boyajian@akov68.DEC (05/07/85)
> From: fluke!moriarty (Jeff Meyer) > Argh! BATO -- The Comic Book No Critic Can Decide On! Yeah, well, now with > Davis's art (which is good) replacing Aparo, I've lost interest. It may be > this ridiculous Halo origin story (back to Metamorpho next issue, which is > a much better character to bounce off of), but I prefer Jimbo. Oh, well, > there's no accounting for taste... Especially your taste, eh? :-) Oh, well, as they say, if we agreed on every- thing, one of us wouldn't be necessary. Aparo's a good, solid, competent artist, but I don't think there's any freshness to his style. I may well say the same about Alan Davis after 20 years. Unlike Miller, or Simonson, or Chaykin, or some others, I don't think Aparo has grown much since I first saw his art back in the late 60's. There's this little category of artist that I refer to by the adjectives I used above --- Good, Solid, Competent Artists. This group includes those people who do consistently good, but not outstanding artwork. Members of this club include Aparo, Jim Mooney, John Romita (Sr.), Irv Novick, the late Dick Dillin, Keith Pollard, Dan Spiegle (no, I'm not overwhelmed by *his* work, either), John Buscema, Curt Swan, and Kurt Schaffenberger. > However, the Musical Quotes section on the letters page was > pretty good (Did you know Julie Brown sang a song with the lyrics "What > kind of a guy does it for me? Superman with a lobotomy". The title is > "I Like 'Em Big and Stupid"). Yes, it's on a "mini-LP" (or EP, if you prefer) called HOMECOMING QUEEN'S GOT A GUN. Julie Brown is one strange chick. The title song is about a homecoming queen who goes on a shooting spree. Another song is about how an alien made love to her and she's given birth to a half-breed. Like I said, one strange chick. > ZOT #8 [A]: > > How can one book have so much good stuff in it? Honestly! The tie-up > of several subplots. Several moments where I noticed quite a lump in > my throat (the characters are THAT good, gang). Beautiful art (the > "key" mural on the last page... with the door as the last panel). > Prince Drufus and the pipe (that really got to me). The little girl > who IS Sirius IV -- how many times has a comic tried to inject > wonderment and failed? Not here. Never here. And of course, GREAT > characters... While I have no end of admiration for this book, I don't think I'd rate it as highly as you do, especially this issue. Granted, there were a host of nice things in here, but I wasn't bowled over by it. There was only one scene that really, *really* did me in. Jenny's asking is there's any future for her and Zot, and then saying, "No...forget it...I don't think I want to know anyway..." In all of the comics I've ever read, love is expressed solely as passion. ZOT! is the only example that comes to mind in which love is expressed as pure unadulterated *love*. Jenny is obviously head over heels in love with Zot (and possibly vice versa, too), and it's the most honest love I've ever come across in comics. Part of what makes their relation- ship so special is that we're seeing them grow into it. Too often, it's a simple all-of-a-sudden-they're-in-love type of thing, or we find out one character loves another because the thought balloons say so. In addition, this is obviously Jenny's first love and it hasn't been clear that she or Zot know exactly what it is they feel for each other. Jenny's become one of my favorite comics characters. > Whatever you can say about X-Men falling on hard times, the parent book > definitely has a) a great artist, in the form of John Romita, Jr. (I > love the opening sequence with The Juggernaut),... There are times when JRJr shines through (that scene you mention is one of them), but I really don't care for his general sketchiness. Dan Green is just not a good enough inker for him. Now if Bob Layton wasn't busy... > POWER PACK #12 [C-]: Nice to see that SECRET WARS II (which I *refuse* > to buy) hasn't wormed itself into this book yet. Not yet, anyway. > MS VICTORY #1 [F]: Thought maybe something AC publishes besides POWER > PLAYS might be good. Nope. It's interesting that we both gave the same book a shot. Perhaps you were swayed by Don Thompson's review in CBG, as well as the artist? --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA