Todd Klein's Blog, page 239

And Then I Read: JUSTICE LEAGUE 32

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

It’s been a long time since Lex Luthor was the pure evil villain of the stories I read as a child, and the first Superman movie, but writer Geoff Johns is doing an excellent job of playing Luthor as a complex character with an intriguing mix of good and bad intentions and schemes in this book. Meanwhile, we have Johns’ vision of The Doom Patrol after a twisted version of Green Lantern’s ring on the finger of an unwitting victim, creating another moral dilemma, and the Justice League itself finally getting into the fray. All nicely told with terrific art by artists Doug Mahnke and Keith Champagne.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: BIRDWING by Rafe Martin

Image © Rafe Martin, cover art by Matt Mahurin.

One thing storytelling is about is “What happened next?” A good story will leave you with that question, and sometimes you’ll continue thinking about the characters and what might become of them for a long time. Author Rafe Martin has taken that idea to great lengths in this novel, and very effectively. It’s based on the Brothers Grimm story, “The Six Swans,” in which six brothers are turned into swans by a witch, leaving one sister with the very difficult and years-long task of saving them. She succeeds, or almost. The youngest brother does not change completely back to human, he retains one swan’s wing. From this idea, Martin creates the world of Prince Ardwin, known derogatively as Birdwing. His wing is a great trial to him at times, but also a unique blessing, as it helps him remember the time when he could fly, and still allows him to understand and talk to animals. Ardwin’s life is often difficult, and many mock and scorn him, but he perseveres, learning to fight with bow and arrow, sword and spear, and making friends among those in the castle where he lives with his father.

Then emissaries arrive from a warlike neighboring king with a proposal and a gift. The proposal is to ally the two kingdoms through the marriage of Ardwin to their princess, and the gift is a mechanical golden arm. If the king were to accept this offer, Ardwin’s wing must be cut off. If the King refuses, war is likely. Horrified at the idea, Ardwin runs away with two friends, and later continues on his own. His first goal is the far northern lake where he and his brothers spent their summers when they were swans, and Ardwin has a very tough road there. What happens when he arrives is sad rather than comforting, and Ardwin is soon going south again, where he’s attacked by a snow lion, only the beginning of many more adventures. And, while the book at first seems a somewhat open-ended travel adventure, characters and plot threads weave together into a very satisfying story arc and resolution.

I thought this book was excellent in every way. It kept surprising me, the characters were terrific, and the creative imagination of the author in bringing this world to life is impressive. Highly recommended. I’ll be looking for more books by Rafe Martin.

And Then I Read: VERTIGO QUARTERLY: MAGENTA

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Before I discuss the contents of this anthology, some words on the cover. While it’s true that, in today’s market, cover appeal is not as important as it once was when readers needed to be enticed to buy off the newsstand, I still feel this design scheme for the QUARTERLY is misguided. First, it reveals nothing about what’s in the book. Second, it wastes prime space. Third, it’s an insider joke that, even as an insider myself, I find uninteresting. Perhaps the oddness of it might get a few folks to pick it up and look through it, but I don’t think that’s enough reason to go this route.

As for what’s inside, I’m afraid I didn’t find very much that appealed to me. The opening story by Rachel Deering and Matteo Scalera has nice art, but a violently unlikeable lead character. Rian Hughes’ “Magenta is not a Colour” is at least on theme, and the art is attractive and clever. The story did not do much for me, but that might be me. “Captives” by Moreci and Mutti has nice art, but again not much of a story, it’s more of a story fragment. “Gloves” by Lindsay and Edwards delivers a complete story, and not a bad one. The art is impressionistic and well done, though not really to my taste. Fabio Moon’s “Pink Slumber” is probably my favorite entry in the book. Clever writing, attractive art, a little light on content, but not bad. A few other stories didn’t work for me, and I have to say the lettering and/or the art was off-putting. Books like this are meant to give newcomers a chance to try things, and that’s great, but it doesn’t mean readers will want to read them.

Mildly recommended.

