's career.
And at the risk of sounding cheesy and sentimental, this issue (as well as the book in general) just has a lot of heart to it. Batman and Bruce Wayne both appear to interact with Catwoman and Selina, respectively. In the end, there's a great moment where, after doing something illegal to aid her incarcerated friend, Batman materializes behind Catwoman to chastise her, saying something to the effect of "I thought we had an agreement." In the end though, he tells her that (and this is paraphrasing), "I don't want to fight you over this tonight." To which Selina replies, "Race me to City Hall?" After a moment of hesitation, Batman agrees and the closing panels of the book are of their silhouettes in flight and pursuit across Gotham's skyline. Cheesy? Maybe. But it shows, I think, that Brubaker has a genuinely firm grasp of what makes Catwoman tick, as well as her would-be foil, the Batman. It's made evident that she has strong feelings for both Batman and Bruce Wayne (point of interest: am I wrong in assuming that she still doesn't know that Bruce is Batman?); however, it's not played with the hopelessly lovesick girl angle.
I'm a big booster of this book, as I think it's genuinely unique and one of the few superhero books that DC publishes that actually works. I'm more than happy to give it: .
Fantastic Four #60
The Fantastic Four have always been one of my favorite super-teams, at least in theory. But like a stunning majority of Marvel's books, I never felt that it was executed properly enough to warrant my hard-earned dollars. To put it another way, I've always felt that the House of Ideas was full of classic characters, but the writing teams on their books usually made it more liable to be called the House of Bad Ideas. Waid puts the drought of sub-par writers on Marvel's first family to rest with a solid, if not overwhelming, debut.
I read some of Chris Claremont's run on this book at one point and was taken aback at how stiff all the characters seemed. When it was younger, The Human Torch was a big favorite of mine. And here he was, under Claremont's pen, either trying too hard to be funny or not being funny at all. And while Johnny's lack of personality was just a symptom of the greater sickness that Claremont was for this book, I'm happy to report that his more youthful (i.e., immature and childish) personality is back in swing. There are several laugh-out-loud-funny moments in this book, none of which feel forced or overly out of place within the broader structure of the story.
My sole complaint lies in the "rap scene," which bears little need for description. If you pick the book up, you can't miss it; it's the scene that sticks out like a sore thumb. While my legendary distaste for rap in general contributes considerably for how irritating I thought this scene was, the real problem is that it's just poorly written. I think it's the one instance in the book where Waid was just trying too damned hard to be cool and hip.
Overall, however, I think he's made a successful debut on the book. There are several self-referential moments where Waid's characters sort of break down the proverbial fourth wall, but they're done fairly discreetly. That is, if you don't know what they're not so subtly poking fun at, it won't disrupt the flow of the story. In the end, the final scene is the real key point of the book. Not only does Reed's one-sided conversation with his infant daughter illustrate that Waid understands exactly what it is that motivates Richards (for the record, it's guilt), but he manages to avoid what would've been a down ending by the funniest moment in the book, a one-panel gag featuring Johnny and Ben.
| Personally, I've got enough faith in it that I called Diamond today and increased our orders for the next two issues; I'm that sure that it's going to increase the readership of this title. |
A great take on some classic characters, with just the right dose of humor: .
Avengers #57
After the long and widely well-received run of Kurt Busiek (which, for the record, I was never all that impressed with), fan favorite Geoff Johns (primarily known for the excellent work he's producing on The Flash these days, but also of JSA and Hawkman fame) takes of the reins with a decent debut.
I remarked to a customer at the store this week that if I were an exec at either Marvel or DC and I were planning a relaunch for any Golden / Silver Age era character / team, Geoff Johns would make my top three list of prospective writers. His love for the time period shows in his work on Flash and JSA that evidently. However, his flair for the retro is sometimes a bit of a hindrance, leaving his dialogue sometimes stilted and his plots occasionally too predictable. This issue of Avengers is no different.
It's not so much that the story is truly bad; it's just not really that good. Johns deserves credit for assembling (no pun intended) a trimmed down line-up of the classic Avengers heavy-hitters and big names, sans Thor, whose obligations as the new King of Asgard have taken him out of the realms of mortal heroes. During the Busiek years, my claim that everyone in the Marvel Universe except the X-Men, Punisher and Daredevil was an Avenger at some point was put to the test, particularly during Busiek's final arc. Johns trims the fat considerably and leaves us with just the "real" Avengers; no "reserve" Avengers, except the non-Hank Pym Ant-Man, whose appearance in the book is the butt of a joke.
I hate to draw comparisons between Johns' Avengers and Waid's Fantastic Four already, but the fact that both are prominent revamps shipping in the same week makes it almost unavoidable. And this issue of Avengers just didn't grab hold of me the same way the Waid's FF did. It's hard for me to put my finger exactly on it, but it just feels like the book is lacking something...I think it's that this feels like the opening issue for every "epic Avengers" story arc I've ever read. Something mysterious and of global import happens and only Earth's Mightiest Heroes can save the day! It just feels like we've been here before, and that's because we have. To boot, the characters' voices sound too much like plot exposition not so cleverly concealed as dialogue, a throwback to the days of yore that Johns is so fond of.
So if Busiek's Avengers was too "same old thing" for you, it's unlikely that you'll be all that thrilled with Johns' debut. For myself, I imagine that I'll read this one in the store during parts of the day when business is slow, but I'm not sure that it's really worth keeping in my collection. Again, it's worth a read, but only if you're a die-hard Avengers fan. However, it's worth noting that this is the set-up issue and Johns' first; it's entirely possible that the following issues will be much, particularly if Johns finds his voice and that of the protagonists as well.
Not bad, just not as good as some of Marvel's other offerings this week: .
Y: The Last Man #s 1-2
Man, the Vertigo juggernaut just keeps on chugging these days. This should have become apparent by now, but for those who expected the close of Preacher or Transmetropolitan to sound the death knell for the line, let it be said that Fables, The Filth, 100 Bullets and Lucifer are all books of exceeding quality and originality. With the release of Brian K. Vaughn's Y, you can add another quality Vertigo title to that already distinguished list.
I'll admit, when I saw this book being solicited in Previews, I was nervous. Its premise just seems like it'd be so easy for a writer to take the easy way out on some issues and turn a book with promise into a waste of paper (see Vaughn's Swamp Thing, which was decidedly mediocre for most of its mercifully short run). Thankfully, as he has recently on Marvel's The Hood, Vaughn really shines. Write it down on your calendars now, people; this is the moment where a future industry star is born. Y is THAT good.
| Write it down on your calendars now, people; this is the moment where a future industry star is born. |
By way of showing you how good I think this book is, let me expose a dark secret of my own: I never read either Preacher or Sandman when it was on the shelf (though, to be honest, I wasn't reading comics at all for most of the run of both books). So when I read them both, I read them in trade paperback form in the span of about a week each. And it's a really nice experience, to just devour book after book, endlessly satisfying your need to see what happens next. Sure, there's less suspense and you lose the thrill of seeing the story serialized, but I think that's diminished by the feeling of getting a birds-eye view of the book's broader story. With that having been said, I absolutely hate that I'm reading Y as single issues. Not because the issues are bad, no, quite the contrary. I hate reading the issues because it means I have to wait an entire month before I get to find out what happens next.
I really can't go on about how good this book is and it's hard to summarize plot points without giving away too many details, but suffice it to say that any fan of truly good comics owes it to themselves to at least give the first two issues of this book a read. The statistics page in the first issue (you'll know it when you see it) is absolutely chilling, within the context of the story. I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't turn out to be my Book of 2002, when I do a "Year in Review" column.
Absolutely fantastic work from Vaughn, I can't recommend it highly enough to you: .
Things I bought and read this week, but either didn't have time or wasn't inclined to review:
Queen and Country #11: .
Finder #1-3: (I'll probably review this series in larger form, at a later date).
The Hood #4: 
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