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Review Date: Thursday, February 24,
2011
| Good King Leonardo offers up a mix of comic themes
for review for this week, ranging from a standard DC
Comics title to a classic science fiction theme and
ending with an alternative European-published comic
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Teen
Titans: Cold Case #1 (One-Shot)
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Mark Sable: Writer
Sean Murphy: Art
Brad Anderson: Colors
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DC currently has a Teen Titans
one-shot special comic book on the new issues shelves
entitled "Teen Titans: Cold Case #1." The issue
is written by Mark Sable with art by Sean Murphy
and colors by Brad Anderson. The story is entitled
"Father's Day" and the setting is actually a sort
of throwback, set approximately one year after the
"Identity Crisis" DC mega-event published back in
2004. For the uninitiated, Identity Crisis was a
popular mystery series scripted by well-known writer
Brad Meltzer, which revolved around the question
as to who murdered Sue Dibny, wife of DC superhero
The Elongated Man. Part of the plot involved Robin/Tim
Drake's father being murdered.
This Teen Titans one-shot storyline
picks-up on the "death-of-Robin's-father" theme,
opening with Robin struggling with two parallel
issues: coping with internal guilt for having failed
to prevent his father's murder while at nthe same
time trying to coalesce a new membership of Teen
Titans, consisting of himself, Rose Wilson/Ravager,
Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Kid Devil. There's a lot
of mistrust here, particularly regarding Ravager,
the supposedly reformed daughter of bad guy Deathstroke.
An intricate story thread proceeds, as Deathstroke
lures his daughter into a trap with the bait of
a mysterious briefcase, the contents of which supposedly
will help Robin address his father's death. Said
trap consists of the entire Teen Titans stumbling
into a major confrontation with The Rogues, the
large and well-known group of villains from the
Flash comic book universe, led by old Flash foe
Captain Cold. The second half of the issue details
and interconnects three plotthreads: a major battle
among the players, a reveal of the briefcase contents
and the Teen Titans attempting to resolve conflicts
and teen angst issues within the group.
I've shyed away for a few years
from reviewing any comic book starring The Teen
Titans, after consistent disappointment with the
Titan comics that I picked to read each time back
then. As such, it was very enjoyable to give these
well-known young DC team members another read and
find this latest one-shot title a major improvement
on those earlier issues. Its very creative and entertaining
of writer Mark Sable to take us back a few years
within the chronology of the DC universe with a
postscript storyline from the Identity Crisis era.
The strength of this effort lies in Sable's weaving
of three major themes into one cogent plot: the
struggle of the new Teen Titans to coalesce as a
functional group, their conflict with the group
of bad guys and Robin's struggle within the "Father's
Day" title theme to come to terms with the circumstances
of his father's death. Graphically laid-out with
strong effect, the tale is entertaining, emotionally
moving and satisfying from start to finish.
I have no idea whether this one-shot
storyline serves to establish a new direction within
the ongoing monthly Teen Titans title, but I suspect
it does; either way, it's a worthy high quality
comic to check-out and its definitely pushed me
into checking-out the regular Teen Titans series
in the near future for hopefully some more installments
of this particular make-up of Teen Titan characters
and their ongoing adventures.
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Formic
Wars: Burning Earth #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Aaron Johnston: Writer
Giancarlo Caracuzzo: Art
Jim Charalampidis: Colors
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Marvel Comics has just released
issue #1 in a new five-issue limited series of a
science fiction comic book entitled "Formic Wars:
Burning Earth". The series is a prequel story to
well-known science fiction writer Orson Scott Card's
"Ender's Game" series of science fiction novels.
Marvel published a comic book adaptation of Ender's
Game last year, for which I wrote a positive review
of issue #1. This current series is scripted by
Aaron Johnston with art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo and
colors by Jim Charalampidis.
A page one narrative tells us that
this prequel is set during the First Formic War,
which was a smaller-scale outer space war in which
a ragtag group of outer space asteroid miners fought-off
the first appearance of the insect-like alien invaders.
The first issue story segment introduces us to two
warring asteroid mining factions-the large Juke
Limited Corporation and the independent mining ship
El Cavador, crewed by a large extended family of
Venezuelan miners. The plotline unfolds as the two
groups literally war against each other over rare
asteroid stakes. A nasty attack by the corporate
big bad guys leaves the El Cavador no choice but
to try and stake-out a very remote asteroid claim.
By issue's end, the El Cavador has picked-up a remote
signal of an approaching alien vessel, obviously
the invaders who will arrive on the scene in issue
#2.
I was very impressed with the creative
team's graphic production of this slice of Orson
Scott Card's grand and impressive Ender's Game space
opera universe. There's a richness of dialogue detail
that's missing in most science fiction comic book
adaptations, as page-by-page we're introduced to
the warring asteroid miner factions. Its obvious
that as the invasion proceeds, these human rivals
are going to have to put aside their differences
and unite to save humanity, so its both interesting
and very effective to have an issue #1 story segment
that delves deeply into the background of their
internal human rivalry.
Even the best graphic adaptations
of good science fiction generalizes the tale that
is being adapted to comic book form. As such, its
a rare treat to find a series that manages to overcome
that obstacle and project a sense that one is reading
the full storyline of the fictional version of the
tale. So a definite positive thumbs-up review recommendation
for fans of writer Orson Scott Card, general science
fiction fans and even generic comic book fans to
check-out this high quality new limited edition
series from Marvel Comics.
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Meditterranea
#1
Publisher: GG Studio
Alessandro Cenni: Writer
Gjianluca Maconi: Pencils
Alessia Nocera & Barbara Ciardo: Colors
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The first two issues are available
on the That's Entertainment new issues shelves of
an imported comic from the Italian comic book publisher
GG Studio, entitled Meditterranea. I decided to review
issue #1, written by Alessandro Cenni with pencils
by Gjianluca Maconi and colors by Alessia Nocera and
Barbara Ciardo.
This is a high fantasy genre tale, set in the fantasy
world of Meditteranea. The plot centers on a trio
of travelers, the elderly Master Auraki and his two
young and sexy female assistants, Eleni and Alonisso.
Apparently, the inhabitants of this world consist
of a few different humanoid races. The first half
of the issue details the trio traveling to and arriving
in a coastal city with the purpose of Master Auraki
getting set to negotiate a revision to the treaty
that keeps the peace among these varied beings. Action
and suspense kick-in for the remainder of the issue,
as a mysterious female assailant tries to disrupt
the effort and a just-as-mysterious savior arrives
to protect the travelers. Its clear by issue's end
that the fast action and political maneuvering will
progress in the next issue.
I reviewed GG Studio's "The One" comic not too long
ago and liked it, although it was a bit confusing
to follow at times. No similar problem is at-hand,
here; this is an excellent high fantasy premise, reminding
me of the best short story and novel fantasy fiction
of classic fantasy writer Ursula K. LeGuin. I loved
the story setting that blends both old and new, the
old being a geographical setting resembling Earth's
coastal Meditteranean society and the new being the
obviously alien location inhabited by a futuristic
population of fantastical people. The European graphic
style of presenting the many young women in the story
as sexy and bikini-clad isn't overdone and actually
makes sense, given the beachside story setting.
So try something different for a change, and add this
interesting Italian import to your ever-growing pile
of domestically-produced new comic books. A little
variety will do you some good and you won't be disappointed
with this unusual and intriguing fatnasy storyline.
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
In honor of Major League Baseball spring training,
our current contest challenged you to name at least one
of two famous former Red Sox pitchers who pitched early
in their careers for the Pan-Alaska Goldpanners, a collegiate
team in the summer Alaskan Baseball League. And our contest
winner is (drumroll, please),,,David McBarron, who correctly
identified Bill "Spaceman" Lee as a former Goldpanner. Our
second player was former pitching great Tom Seaver, who
did a brief stint with the Red Sox late in his career. Congratulations
to David, who is the winner of the $10.00 first prize gift
certificate to That's Entertainment.
New
Contest Announcement!!!
Let's put our comic book thinking caps back
on for this week's contest. Your challenge for this week
is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
and pitch to us a comic book title that you think we should
review in an upcoming edition of this column. It can be
a comic title that we've reviewed before and you think we
should review once again, or you can offer-up a title that
we haven't taken a look at yet. Either way, make your case
on why your submittal is "review-worthy." Our contest winner
will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment
and, of course, we will review the winning contest entry!
That's all for now, so have a great comic book reading
week and see you again next week Here In Bongo Congo!
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