And Then I Read: AQUAMAN ANNUAL 2

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman team up to deal with a group of dangerous creatures recently released from an ancient Atlantean prison, as seen in AQUAMAN 29 & 30. Why Wonder Woman? They’re creatures connected to Greek mythology, perhaps in somewhat minor ways, but it works as a story with lots of action in a Ray Harryhausen tradition: heroes vs. monsters. The monsters themselves have individual personalities and talents, and they’ve used them to set up headquarters in a medieval castle in France, mind-controlling the locals to act as their servants and energy source. Diana and Arthur infiltrate, are discovered, and the battle is on.

A second story teams Wonder Woman with Mera, tracking down another group of the creatures on a remote island. I actually liked this better, and the art by Alvaro Martinez and Raul Fernandez is excellent. It’s all fun in a summer reading at the beach sort of way.

Recommended.

Silver Anniversary

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the day I married my true love, Ellen. This is my favorite picture from the wedding. We’re still in love, and it sure doesn’t seem like that long ago!

Today Ellen had an appointment in downtown Philadelphia, and I went with her. We made it a short day-trip to celebrate our anniversary, starting with a delicious lunch at this restaurant in the historic district. While the building and interiors look authentically colonial, I learned today by reading the fine print on the cornerstone that it’s a recreation of the original built in the 1970s. No matter, it’s still great fun. The food is excellent, and so is the beer. I had the Porter mentioned in the sign above, delicious!

Afterwards we walked around the historic district enjoying the atmosphere. We considered going in to see the Liberty Bell, but the length of the line discouraged us. I spotted the Curtis Building and had to visit the Parrish/Tiffany mural in the lobby there, which I love. A huge art installation, it was designed by Maxfield Parrish and executed in many thousands of pieces of iridescent favrile glass by the Tiffany Studios. It’s quite amazing, and impossible to get in one photo. Unfortunately, it’s poorly lit, which probably helps preserve it, but makes the colors hard to see and appreciate. I enhanced them some on these photos.

In this closer shot you can see some of the small pieces of glass forming the mosaic picture. I’ve just looked up the details, it’s 15 feet high by 49 feet wide, and made of about 100,000 pieces of glass. If you’re ever in Philadelphia try to stop in and see it.

After that we stopped at a used book store, bought a few things, and headed home before rush hour made traffic too crazy. A nice break for both of us.

Sand Sculpting with Friends

It’s been a few years since my friend Tim and his son Gabe were able to visit us in the summer. When they do, we always create some unusual sand sculptures, and that’s what happened this past weekend. Tim had some new sand sculpting tools,  WillySpheres, which do but one thing: make large spherical shapes, and we used them for our carvings.

My effort was fairly small, but I had fun with it. After making an ovoid with one of the tools, I carved an opening that suggested a mouth to me, and this is what I ended up with.

Tim’s next stage was to carve circles into his sphere at regular intervals. Some of his many tools are at right, including an earlier version of a sphere maker created from an old vinyl record album, and a caliper made from a pair of wooden paint stirrers. As you can see, Tim is serious about this stuff!

Next to Tim’s sphere, Gabe and I did this low-level construction.

Group photo with Ellen showing more of Tim’s many tools. Of course, we also enjoyed the beach in other ways; swimming, having a picnic lunch, and so on.

After more work, Tim’s sculpture looked like this, with added Teletubby.

Tim’s plan was based on a Buckminster Fuller design called “Fly’s Eye Dome,” and he managed to get this far carving out the center before the top collapsed. We thought it looked great.

On Sunday the WillySpheres were in use again on a much taller and larger carving, with most of the work done by Gabe and Tim, though I helped a little.

It sort of became a hill of bubbles rising from the beach, with a tower of spheres atop it.

Gabe added the sphere tower, at one point achieving five-high, though the top one didn’t stay up long. Tim did the carved part of the spheres.

Here’s the finished sculpture as the waves were moving in around it. We don’t know what it is, but we enjoyed building it!

And Then I Read: DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL 3

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Annuals represent extra work for a book’s creative team which they may or may not have time for. Most often the writer does, but the artist does not. In the case of the team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, both work on the story, but Manapul does the art, Buccellato does the dialogue and colors, so it’s a more welded team than usual. For this annual, Buccellato does the writing alone, the art is by three guys, Werther Dell’edera, Jorge Fornés and  Scott Hepburn. I was curious to see how I’d like it. As it happens, I liked it a lot. This suggests Buccellato has a good handle on the writing.

While the story could stand alone, it does continue from the regular title, focusing on the drug Icarus. I’m not fond of drug trade stories, but this one has lots of interesting characters and complications. Batman is trying to track not only drug shipments but illegal weapons, all probably in the hands of a street gang making moves for power. Among them is a tough guy with a son who provides a lead for Batman, and another young man who plans to make one more big trade, then move on with his girlfriend…if he can avoid the temptation of the drug itself. Several story threads lead to a big confrontation between Batman and the drug lord armed with very powerful illegal weapons.

The art is in three individual styles, which is a little distracting, but they’re close enough that it didn’t pull me out of the story much. In all, this was well done.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: HAWKMOON: THE RUNESTAFF by Michael Moorcock

Image © Michael Moorcock.

I’ve now completed the quartet of books I’ve been reading over the last few months, all on my iPad or phone, featuring swordsmen Hawkmoon and D’Averc, warlord Count Brass, Hawkmoon’s lady love Yisselda, and on the opposing side the very evil version of the British Empire, Granbretan, its King Huon, Baron Meliadus, and Lady Flana, among many other characters.

It’s a very rigidly plot-driven story. So much so that when, in the beginning of this book, Hawkmoon tries to change the “fate” decreed for him by the ever manipulative Runestaff, he is driven back to the correct plot course by a huge storm. The Runestaff itself proves to be unimpressive, though it apparently controls everyone in the story to some degree. I’d call it a stand-in for the author himself. There’s lots of fighting, treachery, sorcery, scheming, betrayal, slaughter, and treachery, as well as a fair amount of bravery, cleverness, luck and skill on both sides. The final battle in the streets of Londra (London) is epic, but I found I wasn’t much moved by it, or by the fates of some characters I’d been following through four books. It all seemed too planned, too regulated by the dictates of the plot. Moorcock crafted a story here which kept me turning the pages, and offered many interesting characters, but after the first book most of the emotional involvement seemed to fade. Yes, it’s inventive in some ways, but too predictable in others. I was rarely surprised after the first book of the quartet.

I will probably try other Moorcock fantasy novels in the future, but I can only mildly recommend this group.

And Then I Read: SUPERMAN 33

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

This title is reminding me what I like about the writing of Geoff Johns. It’s when he has a free hand to re-imagine characters I’ve known for years, without distractions like super-teams, crossover events and world-ending disasters. His vision of Superman and surrounding cast is charming, clever and engaging. Further, we get to see Superman’s world through the fresh eyes of Ulysses, a new super-character who has just returned to Earth after a long exile. It’s fine writing and great reading. As for the art, I’ve now fully adjusted to the style of Romita and Janson, and it no longer distracts me at all from the story. I like it. I can’t say it’s my favorite version of the characters by any means, but it works fine for me.

Oh, and I wonder if it’s a coincidence that this version of Superman’s logo is very much like the one used on the first Superman movie? Perhaps not.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: G.I. ZOMBIE 1

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

I’m not generally a fan of war comics or zombie stories, but I had to check this one out. First, the book’s logo appealed to me. STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES had a decades-long run at DC beginning in 1952.

G.I. COMBAT, which the main logo parodies, also began in 1952 from Quality Comics, then from DC after they bought the title in 1957. I appreciate the nods to the past, and the twist that makes it work for today’s audience, even if the cover scene never appears within.

Inside I found what is not really a war story, at least not yet. It is a zombie story, though it takes a while for that to become clear. What we do see is a feisty young woman bravely taking on some dangerous-looking bikers in a seedy bar, gradually winning their trust, and taking part in a vicious interrogation of a federal agent. Beyond vicious, really. When the information they want isn’t forthcoming, she even offers to dispose of the evidence. It’s a nice piece of writing, and Scott Hampton’s art is a delight to see, as always, even if the occasional gore doesn’t appeal to me. If you’re looking for something different, give this a try.

Recommended.