boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (08/23/85)
Reviewed this time around: BRIAN BOLLAND'S BLACK BOOK #1 ME AND JOE PRIEST [DC GRAPHIC NOVEL #5] THE BLACK DRAGON #6 MS. TREE 3-D #1 DC CHALLENGE #1 THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK HEROES FOR HOPE #1 [MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #18] Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of the Napoleon of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!! "For a critic, it's better to have wrong standards than none at all." -- Elmer Allyn Craft ******************************************************************************** |=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT | |==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #38: "Who Is Donna Troy?" | |==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS | |==>C< A well done, entertaining issue. Satisfying. Example: JON SABLE | |==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM | |==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish. Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS | |==>Z< Actually offensive. Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12 | ******************************************************************************** BRIAN BOLLAND'S BLACK BOOK #1 [Eclipse, $1.75] [C-] The latest in a series of color reprints of b&w horror stories from various sources. Bolland's art isn't quite up to his best, but the stories (by Steve Parkhouse and Steve Moore) are better than the average horror comics level. THE BLACK DRAGON #6 [Marvel/Epic, mini-series, $1.50] [D+] This series had been fairly dull until last issue, which really seemed to pick things up. I had hope that this would continue on into this issue for a real exciting end. Unfortunately, though this last issue started out well, the story --- and the excitement --- seemed to dribble off into a rather limp ending. Too bad. DC CHALLENGE #1 [DC, maxi-series, $1.25] [D+] The first chapter in a round-robin tale involving a couple of dozen writers and artists. This type of story, in which each writer scripts his chapter and passes the ball onto the next writer, is usually an entertaining curiosity, but very rarely results in quality. And this is no exception. On the other hand, I am intrigued to see how Len Wein gets out of the situ- ation that Mark Evanier has stuck him with, and that *is* the appeal of this type of story. HEROES FOR HOPE #1 [Marvel, one-shot, $1.50] [C] OK, everyone here has heard about this one already, and has probably already decided whether or not to buy it. Briefly, all the proceeds from this are being donated to provide help for famine relief in Africa. It's 48 pages, and contains the work of 18 writers, 39 artists, 14 letterers, and 10 color- ists, each team contributing 2-3 pages to the story, which was plotted by Chris Claremont, Ann Nocenti, Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin, and Jim Shooter. Just because of the good cause that it's for, I'd recommend you buy it. But is it a good story? Surprisingly enough, it is. Despite the con- straints of this type of production --- writing and art styles shift rapidly, character development is almost nil as the plot becomes all, etc. --- the story manages to flow nicely. The shift of styles isn't as jarring as it could be, since the story is broken up into nice 2-3 page discrete scenes, each handled by a different team. This is in one respect a showpiece for editors (Claremont and Nocenti, in this case). And the "propaganda" scenes manage to not be overly smarmy or preachy. The scenes themselves are uneven in quality, as can be expected. Oddly enough, they generally stand or fall according to the art. Most of the writing is simply adequate. I'm probably showing my prejudices here, but the scenes that *really* stand out are the ones by Stephen King/Berni Wrightson/Jeff Jones (featuring Kitty) and Alan Moore/Richard Corben (feat- uring Magneto). A real surprise (at least the writing was a surprise) was the scene showcasing Rachel, by Ann Nocenti/Mike Kaluta/Al Milgrom. Other outstandingly written scenes, with somewhat disappointing art were the ones by Harlan Ellison/Frank Miller/Bill Sienkiewicz and Archie Goodwin/Howie Chaykin/Walt Simonson. Scenes with exceptional art but not exceptional writing include those by Ed Bryant/Brent Anderson/Joe Sinnott and Louise Simonson/John Byrne/Terry Austin. Oh, and for X-Men fans, be it known that this is the first comic to appear that actually has Magneto instead of Xavier in charge of the X-Men. ME AND JOE PRIEST [Graphic Novel #5] [DC, $5.95] [D] The build-up of pollutants and such in the atmosphere has rendered all men and most women sterile. The only fertile male left is a priest. And as a youngster he ahd a vision that instructed him to wander about in search of fertile women to impregnate so that mankind will not die out. Along the way, he picks up a bodyguard in the form of a biker, who wants to experience different things (and is the narrator of the story). Along the way, they have to fight members of a dark cult of renegade priests who think it's God's plan that the human race die. It's interesting that I had just days after seen a spaghetti sci-fi movie with a similar idea. The film (AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK) did do much with the idea, and neither does this graphic novel. The story, by Greg (J'EMM, SON OF SATURN) Potter just meanders pointlessly. The art, by Ron Randall, while not bad, is hardly exceptional enough to save it. The only truly worthwhile thing about it is the Howie Chaykin cover. Save your money. MS. TREE 3-D #1 [Renegade, b&w, $2.50] [D+] There doesn't seem to be any good reason why this should exist. The story is adequate, but hardly worth publishing in 3-D. There's even a section that already appeared in the A-V IN 3-D comic. And, though Ray Zone did per- fectly nice 3-D separation work in the previous few 3-D comics that came out over the last couple of years, it's not very spectacular here. For MS. TREE completists only. THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK [Graphic Novel #18] [Marvel, $6.95] [C] Some people in the government are concerned that She-Hulk could end up like her cousin, and instruct S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture her and study her to determine if their fears are justified. Nick Fury doesn't like the idea, so he bows out, leaving a gung ho, slimy, bastard in charge who gets a power rush out of seeing She-Hulk humiliated. And big changes happen for both She-Hulk and S.H.I.E.L.D., the S.H.I.E.L.D. part to later segue into the projected S.H.I.E.L.D. mini-series. Byrne originally intended this as a four-issue mini-series, and I can't help but think that it would've been better off as such (it certainly would have been cheaper!). Still, it's a step up from most of the last few graphic novels. I just wish that sometime Marvel (and DC) would do graphic novels that *deserve* to be graphic novels (actually, Marvel's done a few, but certainly not 18!). --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA