boyajian@akov68.DEC (05/24/85)
In this set of reviews: AMBUSH BUG #3 THE NEW MUTANTS #31 SQUADRON SUPREME #1 CEREBUS JAM #1 NIGHTMARES #1 SWIFTSURE #1 THE GARGOYLE #4 SHEENA 3-D SPECIAL #1 Short notes: ALL-STAR SQUADRON #48 BLUE DEVIL #15 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!! ******************************************************************************** |=>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 | ******************************************************************************** AMBUSH BUG #3 [DC, mini-series, $.75] [A] After a *relatively* (though still very funny) second issue, the Bug is back on the track. This issue features the "Ambush Bug History of the DC Universe", and as could be expected, he wrecks havoc with DC continuity. Not a single page went by without my breaking out into snickers, chuckles, or guffaws. This has to be one of the funniest things I've read in years. CEREBUS JAM #1 [Aardvark-Vanaheim, b&w, $1.70] B+ Finally, after a few months delay, it's out. And further issues will come out on an irregular basis, so don't hold your breath. Is it worth the wait? Sure is. The purpose of this book is to let other artists have a crack at Cerebus. Herein, we have stories drawn by (in collaboration with Dave Sim and Gerhard) Scott & Bo Hampton, Murphy Anderson, Terry Austin, and Will Eisner (Will Eisner?! Yes, *the* Will Eisner). Since Sim and Gerhard do most of the work, with the guest artists basicly doing only the work on the guest charac- ters, the art looks pretty much the same as it does in any given issue of the regular comic. Only the Eisner story really shows influence from the "jammer", which isn't really any surprise, since Eisner has a very distinctive style, and according to Sim's intro, Eisner did much more work on it than Sim asked for or expected. The four stories take place at different times during Cerebus's career, and all are as funny as any given issue of the regular comic. The first two of them are basicly gag stories, the Austin story concerns a meeting twixt Cerebus and "Squinteye the Sailor", a thinly disguised Popeye, and the Eisner story a meeting of Cerebus and The Spirit & Dolan (well, a Spirit & Dolan transposed to the time/place of Cerebus). What it comes down to is: if you like Cerebus, you'll like this; if not, you won't. THE GARGOYLE #4 [Marvel, mini-series, $.75] D+ This series started out so well --- De Matteis was really giving us an in-depth look at the character and background of Isaac Christians & The Gargoyle. But, with the third, and now the last, issues, characterization has sort of fallen by the wayside as plot takes center stage (Warning! Warning! Mixed Metaphor!). Outside of a few philosophical statements regarding the nature of the relationship between men and their gods, there's nothing here but the standard super-being conflict. A great disappointment. THE NEW MUTANTS #31 [Marvel, $.65] D- Sienkiewicz goes out with bang. This issue, along with the last two, are probably the most confusing pieces of garbage in the whole run of the comic. Everything seemed to happen as a random chain of events that had no motivation or sense. And while I've enjoyed Sienkiewicz's artwork on this title before, here it's just dark and sketchy. Knowing his penchant for exaggerating physical features on the characters (he's said in interviews that he's trying to establish characterization via the physical appearance --- in other words, caricatures), I'm not convinced that that whale of a villain has really gone to that extreme a physical change, but... Can't wait for the more normal Leialoha artwork. NIGHTMARES #1 [Eclipse, micro-series, $1.75] C Herein is the first half each of two stories reprinted from the b&w Warren horror comic magazines, one by Doug Moench, one by Don McGregor, both drawn by Paul Gulacy. McGregor's story seems rather pedestrian, typical of the type of dystopic-future stories that ran in the Warren mags. Moench's is rather interesting, though not outstanding, and I'm eager to read the rest of it next issue. Gulacy's art is top notch, as is usual when he's in top form. The only problem is the coloring. The art was originally done for black and white repro, thus has lots of black. The colors, by Steve Oliff (who usually does a bang-up job), end up being very muddy. Recommended, but very guardedly. SHEENA 3-D SPECIAL #1 [Blackthorne, $2.00] D Three-dimensional art, two-dimensional plot, one-dimensional charac- ters. That pretty much sums up this one. Originally slated to appear last year as JERRY IGER'S FAMOUS FEATURES #4 from Pacific (scheduled such that it would have served as a tie-in to the Sheena movie), this wan't really worth the wait. Some Golden Age material has a certain naive charm, some seems just silly. I'm afraid that SHEENA falls into the latter category. And unfortunately, unlike 3-D ALIEN WORLDS or A-V IN 3-D, the 3-D doesn't add anything to the stories. It's almost worth buying for the Dave Stevens cover, though. Yum. SQUADRON SUPREME #1 [Marvel, maxi-series, $1.25] C- [Extra-large issue; future issues $.75] The Squadron Supreme is a group of all of the super-heroes of what is for all intents and purposes Marvel-Earth-2. The original Squadron was about a half-dozen members who resembled some of the members of the old JLA (eg. Hyperion=Superman, Nighthawk=Batman, Whizzer=Flash, Dr. Spectrum=Green Lantern, etc.). This was a great gag the first couple of times the SS appeared. Now, the group has grown to an even dozen, with analogs of the rest of the JLA members. It's no longer a great gag. The analogs are *so* obvious, and now that they have their own title, I really feel that Marvel is stepping on DC's legal property. Not that I think DC should sue, but Marvel should know better, especially after they came down so hard on Dave Sim for Wolverroach. As a matter of fact, the analogies are detailed enough such that the relationships amongst the characters follow those of the JLA (Hyperion and Nighthawk are especially close friends, as are Whizzer and Dr. Spectrum, and so forth). Anyways, all this aside, we have a fairly interesting premise here. As we are all aware, while super-heroes willingly leap into battle against the out of the ordinary adversary, they do not interfere in the day-to-day existence of normal folks. What if this were changed? In this comic, the Squadron, in an effort to get the world back on its feet following a fiasco (detailed in earlier issues of THE DEFENDERS), decide that the best course of action is to, basicly, take charge over the world in order to establish a society of utopian ideals, curing all of civilizations ills along the way. This first issue pretty much just sets up the situation and introduces the characters, so it isn't very exciting. But I look forward to future issues. SWIFTSURE #1 [Harrier (British), b&w, $1.75] C- Anyone who's followed my reviews for a while is aware of my up-and- down reactions to Harrier's first title, CONQUEROR. SWIFTSURE, their second book, differs in that it's an anthology of five rotating strips, four of which will be in any given issue. One of the strips follows the adventures of Lt. Fl'ff from CONQUEROR prior to the stories in that comic. Another, "Code Name: Andromeda" is about a woman who's killed in a space accident, but is brought back to life, enhanced, by aliens. A third, "Ram, Assassin" is pretty much another SEVEN SAMURAI clone, only with one lone assassin hired to fight some outlaws. The fourth is "Dandy in the Underworld", a rather silly, but endearing, story about a citizen of a patrician domed city, who's sentenced (for a crime) to live amongst the riff-raff below. And he agrees, while he's there, to act as an intelligence agent in return for a parole. The Fl'ff story is rather uneventful, just setting up the characters and situation. The writing and art are a little better than in CONQUEROR (same creative team), but the characterizations are still bland. "Ram, Assas- sin" is, as I mentioned above, rather derivative, though there's nothing really *wrong* about it. Not much right about it, though, either. "Code Name: Andromeda", again, just sets up the character and situation, and puts off the action until later. It has some interesting ideas, though. This issue is rounded off with one more short feature that'll appear in each issue instead of rotating --- "Rock Solid". Unfortunately, this is the one strip I could do without totally. It's a very limp parody of square- jawed space opera heroes. Sort of a Maxwell Smart of the Spaceways. One of the stated purposes of SWIFTSURE is to showcase new, up-and- coming talent. In this regard, it's about on par with DC's NEW TALENT SHOW- CASE, though in general, the art isn't quite up to that in the DC comic. If you've got money to spare, you might want to give this a try. If money's a bit tight, don't bother. You probably won't find it worth the money, unless you really like to support the new talent. ******************** Short Notices: ALL-STAR SQUADRON #48 Notice that Arthur & Merlin are drawn to look like they did in CAMELOT 3000? Not a subtle tip-of-the-hat, since the story herein is dedicated to Barr and Bolland. BLUE DEVIL #15 A *much* more obscure reference here. Anyone hazard a guess as to where the tourists --- Emma, Henry, and their cowboy kid --- come from? Try "Cathedral Perilous" in the MANHUNTER reprint book. I wonder if I'm the only one to notice; I must write a letter... --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA