Review Date: Thursday, December 16,
2010
Good King Leonardo has decreed that we kick-off
the holiday season with a review of a holiday-themed
DC comic, followed by reviews of two standard superhero
comic books: |
DCU
Holiday Special 2010 #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Various Writers and Artists
DC
Comics kicks-off the holiday season with a holiday-themed
one-shot entitled DCU Holiday Special 2010 #1.
The issue includes six stories written by various
teams of writers and artists, starring an eclectic mix of
well-known DC Universe heroes, both super-powered and otherwise.
The six stories star, in order, DC's old caveman
adventurer Anthro, Western anti-hero Jonah Hex, Green Lantern
John Stewart, Superman, The Spectre and The Legion Of Super-Heroes.
As a brief summary of the plotlines,
each tale focuses on a different holiday that occurs during
this holiday season. Since Anthro
pre-dates our modern religions, Anthro and his caveman family
have a hunting adventure as they consider celebrating "the
winter solstice."¯ The Jonah
Hex tale is a Hanukkah story set in the Old West, as Hex
helps a young Jewish boy avenge his Rabbi father who was
murdered by a pair of Old West thieves. The
Green Lantern story features a holiday observance on another
planet with parallels to Muslim festivities, while the Superman
tale focuses on Thanksgiving. The
Spectre tale centers on the Persian New Year, while the
Legion story is set in 31st century Metropolis
on "Holiday,"¯ a generic future holiday that combines
all of our 2010 holidays into one generic observance.
While I'm sure every reader will
have their own particular preferences among the six titles,
in my review opinion, I found four of the tales to be both
entertaining and high quality, while two didn't make the
grade for me. The Jonah Hex tale was
very strong, lending a Wild West atmosphere to the celebration
of Hannukah. I really liked the Green
Lantern tale, with its drawn parallels between the alien's
religion and the Muslim holiday as a nice comment on the
universality of belief. The Superman
tale was a very moving comment on the true nature of heroism
and The Spectre tale was also a very moving comment on the
current Iraq war situation and faith in human decency.
The Anthro and Legion tales didn't
work for me. It was too much of a
stretch to try to fold the caveman hunting adventure into
this holiday-themed comic book with the occasional story
dialogue about the winter solstice; it just doesn't hold-up
with the modern holiday focus of the rest of this issue.
While the Legion tale was a decent mystery-themed
story, it was on very thin ice with the just plain stupid
concept that in the future, the world government for the
sake of harmony has ordered that all of today's various
celebration holidays are bundled into a generic one-stop
observance officially called "Holiday"¯ (yeesh!!!)
But the two weaker stories aside,
the four better tales are very enjoyable and well-crafted,
both in script and in the various artistic styles.
And who knows, there are likely readers out there
who like the Anthro and Legion tales more than I did.
So a definite and worthy holiday-season thumbs-up
recommendation to check-out this interesting and eclectic
2010 holiday season one-shot comic book from DC.
I
Am An Avenger #4
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Various Writers and Artists
This comic book is the latest installment
in a five-issue mini-series from Marvel Comics, similar
in format to the DC holiday issue reviewed above in that
it contains four separate stories related in some manner
to the Avengers. The first two tales
are the lengthiest, respectively starring Ben Grimm/The
Thing and Firestar and Justice, followed by a two-page short
featuring Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel. The
fourth and final story is a one-page wonder starring Iron
Man and Stature.
The Ben Grimm story is the concluding
segment of a multi-issue tale, in which Ben joins a new
assemblage of the Avengers led by Luke Cage.
The plotline centers on the effect on the Fantastic
Four/Richards family as Ben works to balance belonging to
both groups. The tale resolves with a nice message on what
it means to be part of a team (Avengers) as well as a family
( the FF, of course). The Firestar/Justice
tale is the final segment of a very high action story.
I won't spoil the details, beyond saying it centers
on time travel, bad guy/Norse God Loki and emotional issues
between the pair of heroes. The remaining
two stories are short little vignettes that I won't summarize
for fear of giving away their very brief plots.
This is a fun and variety-packed
issue with a nice mix of both featured characters and styles
of storytelling. I was very impressed
with the two main tales. The Ben Grimm
story is a nice comment regarding superheroes trying to
balance job with family and the Firestar/Justice tale's
time travel plot is very intriguing, as several Marvel heroes
pair-up with the older/younger versions of themselves to
battle Loki. The story ends on a very
well-presented, albeit melancholy note that adds a lot of
emotional punch to the tale.
I did find the Spider-Woman/Ms. Marvel
tale a waste of two good pages of comic book print; there's
absolutely no plot in this brief story, as the pair beat-up
a few bad guys all the while proclaiming how happy they
are fighting crime. And finally, the
one-page Iron Man/Stature story is the icing on the cake,
a perfectly adorable ending to the issue.
Created by Lucy Kinsley, it's just a funny riff on
the pair of heroes that's most likely produced for kids
but is entertaining for all ages, nonetheless.
So its nice to see in this week's
reviews so far two comics featuring multiple short tales
in each issue, offering both quality and variety for fans
of all reading tastes and preferences. Some
nice reading variety from DC and Marvel for your holiday
season reading pile!
Doorways
#1
Publisher: IDW Publishing
George R.R. Martin: Writer
Stefano Martino: Art
IDW Publishing has released two issues
so far in its new science fiction title Doorways, so I decided
to review last month's issue #1 to get a feel for the title
from the beginning of the story. The
comic book is the brainchild of well-known science fiction
writer George R.R. Martin, with art by Stefano Martino.
The plot of this science fiction
adventure centers on Cat, a young female warrior who materializes
one evening in our world and immediately lands herself in
an emergency ward, where she's befriended by the young emergency
room doctor, Thomas Mason. Unable
to speak English and loaded with hand-held alien-like technology
and weaponry, the authorities lock-up Cat to try and figure
out just what the heck is going on here.
The sci-fi adventure gets ratcheted-up real quickly
here, as three demon-like pursuers materialize in our world
and ready themselves to enter the big city and catch the
interdimensional fleeing Cat. The
first issue ends in a dramatic bridge as the good Doctor
Mason helps Cat escape custody so together they can begin
fleeing the demonic pursuers.
My initial reaction as I started
to read this comic book was that the general concept didn't
seem that original: exotic girl jumps worlds, meets ordinary
American boy and they team-up to either flee or fight alien
pursuers. But in the talented hands
of veteran writer George R.R. Martin, this is a very original
and entertaining graphic science fiction adventure.
Martin elevates this title above the ordinary with
intriguing details regarding Cat's technology and the mystery
of exactly who she is and what her alternate reality is
really all about. Comic book readers
of all interests should get a kick out of reading this well-crafted
graphic science fiction adventure tale.
On a final review note, its worth
mentioning that the 22-page story is followed by a four-page
column written by George R.R. Martin, which chronicles in
detail the history of his efforts in the early 1990's to
get this story concept on the air at ABC as a weekly television
series. It's a fascinating account
of the television production process, as he came within
a breath of getting the show on the air, before it was bumped
by the network for another science fiction t.v. show entitled
"Lois And Clark"¯-sound familiar?!
Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenge
was for you to tell us what work of fiction you believe
would make a good transition to publication in comic book
form in the Classics Illustrated comic book series.
And our winner is (drumroll, please)"¦Kevin
Browne who suggests that J.K. Rowland's Harry Potter books
would make a good Classics Illustrated series.
Kevin mentions that he assumed that somewhere out
in the wide world of comic book publishing, Harry Potter
had already made the transition but he did a bit of research
and nothing popped-up. It's probably
just a matter of time before we do see Harry Potter comics,
though. Congrats to Kevin who wins
our $10.00 first prize gift certificate to That's Entertainment.
New
Contest Announcement!!!
With the holiday season
in full swing, the Bongo Congo panel of contest judges want
to challenge you with a holiday season-related trivia contest
that fits right into our pop culture emporium world.
So here's your couch potato, television-watching
contest challenge. E-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
with the correct answer to the following question:
What product is being sold in the Christmas-themed
Acura automobile commercial currently being aired on t.v.,
in which the character in the commercial makes the statement
"The Chestnut, she is a fickle beast"¦"¯
Our first prize winner will receive a $10.00 gift
certificate to That's Entertainment. As
always, in the event of multiple correct entries, our winner
will be chosen from among the correct entries by the roll
of the dice.
That's all now for,
so have another great holiday season shopping and comic
book reading week and see you again next week Here In Bongo
Congo!