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Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: Three Kids' Books
Robots, escape artists, and invisible men
To make up for Manga Friday being so “adult” and off-limits to kids lately, how about some reviews of books that are made for kids? Here are three very different ones – two of ‘em are even “educational!”
Robot Dreams
By Sara Varon
First Second, September 2007, $16.95
But let’s start off with a book with no particular pretensions of teaching anyone anything – it’s just the story of the friendship between a dog and his robot. Robot Dreams is a wordless graphic novel by Sara Varon, whose Chicken and Cat
Robot Dreams is set in the kind of world where there are some real people, and some anthropomorphic people – dogs, cats, raccoons, elephants – and nobody ever notices. Dog lives in a city, and sends away for a robot kit. It arrives, and he builds himself a new friend.
They are briefly the best of friends, until a trip to the beach for Labor Day. Robot goes in the water, and then rusts solid on his towel on the beach. Dog can’t move him, and has to leave. And, when Dog comes back a few days later – with a repair manual and some tools – the beach is closed for the winter, with barbed wire on top of a tall fence.
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Review: 'Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko'
Great collection of art, but story is lacking
As a history of Steve Ditko's career as a comics artist, Strange and Strange: The World of Steve Ditko
Blake Bell's book ($39.99) features hundreds of beautifully reprinted Ditko pages, from his earliest horror stories to his triumph with Amazing Spider-Man
Yet, I came away from the book disappointed, because as well as it explains Ditko as an artist, it hardly begins to explain him as a man.
Admittedly, that's a tough task, as the reclusive Ditko hasn't been interviewed since bell bottoms were cool (or thereabouts), but it's the task Bell sets out upon. The chapters accompanying the art read more than anything like a more-detailed Wikipedia page, full of facts but empty of story.
We hear about all the important moments in Ditko's career, often fleshed out through the quotes of his acquaintances, but we hear less than whispers of his personal life or childhood. Perhaps Bell put on a reporter's hat and tried to find some such information, but if so, he includes neither that information nor an account of how he failed to obtain it.
The few included quotes from Ditko are flatly boring descriptors of his work, overladen with parentheticals. And, again, they only hint at who he is.
For people who come in with a familiarity of Ditko's story, like ComicMix editor Mike Gold, that's a pardonable offense. But for any more unfamiliar reader looking to Strange and Stranger as a true biography, they're sure to find it sorely lacking.
There's a clear narrative to Ditko's life; it's a tragic story of a man who followed the philosophy he thought would make him great, but instead Ayn Rand's objectivism would prevent him from achieving that greatness. And that story remains untold.
Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van's blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.
Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.
Mon Jul 14, 2008 — by Rick Marshall
Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #10 - Midnight
Words are weapons in this week's episode!
The hit BBC series Doctor Who
Every week, I'll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I'll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.
Missed a week? Check out the "Doctor Who in Review" archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.
Keep in mind, I'm going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!
Let's begin now, shall we?
Season Four, Episode #10: "Midnight"
Continue reading Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #10 - Midnight ›
Mon Jul 14, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2' by Chris Ware
One cartoonist's mostly self-lacerating sketchbook
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The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2
By Chris Ware
Drawn & Quarterly, December 2007, $39.95
In typical Chris Ware fashion, this is an attractively (and extensively) packaged book – so much so, in fact, that what this book precisely is isn’t immediately clear. Is it some kind of notebook, journal, or calendar, perhaps? No, it’s Ware’s sketchbook, or perhaps selected pages from that sketchbook, from the years in the title.
Drawn & Quarterly published the first volume of the “ACME Novelty Date Book” in 2003, which included sketchbook pages from 1986 through 1995. That book covered most of Ware’s twenties, starting when he was in college in Austin, Texas and following him forward as he developed the early ACME characters and themes. That first book also had a wide variety of materials; Ware was young and trying out different art styles, but he’d mostly settled down into his current mode by 1995.
So Vol. 2, as Ware mentions himself partway through it, is mostly made up of three kinds of entries: drawings from life, journal entries, and some short comics strips (mostly autobiographical). There are also some sketches and ideas for ACME Novelty Library, and the occasional joke or reference to older comics, but, mostly, it’s those big three.
Continue reading Review: 'The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2' by Chris Ware ›
Fri Jul 11, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Review: This Week in 'Trinity' #6
Your weekly dose of DC's big three
Things started to coalesce in last week's Trinity #5, and issue six keeps moving in the right direction with DC's big three coming to realize there's a big problem building, and they're at the center of it.
This issue has dueling narratives, one part featuring Tarot now hiding out from Morgaine Le Fey's wolf monsters. Tarot continues to see weirdness in her tarot cards, but she dives into it, seeing Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman appear on the cards and in her dreams.
There are some obvious elements in the cards -- Superman on The Sun, Wonder Woman on The Earth and Batman on The Moon -- but also a few more mysterious ones. Batman appears on The Magician, and Superman shows up on The Hanged Man, with the drawing making him look like Christ on the cross. Hmm...
Meanwhile, the big three themselves are up in the JLA space station trying to figure out what's going on and not having much luck. The brand left on Diana's shoulder by another of Morgaine's monsters gives them worry, and again Kurt Busiek's character moments are done quite well.
The two narratives come together as the heroes and Tarot both talk over the nature of the trinity, and their identities as heroes, how they each represent different faces of the same ideal. One strange aspect is that in Tarot's dream, the people around each of the heroes have no faces, like the Question. Hmm...
Fri Jul 11, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Manga Friday: Stories for Girls, But Not About Getting Boys
Four shojo comics that aren't about dating
Half by accident, I realized my manga reading this week included four shojo books – for girls – but that none of them were about dating, boys, or relationships. That’s probably not as unlikely as I think it is, but it’s my theme for the week, and I’m running with it. (Think of it as a nod to Alison Bechdel’s Movie Rule.)
Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1
By Ume Aoki
Yen Press, June 2008, $10.99
Sunshine Sketch is mostly in 4-panel style, though it doesn’t seem to be primarily a gag strip. (Or, at least, if there were supposed to be jokes in each strip, most of them sailed over my head.) The beginning of each section is generally in a more standard page layout, though – and there’s an eight-page color section in the front, for any readers who need to ease into black and white slowly, like a cold pool.
Yuno is a first-year high school student, moving into an apartment complex near her prestigious arts-focused school and quickly becoming friends with her three housemates: Miya, Sae, and Hiro. (And once again I have to wonder – is it really common in Japan for thirteen and fourteen-year-olds to live on their own in apartments when they go to high school? Or is this an accepted fictional trope, something that happens a little bit in life – like a few Americans go to elite boarding schools like Choate – but happens a lot more in fiction?)
Continue reading Manga Friday: Stories for Girls, But Not About Getting Boys ›
Fri Jul 11, 2008 — by Van Jensen
The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 11, 2008
Rounding up the latest comics issues
All around, a great week for comics even in the face of a few serious missteps. And while the latest Secret Invasion was quite good, it was the monthlies that really kicked into high gear. Let's get to the reviews...
Book of the Week: Justice Society of America #17
The latest issue is all about that old axiom, be careful what you wish for. Gog is on the peacepath, so to speak, and turns his focus on the members of the JSA, granting their deepest desires.
But his altruism cuts both ways. Damage gets a new face and Pieter regains his sight, while Starman becomes sane ("not a good thing") and Power Girl is transported home... wherever that is.
It's a slickly done issue by Geoff Johns, who crafts an extremely dangerous story without a whiff of a villain. This series had been needing a kick in the pants, and this issue was a big swing of a steel-toed boot.
Runers Up:
Captain Britain #3
The expected rebirth of Captain Britain was goose-bumps good, and my only complaint is that this Skrull battalion is all fighting and no subterfuge, as they don't utilize that huge shape-shifting advantage.
The Goon #26 -- A classic gangsters-at-war story. Think Miller's Crossing
Continue reading The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 11, 2008 ›
Thu Jul 10, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army'
Does Big Red go the way of Jaunty Monster or Campy Superhero?
If there is one absolute statement that can be made about Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it is that this is easily director Guillermo del Toro’s lightest and funniest film -- which may just be its greatest downfall. If the first film were to be classified as a “horror/action with comedic relief”, this film is most definitely a “horror/comedy with action sequences,” and that could be what hurts the film the most.
The story picks up about a year from where the first film leaves off: the B.P.R.D. has grown, with the addition of Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who is now Hellboy’s live-in girlfriend. Tom Manning (Jeff Tambor) is still in charge of the team and is trying his hardest (“trying” being the operative word) to keep it all a secret from the public. There's all of this, and then there's also an epic war being forged between a renegade elf prince and mankind.
The film starts off sweet enough, on a military base on Christmas during one of Hellboy’s adolescent years. A cameo from John Hurt gets the audience excited right off the bat. Hurt then tells a young Hellboy the story of the first Human/Elf war. This is where we set the mood for the rest of the film. The story is told using computer-generated wooden dolls, rather than actual elves or humans. While Guillermo is known for his imagination with monsters and/or children, this may have been a bit much in the direction of puerility. Instead of giving the impression of a childhood story, the CGI comes across as sloppy and unfinished.
Wed Jul 9, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Ordinary Victories: What is Precious' by Manu Larcenet
Semi-autobio stories about a French photographer
Ordinary Victories: What is Precious
By Manu Larcenet
NBM/ComicsLit, August 2008, $15.95
Ordinary Victories, in France, is a series of four graphic novels about a photographer named Marco Louis. They’ve been very successful, selling hundreds of thousands of copies of each book. But those books are each only about sixty pages long, so they’ve been combined for the American market. This volume contains the second half of the series: volume 3, “What Is Precious,” and volume 4, “Hammering Nails.”
Continue reading Review: 'Ordinary Victories: What is Precious' by Manu Larcenet ›
Tue Jul 8, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Skyscrapers of the Midwest' by Joshua W. Cotter
Anthropomorphic people and giant robots
Skyscrapers of the Midwest
By Joshua W. Cotter
AdHouse Books, June 2008, $19.95
If Chris Ware were a few years younger, grew up in a more religious household, and had less of an obsession with comics formalism, he just might have become Joshua Cotter. Or maybe that’s just me being flippant – it isn’t really fair to Cotter; his work covers some of the same emotional terrain as Ware’s, but is otherwise very different.
Continue reading Review: 'Skyscrapers of the Midwest' by Joshua W. Cotter ›
Mon Jul 7, 2008 — by Alan Kistler
Review: 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' Animated Series
Checking out the wise-cracking webslinger's latest cartoon adventures...
Seriously, folks -- The Spectacular Spider-Man animated television series on the "Kids WB" network is one of the best superhero adaptations I’ve ever seen (and trust me, I've watched more than anyone will probably consider reasonable). It’s fun, it’s smart, it's mature, it’s witty and every episode leaves me wanting more.
Supervising Producer and Story Editor Greg Weisman brings the same level of intelligence to the program that made his acclaimed Gargoyles
How does it compare to Sam Raimi’s interpretation of Spider-Man as someone who whines, mopes and cries a little more often than I’m comfortable with? Forget him. This animated incarnation of Peter Parker is a true New York teenager, cracking jokes on instinct -- even when it’s not necessarily the wisest move.
For example, let’s talk about a brief scene from the first episode. The high-flying villain known as the Vulture grabs businessman Norman Osborn and tosses him to his death from a great height. Spider-Man shows up, catches Osborn in mid-air and remarks, “You guys play hot potato hardcore!” The Vulture screams that the skies belong to him, forcing Spider-Man to concede, “He may be right. I only rent.”
Now that's the kind of dialogue and Bugs Bunny-like attitude I wish I'd seen out of Tobey Maguire.
Continue reading Review: 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' Animated Series ›
Mon Jul 7, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'PvP Vol. 5: PvP Treks On' by Scott Kurtz
The fifth collection of the popular webcomic
PvP Vol. 5: PvP Treks On
By Scott Kurtz
Image, June 2008, $14.99
Image is a comic-book publisher, and sees everything through that lens. So, for them, this is a book “collecting issues 25-31 of the hit comic strip series,” as the cover proclaims. For most of us, though, PvP (http://www.pvponline.com/) is a daily comic strip on the web, so what’s important is that Treks On collects strips from June 12, 2005 through April 9, 2006. (Possibly not all of them, since several seem to be added at the beginning and others are missing at the end – and there were some duplicates in the middle, too – but most of them, at least.)
Continue reading Review: 'PvP Vol. 5: PvP Treks On' by Scott Kurtz ›
Sat Jul 5, 2008 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1' by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong
Two-clawed adventure on the eve of WWII
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Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1: The Iron Prometheus
By Mike Mignolla and Jason Armstrong
Dark Horse, June 2008, $17.95
Lobster Johnson is the mystery man of the Hellboy
So here we finally get Lobster Johnson’s own story…in which he’s a mysterious, pulpish hero in 1937 New York who punches a whole bunch of evil things. The Lobster does have a secret lair, which gets some on-page time, and a group of Doc Savage-esque helpers – but we still don’t know who the Lobster is, why he fights evil, or even the point of his lobster-claw emblem.
On the other hand, we do get a vril-powered (look up your Edward Bulwer-Lytton) super-suit; its wearer, ex-lab assistant Jim Sacks; his kidnapped scientist employer Kyriakos Gallaragas; and the doctor’s requisite lovely daughter Helena, also kidnapped. Not to mention their kidnapper, an evil Asiatic villain.
(Said villain looks very familiar from other Hellboy stories, but he’s not named here, so I’ll leave it at that.)
Continue reading Review: 'Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1' by Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong ›
Fri Jul 4, 2008 — by Matt Raub
Review: Will Smith in 'Hancock'
Does Will Smith's superhero fly?
With comic franchises pouring from Hollywood’s every orifice this year, something like Hancock would normally be considered a breath of fresh, creative air. This can be said for the film on paper, but it fails to deliver in the latter half of the film. That said, Hancock is still good fun in a theater, and delivers with all the things we wanted to see Superman Returns
The plot follows an unruly asshole (not being vulgar, this term is important to the character) of a superhero who resides in downtown Los Angeles, attempts to keep people safe from the ever-rising crime rate, but ends up causing more damage than he prevents. This makes Hancock (Will Smith) the ultimate antihero, being hated by just about everybody in the world (or at least L.A.) He crosses paths with an up-and-coming Public Relations guru (Jason Bateman) who thinks Hancock can become the hero that the world needs, but with a little bit of help.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The text of this review posted after the jump contains descriptions of significant plot points, so consider this your official SPOILER ALERT. -RM]
Thu Jul 3, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Review: This Week in 'Trinity' #5
Your weekly dose of DC's big three
First things first: I actually, gasp, liked this issue.
For the first time ever, Kurt Busiek pulled the storylines together and gave a sense of the big things ahead. Not perfect, but much better than the past few.
What happened?
The fight against Konvikt finally reached an end, as Batman's smarts helped the big three devise a clever knockout punch. Batman was the star of the issue, also nabbing one of Morgaine Le Fey's underlings (which look like the rat creatures from Bone), after it had branded Wonder Woman with an omega symbol.
During a brief interrogation (ended by the rat creature self combusting), it says, "You are the trinity. But you are weakened. Breaking. Soon, you will fall." Buh, buh, BUM!
There's a little character moment that shines, as Batman and Superman are reluctant to advise Diana to see a doctor, and she points out the inconsistencies of gender relations. It makes her character a little more interesting, which is something plenty of other writers have failed to do.
In the backup, a trio of lame villains (Whiteout!?!) try to kidnap Tarot, who has started to see the trinity in her cards (as justice, strength and the devil -- guess which hero goes to which card).
They fail, not unpredictably, in large part thanks to the reappearance of Gangbuster. Which, I've got to say, is pretty awesome. At the end, we see Morgaine Le Fey's creatures after Tarot.
Like I said, everything's coming together nicely, and we have dire warnings galore. So, hope returns, although I'm still curious as to why Busiek feels the need to include only the lamest villains.
Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van's blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.
Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.
