moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (01/13/86)
Reviewed in this issue:
MAGE STAR TREK AMERICAN FLAGG!
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN X-MEN
ELEMENTALS GREEN LANTERN FANTASTIC FOUR
THOR WARP GRAPHICS ANNUAL MEGATON MAN
JON SABLE BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS
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"There *are* standards. If you can't see one, you *make* one and stick to
it come Hell or high water -- until you see a BETTER one."
-John Gaunt
"Well, if you can't believe what you read in a comic book, what *can*
you believe?!"
-Bullwinkle J. Moose
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|==>A< One of the best of the year. Example: ZOT #8 |
|==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month (usually 6/month) |
|==>C< A well done, entertaining issue. Satisfying. Example: Jon Sable |
|==>D< Boring, but with a few good points. Example: SQUADRON SUPREME |
|==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish. Example: Secret Wars. |
|==>Z< Actually offensive. Example: Several of Haney's UNKNOWN SOLDIERs |
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MAGE #10 [Mage: C+; Grendel: B-]:
Just a note: Mage is excellent as always, but I have found myself
really enjoying Grendel, the backup text/illustrations series about
a crime lord named Grendel. It may be due to my own sympathies
with criminal masterminds, but I've found this particularly good,
especially as it emphaisizes Wagner's skill with words, as well as
with pictures. In fact, Mage has always struck me as primarily a
graphic story -- long sequences of panels with no dialogue; a very
liquid flow of events. Grendel is Wagner's outlet for his straight
prose style of writing. They're both very good.
STAR TREK #25 [C+]:
[Continued from last MORIARTY REVIEWS]:
....nyuk nyuk nyuk....
AMERICAN FLAGG! #28 [C-]:
OK, a lot of appeal is gone with the absence of Chaykin's art -- but
Chaykin's writing seems a little loose, also. I had some problems
following what exactly was happening during the infiltration into
Headhunter territory -- first, Medea calls in Flagg so that a "cool
head is kept" -- and then, when the gung-ho Major Keister wants to
charge in after the person they're following, Medea follows him,
instead of waiting for Reuben's cue. Who called Medea a "bleeding
heart", anyway -- Reuben or Keister? With a plot as (enjoyably)
complex as AF's, points like this have to be clear....
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #113 [B-]:
Again, Peter David seems to bring off a streak of realism into the
Marvel Universe. Letting MJ figure out that Parker is Spider-Man
is probably the best plot device (when properly handled) to come
along in years. David likes to take things slowly and analyze them,
and I am enjoying the ride.
X-MEN #204 [D+]:
Argh! The return of Dark Claremont! Nightcrawler's personality is
completely screwed up, apparently due to the Secret Wars; and
while I like his analyzations of why he doesn't enjoy the X-Men
anymore, the story winds up into lots of cutsey adventure
sequences which seem to fufill some need C. has for placing his
characters in movie situations. Remember when Arcade was an
interesting villain? And, I mean, Ruritania? This girl looks
*nothing* like Ronald Coleman :-). Also, looks like Amanda (a
favorite backup character) has been dumped. I will be *extremely*
displeased if this storyline isn't continued into next issue...
ELEMENTALS #5 [D-]:
This might have a higher grade, but frankly I was sorely
disappointed in the Saker story conclusion. A villain, an
organization and a plotline which should have taken much more
time to resolve seems to be wrapped in one issue. The fight
between Saker (considering the power he has) and Vortex was
laughable. One second one's controlling the situation, then the
other. I really had better hopes for Willingham's work, but his
imagination seems to have petered out at the end.
GREEN LATERN #199 [C++]:
Wonderful stuff! Makes THE ALIEN LEGION and so many other space
operas look pale in comparison. This really is *the* space opera
book, under Englehart's supervision. My hope is that if John
Stewart goes off with Katma to her sector, that we don't loose
track of the two of them. The dialogue is crisp throughout, and
Englehart is able to do situations I've seen 100 times seem fresh.
Absolutely the best description of the post-Crisis: "You can hear
Forever again... you can smell the future". Hope he sticks with the
book...
