Comics for 22 December 2004
Just a few this week:
Black Widow #4 by Richard K. Morgan, Goran Parlov, and Bill Sienkiewicz
$2.99, Marvel
More of the same -- intrigue, mystery, sex appeal, chicks kicking ass -- everything you could want from a Black Widow comic! More excellent art. The story moves along nicely, although I'm still wondering what connection the girl Natasha saved at the truck stop has to the story. There's also a retcon ("retroactive continuity," but in comic book circles, it's used as a verb) to Natasha's past which makes a good deal of sense, if you think about it. She also learns there have been many Black Widows, which also makes sense if you think about it. Morgan takes a swipe at Rucka's Black Widow, as well. We don't learn all that much more about the mystery in this issue, and like in a lot of 5- and 6-issue mini-series, there has to be at least one holding pattern issue. This is better than some, but that's what it is -- an issue in a holding pattern. Good stuff in the context of the larger series, but just kind of there as a single issue.
Catwoman: When in Rome #3 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
$3.50, DC
What can I say? It's pretty to look at. Again, not much happens in this issue. Lots of big pages of Sale art that looks nice, and the Riddle exits the story (presumably he'll be back, or else why was he there in the first place?) just as the Cheetah enters. Yes, the Cheetah. Sigh. Selina implies that she knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, but again, this is supposed to be a story from long ago (I think) and she's not supposed to know his little secret. Sigh again. If I weren't a sucker, I'd stop buying this. But I'm hooked now. Flee while you can. Your lives will not suffer if you don't own this.
JLA: Classified #2 by Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness, and Dexter Vines
$2.95, DC
It's so nice to see a writer who knows when to just throw everything at the canvas and see what sticks. Morrison has three issues to tell his story, but I bet another writer (Bendis and Ellis, I'm looking at you) would have already written four issues with the material we've gotten in the first two issues. JLA: Classified is just a fun book, full of wonder at the whole superhero conceit. Morrison still can't let the Crisis on Infinite Earths go, as he places the JLA (who were missing last issue) on an attoscopic Earth in the infant universe of Qwewq (yeah, I don't get it either -- but I don't care!). Apparently Gorilla Grodd had lured them there with the help of a super-villain named Black Death. Back in our world, Grodd and Neh-buh-loh are busy eating superheroes (that would be Grodd, who in one panel sucks on the leg bone of an unidentified hero) or turning the Ultramarines into their mindless slaves. Batman sics the robot JLA on them, but that doesn't work, and at the end, the real JLA turns up to kick ass. Next issue: a big old-fashioned throw-down between the JLA and the Ultramarines!
This sounds wacky, and it sort of is, but anyone who is a fan of superheroes should read this. Morrison (who might actually get me to read Superman when he takes it over) knows what he's doing, even though it appears he's insane sometimes. McGuinness's art is wonderful, as well, as he shows the world on which the JLA is trapped (a world without superheroes, by the way) in pages of sixteen panels that make the reality of our world (if that's where Morrison's going) claustrophobic compared to the wide open extravagance of the DC Universe. The art, combined with the story, make this one spectacular comic.
Go read it!
Black Widow #4 by Richard K. Morgan, Goran Parlov, and Bill Sienkiewicz
$2.99, Marvel
More of the same -- intrigue, mystery, sex appeal, chicks kicking ass -- everything you could want from a Black Widow comic! More excellent art. The story moves along nicely, although I'm still wondering what connection the girl Natasha saved at the truck stop has to the story. There's also a retcon ("retroactive continuity," but in comic book circles, it's used as a verb) to Natasha's past which makes a good deal of sense, if you think about it. She also learns there have been many Black Widows, which also makes sense if you think about it. Morgan takes a swipe at Rucka's Black Widow, as well. We don't learn all that much more about the mystery in this issue, and like in a lot of 5- and 6-issue mini-series, there has to be at least one holding pattern issue. This is better than some, but that's what it is -- an issue in a holding pattern. Good stuff in the context of the larger series, but just kind of there as a single issue.
Catwoman: When in Rome #3 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
$3.50, DC
What can I say? It's pretty to look at. Again, not much happens in this issue. Lots of big pages of Sale art that looks nice, and the Riddle exits the story (presumably he'll be back, or else why was he there in the first place?) just as the Cheetah enters. Yes, the Cheetah. Sigh. Selina implies that she knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, but again, this is supposed to be a story from long ago (I think) and she's not supposed to know his little secret. Sigh again. If I weren't a sucker, I'd stop buying this. But I'm hooked now. Flee while you can. Your lives will not suffer if you don't own this.
JLA: Classified #2 by Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness, and Dexter Vines
$2.95, DC
It's so nice to see a writer who knows when to just throw everything at the canvas and see what sticks. Morrison has three issues to tell his story, but I bet another writer (Bendis and Ellis, I'm looking at you) would have already written four issues with the material we've gotten in the first two issues. JLA: Classified is just a fun book, full of wonder at the whole superhero conceit. Morrison still can't let the Crisis on Infinite Earths go, as he places the JLA (who were missing last issue) on an attoscopic Earth in the infant universe of Qwewq (yeah, I don't get it either -- but I don't care!). Apparently Gorilla Grodd had lured them there with the help of a super-villain named Black Death. Back in our world, Grodd and Neh-buh-loh are busy eating superheroes (that would be Grodd, who in one panel sucks on the leg bone of an unidentified hero) or turning the Ultramarines into their mindless slaves. Batman sics the robot JLA on them, but that doesn't work, and at the end, the real JLA turns up to kick ass. Next issue: a big old-fashioned throw-down between the JLA and the Ultramarines!
This sounds wacky, and it sort of is, but anyone who is a fan of superheroes should read this. Morrison (who might actually get me to read Superman when he takes it over) knows what he's doing, even though it appears he's insane sometimes. McGuinness's art is wonderful, as well, as he shows the world on which the JLA is trapped (a world without superheroes, by the way) in pages of sixteen panels that make the reality of our world (if that's where Morrison's going) claustrophobic compared to the wide open extravagance of the DC Universe. The art, combined with the story, make this one spectacular comic.
Go read it!
posted by Greg | 2:00 PM
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