"Hyper-condensed, one of those barely sensical, this-is-why-comics-exist books. Great subtle use of Marvel continuity, too."
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"No Punisher so far. But calling this book "Hammer Time" would be even punnier."
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bookshelves: comics, marvel, teenagers
Built around the destructive Ultimatum tentpole, Brian Michael Bendis' latest storyline revolves around Peter Parker's freaked-out reaction to the damage done to New York. Meanwhile, his friends and aunt once more reassess what it means to have a superhero teenager in their life. As always on the book, the quieter character moments shine, but this collection isn't quite as good as past stories. The lead story is a bit careless with both the introduction of Ultimate Mysterio and the latest heart-to-heart between Peter and Mary Jane--their intimate conversation is unnecessarily disjointed. (I'm also not keen on new artist David Lafuente, who seems like a step down from Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen.)
The actual Ultimatum tie-in is much more palatable than the real series. May, Mary Jane, and Kitty all get nice moments to show their love for Peter. Spider-Man's fight with Hulk breaks up the otherwise-monotonous rescuing survivors action. The book ends with a red herring, though the mostly-silent last issue is fairly powerful, certainly moreso than Bendis' old Nuff Said stunt. ]]>
bookshelves: comics, marvel
This book succeeded in destroying the Ultimate Universe. It'll also be pointed to as the one in-continuity crossover that actually delivered in killing off a slew of important characters. In sum, it's atrocious.
Marvel's Ultimate line has been stagnant for a while. Perhaps that's what happens when a set of books whose selling point is "no history!" turns 9. There's confusing backstory where there used to be clean archetypes to re-envision. So Jeph Loeb cleans away the mess by killing almost everyone. Ugh.
It'd be one thing if the cleansing destruction at least came with stirring or iconic deaths, but no. There's cannibalism, snapped necks and crushed skulls, and a bunch of drowning. The big threat facing the Ultimate characters also isn't that original. New York City gets trounced just like in an old crossover, and the villain's main plot is just like another old crossover. Ugh.
This book stirred such a visceral negative reaction. It's hard to find anything worthwhile in this book. ]]>
bookshelves: comics, teenagers
Local takes the format and tone of Brian Wood's Demo and adds two competing elements: the decade-plus maturation of a confused girl and the culture of twelve mostly-young-adult-friendly towns. At the outset, the places are the driving force in the story, but by the end, it's all about the girl, Meg. That switch, and the balancing act between the two themes, is frustrating. Some towns you see a lot of, and get a feel for, but others, like Portland, Halifax or Austin, are story-driven, and could happen almost anywhere. There's too much universality to Meg's story for the places to matter. Plus, by the end of the book, when she starts to figure things out, it's almost cruel for her wanderlust to kick in.
Despite all the criticism, I really liked the book. It lacks the verve and creativity of Demo, but Meg's plight is engaging and personally resonant. I wish Wood and Ryan Kelly could redo the beginning of the book to better reflect where the collection ends up. The New York, Chicago, Norman, and Austin issues are just wonderful, impactful character stories. Even the less connected stories, like the Missoula diner scene, work stand-alone. This is a good collection, even if it doesn't quite reach up to Demo or the glowing quotes on the backcover. ]]>
bookshelves: comics, vertigo-comics
It's interesting to read Ames' first graphic novel alongside his first TV show, HBO's Bored to Death. Both star flawed, fictionalized, stunted versions of the author. Drinking ruins their lives. They like mystery novels and pine over ex-girlfriends. Colonics orbit their lives. Brooklyn's the star of the show, while New Jersey gets more page-time here. TV's Jonathan has a solid social structure, a best friend and a boss that are there for levity and camaraderie. This comic's Jonathan has a problematic friendship with his high school drinking buddy, and a nurturing but oblivious aunt. The comic can get away with this loneliness thanks to a nice internal monologue that augments Dean Haspiel's art. (Haspiel is effective interpreting Ames' words, though Schwartzmann, Galifianakis, and Danson are wonderfully cast.) The TV show reached its climax with an absurd boxing match. This book's last act is hijacked by a terrorist attack that you may have heard of. Both feel a bit forced, with the ends leaving you wanting, especially the book. The TV show's coming back for a second season. I'd like to see where Ames takes this all-but-concurrent graphic novel. ]]>
bookshelves: comics, marvel
This attempt at an epic mythic that plays nice with the Marvel characterization of Thor and the Norse gods falls just a bit short. The art is pretty great across the board, though it's often fantasy-book-cover style pin-ups covered with a text narrative rather than actual storytelling. Matt Fraction comes up a little short in making these gods seem god-like. Most of their conflicts seem more petty than grand. However, there is a nice resolution to an overly bratty, morose Thor for most of the book. The last issue in this four-part collection (called Thor God-Size Special) isn't related to the first three, but is a rewarding side-story to the current Thor series that brings back Thor's long-time villain The Executioner. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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bookshelves: comics, marvel, x-men
The best of Matt Fraction's run on Uncanny X-Men so far. He's excels at making confusing characters cool and easy to understand. Given the volume of X-Men titles produced since the 1980s, he has a lot of characters to choose from and prune away their messy backstories. Here, a group of mostly uninteresting women, headed by Cyclops' dead ex-wife clone (witch?) Madelyne Pryor, turns into a formidable team of villainy. Fraction also revives Psylocke in a way that washes away some of her overworked continuity. Domino is cool and, as it says in one of Fraction's captions, "a little O.C.D." Same with Northstar, although he's more X-Games than obsessive. The big fight with the Sisterhood at the end is a bit of a mess, but the characters throughout are enjoyable.
The collection ends with a one-off time-travel story to San Francisco in 1906. I'm still not quite sure why Beast and the X-Club go back in time, but the amusing story is reminiscent of both Fraction's Five Fists Of Science and Joss Whedon run on Runaways . ]]>