Steven’s Comments (group member since Nov 30, 2019)

Steven’s comments from the Mount TBR 2020 group.

Leslie wrote: "Congrats on reaching (and surpassing) the peak of Mt. Everest!"

Thank you!

#101 - Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 16 by Steven Englehart, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, George Perez, Sal Buscema, etc

From the messy era of Marvel Comics. Steve Englehart moved on, Gerry Conway moved in and, by his own admission, flopped rather thoroughly. Jim Shooter proceeded to take over, lifting the title somewhat, while George Perez’s art provided a bit of a boost (though Perez would come yo be more significant later.) Overall a clunky, chaotic read.

#100 - Chronos Commandos: Dawn Patrol by Stuart Jennett

High concept war action with dinosaurs, basically, as Jennett mixes up Sergeant Fury (and Rock), tine travel to the Cretaceous, and high stakes action. Ends with a cliffhanger involving a dieselpunk Nazi cyborg. Ludicrous fun, though definitely rather bloody.

#99 - Scarlet Witch, Vol. 3: The Final Hex by James Robinson & various

James Robinson concludes his overhaul if Wanda “Scarlet Witch” Maximoff by bringing her to the end of her journey to revive witchcraft. In the process he looks at bigotry and religious fear and the power of bloodlines, and bonds her with the spirit of her long-dead mother. Overall, quite a story.

#98 - Armor Hunters by Robert Venditti, et al

The X-O Man-O-War armor is the target in this event series, and Earth as a whole is in the crosshairs of a team of alien hunters who are chasing across the galaxy to erase the scourge of the techno virus built into the armors. They soon find that Earth is scrappy.

It’s fairly generic stuff, but I enjoyed it enough, though I don’t feel a need to read more of the X-O Man-O-War stuff.

#97 - The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 3: Hotel Oblivion by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

Centered on the titular hotel, a place created to house prisoners on a desolate alien world. The Hotel was created by Sir Reginald Hargreeves as a place to put the criminals brought down by the Umbrella Academy, but by now a building full of aging, angry, near-psychotics (and one god-level super-being, The Scientific Man.)

The various surviving members of the Academy, meanwhile, have their own issues ruling their lives. Seance is near-terminal and in the hands of bikers who are exploiting him. Rumour is still trying to reconnect with her estranged daughter. Five is working as an industrial spy. Space boy and Kraken seem the most balanced, working on a special project with Japanese scientist Dr. Zoo. The White Violin, meanwhile, is dragged out of her recuperation by Mom and taken on a voyage of discovery that’ll finally address one question the series hasn’t addressed: there were 43 children. What happened to the 36 that Hargreeves didn’t adopt?

This time around the story is *really* long on plot, tying up a thread from The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 2: Dallas and ending with a handful of others dangling. Lots of action, lots of violence, plenty of rougher, more cartoony art from Ba.

#96 - The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 2: Dallas by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

The second storyline in the Way/Ba series abandons cohesiveness (such as it was) and free wheels through a story that sends the family (minus the incapacitated White Violin) plunging into the past to either save or kill John F. Kennedy.

Still doesn’t really click with me, despite the accolades.

#95 - The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

The first arc in Way’s offbeat superhero series finds the surviving adopted children of an eccentric millionaire coming together at his death, only to fall into bickering. Weirdness abounds, apocalypse approaches, and Seven, Vanya, discovers that she does have a talent like the others — only hers is apocalyptic.

It didn’t really grab me as much as I expected it would. Way is very much in the surreality-and-violence mood of Grant Morrison, but not as capable.

#94 - Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World by Michael Pollan

Basic thesis: coffee and tea put western people into overdrive and we built an industrial civilization as a result. Big maybe, but he doesn’t delve too deeply into the history (the Dutch East India Company gets galloped by) or into the contemporary sociology, though he does reference the effects of climate change.

It’s a nice light listen, though.

#93 - Folsom Untold: The Strange True Story of Johnny Cash's Greatest Album by Danny Robbins

Supposedly a look back at the creation of one of Johnny Cash’s biggest albums, but more a look at the relationship between Cash and ex-convict Glen Sherley, who Cash tried to rescue but ended up abandoning.

#92 - Green Lantern: Sleepers by Christopher J. Priest

Good lord, this was endless, loud, and pointless.

#92 - Art Ops, Vol. 2: Popism by Shaun Simon, Mike Allred, et al

First the story heads into the past, and then into the present, where it runs out of steam and concludes. I’m not sure if the writer just ran out of silly things to go with runaway art, or if a cancelation came down, but it sort of shrugs and gives up...but not before the Mona Lisa winds up pregnant.

#91 - Art Ops: How to Start a Riot by Shaun Simon and Mike Allred

There’s a secret world where art is alive and wants to take a road trip, and there are bad people (and things) who want to do unspecified things to these beings. When the Mona Lisa is sent into protective custody, all tell breaks loose, the Art Ops are vanished, and the survival of art (and people) is down to slacker Reggie, son of the head of the Art Operatives, superhero The Body, timeless 80s girl Izzy, and new recruit Juliet. It tends not to go well.

I was hoping for a lot more fun from this story, given that it’s in Allred’s wheelhouse, but it turns out to be more of a Grant Morrison Doom Patrol riff than anything else.

#90 - Ninja Baseball Kyuma Volume 1 by Shunshin Maeda

Lightweight manga about an adolescent ninja-in-training who vines down from his mountain home and gets drawn into a junior baseball team. Hijinks and hilarity follow. Not great, and baseball leaves me cold, but harmless kid-sized fun.

#89 - The Underworld Railroad by Jason M. Burns and Paul Tucker

I’d have liked this book far better if not for the eye-straining “primitive” artwork. The story itself is s relatively straightforward tale of a waystation on a network that serves to rescue lost souls hovering between heaven and hell. This one time, though...the Devil herself comes calling, and a war brews between the grand powers.

#88 - The Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen

A rather lightweight but on-point look at the stresses suffered by Millennials, though Petersen doesn’t deign to glance aside at the groups to either side to make the picture clearer. Also troublesome: the limited number of interviews that tend to rattle in without great point. More interviews and consistently tighter editing would have framed points and insights better than here.

#87 - Damage Control: The Complete Collection by Dwayne McDuffie, Ernie Colon, and various

A collection of McDuffie’s four Damage Control miniseries, plus some extra bits and pieces. Damage Control are the guys in the Marvel Universe who come in and clean up the mess left by superhero battles. McDuffie’s idea was to do it as a superhero sitcom of sorts , so there’s a great deal of goofy and silly stuff going on. Things do get a bit more serious in the last miniseries, as much as they can be serious in a story where the Chrysler building comes to life and wants to go for a walk.

#86 - Graphic Audio, Green Lantern: Sleepers Book #2 by Michael Ahn, Christopher J. Priest

Much, much better than the first book. This entry focuses on Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, and provides a detailed look at his origin. Priest;s villainous creation, Malvolio, is repurposed for the story, but really doesn’t play a big part for at least half of the story. The whole tale cracks along in pulp fashion and the cast sound like they’re having a ball.

#85 - Eight Black Horses by Ed McBain

#38 in the 87th Precinct series finds the Deaf Man returning to bedevil the 87th with another complicated robbery plan and bizarre clues for the detectives to figure out. This time, though, the clues are separate from the robbery scheme, and are for a far more nefarious plan....

It’s a relatively lightweight novel, but some of Evan Hunter’s nastier attitudes towards women are on display here. On the other hand, it’s nice to see the Deaf Man’s masquerade as Carella not being used to generate artificial drama.

#84 - Battlestar Galactica Vs Battlestar Galactica Tp by Peter David & various

Basically a conceit — what if the old Battlestar Galactica met the new? Peter David does his best to spin a story out of the meeting, and draws on some fun connections in the original series, though his ending is pretty much out of the film The Final Countdown.