FANTASTIC FOUR #289 [D+]:
You know, I like John Byrne more than most, but has anyone else
noticed how dry the dialogue is? This is getting to be a boring
comic to read. If you couldn't guess what was going to happen to
happen after Blastar appeared, you haven't been reading this comic
long. Come on, John, shake things up like you did to The Hulk... By
the way, could someone who is reading Captain America explain
this "Justice is Served!" stuff?
THOR #366 [C]:
Well, Jerry Boyajian goes up there with Jean Dixon and Hans Holzer
as prophet of the year -- Balder takes over in Asgard. Still, some
of my favorite parts of this are watching Loki be obnoxious -- "my
dear step-frog". And, of course, watching as he is handed the REAL
Uru hammer...
WARP GRAPHICS ANNUAL #1 [~ D]:
When you rate a bunch of different stories by different authors,
it's probably not fair to give one grade, but I guess you can think of
it as over-all value. The only two stories I really enjoyed were
the Thunderbunny episode and (surprisingly) the Distant Soil story.
Thunderbunny has a light Captain Marvel attitude, and some comics
humor sprinkled through it ("I'm so real, even the Infinite Earth
Crisis didn't effect me"). If you like Thunderbunny, this is up to
your standards. I quit reading A Distant Soil an issue back or so,
as the plot had become too boring for it's convoluted structure;
however, here the dialogue is good, the art fine, and the coloring
excellent (this has to be the most unevenly colored comic I've ever
seen). I might just return to the fold... As to the others, a very
inconsequential ElfQuest story, with below-standard art and awful
coloring. An epilogue to Blood of the Innocent which is
unnecessary and confuses the mini-series; a MythAdventures by
Valentino, which is not very funny; and three back up features,
Panda Khan, Unicorn Isle and Captain Obese, none of which held my
attention. Warp graphics doesn't have much to show after a year,
I'm afraid...
MEGATON MAN #7 [B]:
This book is the most amazing blend of humor on the market.
There may be books I find funnier, but rarely does a comic hit
every *type* of humor: satire, political and social satire, comics
satire, slapstick and just good punchlines. Most of it works, and I
get great quotes lines for the end of my articles. So am I
complaining? Nooo....
JON SABLE #35 [D]:
This story seemed to have every trite American Indian cliche I've
seen in comics or film for the last year. I was really expecting a
good follow-up after the intro story, and I can't help but feel that
this was a let down. By the way, were the trials that are
mentioned in the papers refering to the Seattle Neo-Nazi trial
(which came in with guilty verdicts about two weeks ago?)
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #32 [C+ for story; D for continuity]:
Yeah, I liked the story, but am I supposed to buy The Batman's
behaviour? I seemed to remember supporting his anti-Justice
League stand after it happened in BATO #1, but here he sounds like
The Punisher, i.e. "we're all in a war and I'm just a soldier", etc.
Did he *want* the team to stay together without him (hence the
tight grin on the panel following his leaving)? And to not tell
Brion that his home had been invaded -- give me a break. Batman
isn't a machine. However, I think The Outsiders will be a better
book without him.
"Ah, you know the type. They like to blame
it all on the Jews or the Blacks, 'cause if
they couldn't, they'd have to wake up to
the fact that life's one big, scary,
glorious, complex and ultimately
unfathomable crapshoot -- and the only
reason THEY can't seem to keep up is
they're a bunch of misfits and losers."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>hutch@hammer.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (01/13/86)
In article <2589@colossus.fluke.UUCP> The Napoleon of Crime writes: > .... >WARP GRAPHICS ANNUAL #1 [~ D]: > > ... a MythAdventures by >Valentino, which is not very funny Sad news, Myth fans. Starting with the very next Mythadventures, Valentino takes over the art chores. Foglio will continue to write (for a while anyway) but cannot, apparently, afford to keep spending all his time trying to meet the impossible deadlines. I for one have cut back from 3 copies to one copy. If the quality of Valentino's art doesn't make a significant improvment, then I will probably discontinue altogether. Hutch