Well no reviews last week because my motivation ebbs when I've nothing new to tell the world. Last week I picked up the excellent B.P.R.D Killing Ground collection which has no surprise in the sense that it's excellent but plenty of twists with the characters, the whole story taking place at 'home' in Colorado. If your're reading it already, there's nothing to tell as you know it's great and if you're not picking it up, you're missing one of the best monthly books currently published. Guy Davis' art just gets creepier and creepier and the freaky monsters just get weirder. On a side note I picked up his own series the Marquis a little while back which he wrote and drew, black, white and lots of great zipper tone...and cracked out monsters too. It's collected by Oni in two books but tricky to find.
The only floppy comic I picked up was Action Comics 864, which I must have ordered based on how much I was enjoying the previous run with Gary Frank. While I'm now much more up to speed on the Legion Of Superheroes, this issue left me lost with a big reveal of a villain who I don't know but suspect I'm supposed to. Also leads into the Legion of Superheroes Crisis thingy which I won't be reading. Artwise, nothing to show, feeling if I've nothing nice to scan then don't scan anything at all. I feel used...
This week, however, I had comics to buy! First up to show no hard feelings, Action Comics Annual 11 which I believe we've waited a year for. Though I don't know what happened to Adam Kubert to make him run SO late on this, I don't overly care. There've been plenty of good Action Comics and Busiek Superman(s) in the meantime and some iffy fill-ins which I just skipped : ) Check out upset people's feelings here. They are funny! Artwise, though Dave Stewart's not on the colours, Edgar Delgado fills in fine, mostly matching the style and finishing Kubert's art and maintaining the unique finish. Also fun is is that Richard Donner and Geoff Johns manage to surprise on the story, but I don't do spoilers. A great read that if you've not followed, will stand alone happily as a trade paperback.
The softcover of New Avengers Illuminati came out, which I'd been waiting a while for. I really like Jimmy Cheung, and have done since Iron Man and Maverick, back before he was a "Marvel Young Gun". There's something straight but fun about his art that I can't put my finger on. I feel he makes everyone look like a teenager, but its not really true (see the collection's cover). It did make him the perfect choice for Young Avengers where, with great inker John Dell and perfectly suited colourist Justin Posner, I decided to keep my eye on what he was up to in the future. I wouldn't pick up everything he does...but this series fits. A retrofitted marvel history telling of how a few key Marvel Players have manipulated things from behind the scenes.
Secret Wars, the Kree Skrull War are good my personal fave was putting a punctuation mark at the end of Morrison's Marvel Boy which was a great cosmic trilogy cut short by shortsighted Bill Jemas worrying about how he couldn't make a movie of it.The book also coincided with an all Skrull, Secret Invasion tie-in that follows on from Illuminati but otherwise just left me Jimmy Cheung non Skrull stuff.
The third part of Risso and B K Vaughn's Logan mini came out and while overall the series was a little light, it was good fun that didn't stray from the character, though perhaps a slightly dated version of him. Risso's art is superb as always and the last page almost justifies the series alone. I imagine there's a Hard Cover coming of it but for three issues, I'd be careful...Following my last post I found out the Hellboy Golden Army preview I got free was maybe not very liberally distributed so I've taken the liberty of scanning the thing. My logic, and I hope it'd stand up in court is that 1)the comic was free and 2)it was meant to be READ for free and used to promote the movie and comic. Well here it is. Low res so you can't print it but complete so you can enjoy it. Enjoy it!
3 comments:
Still keeping up(ish).
I just got the Hellboy freebee and will soak it up in good time, but I did read the Illuminati when it was coming out, it hit all the right notes for a superhero yarn and I think your under selling Cheung a tad, certainly with his splah pages, he manages with ease to achieve the grandeur that Alex Ross shoots for but misses almost every time.
Hey Barry,
I certainly don't mean to undersell Jimmy Cheung. I think he's great. Reminds me of Art Adams in the sense of fun it all has and he seems to nail every character (like Art Adams!). That New Avengers issue was a real waste of his/my time as I'm not following this Secret Invasion malarky but I think I'll be eagerly picking up the right projects by him.
Hi Billy
Just read the New Avengers by Cheung and it was a bit naff, also read the first two Secret Invasion books, I know I've been out of comics for a while but this is so convoluted and really feels like watching a film with 90 percent of the frames missing.
Quite enjoyed the art on the Bachalo Spidey comics and the story was quite fun albeit a bit lightweight.
Paul Smith's Spirit was good solid stuff but I would not in a million years have known that was Paul Smith without the credits, nope not even a hint in there.
Chat soon
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