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Review Date: 09/30/2011
Here in Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo noticed lots of premier new comic
book titles out there this week, so let's see how three
of these issue #1's stack-up against each other: |
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John
Carter Of Mars: A Princess Of Mars #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Roger Langridge: Writer
Filipe Andrade: Art
Sunny Gho: Colors
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In lead-up
to next summer's Marvel Comics/Disney movie production
of John Carter Of Mars, Marvel Comics has just published
issue #1 of a 5-issue mini-series of the story.
I've previously reviewed a few issues of various
Dynamite Comics titles which either re-tell or add
new adventures to the well-known Edgar Rice Burroughs-penned
science fiction tale of a 19th century American
who's mysteriously teleported to Mars (called Barsoom
by the natives) and has many pulp adventures with
the various Martian indigenous races, along with
a romance with Martian Princess Deja Thoris. This
latest interpretation of the tale is scripted by
Roger Langridge with art by FilipeAndrade and colors
by Sunny Gho.
Our new re-telling
of the tale is entitled "First Contact!" Its a fast-moving
plot which begins with Carter disoriented after
teleporting to Mars and being captured by the dominant,
green-skinned warrior race. Most of the issue #1
storyline balances the desire of Carter to escape
his captors with the fact that he and the Martians
actually warm to each other as they each get to
know a bit about the other side. When an opportintuy
to escape does arise, Carter walks into danger only
to be rescued by his giant Martian guard dog. The
incident further bonds Carter to the aliens, just
in time for a high tech battle to ensue between
Barsoomian races. The premier issue story segment
ends in a dramatic bridge, as Carter and his jailers/new
allies capture a battle survivor, who turns-out
to be none other than Princess Deja Thoris herself.
There have been so many comic book and fictional tellings
of this tale, that a new comic title better bring
something very special to the reading table if its
going to make its own mark within the wide inventory
of John Carter storytellings. Both surprisingly and
happily, this new title adds such groundbreaking quality
and storytelling to the well-worn franchise. I suppose
this success really shouldn't be that much of a surprise,
given that Roger Langridge scripts the title. Langridge
proved in last year's popular "Thor The Mighty Avenger"
series that he has a strong ability to add a fresh
perspective to a well-known, established fictional
storyline. He wonderfully repeats that Thor franchise
success here with John Carter. From the dialogue to
the visual presentation to the basic story action/panel
lay-out, the Langridge-led creative team gives us
a very fresh and entertaining new storytelling spin,
to the point where by issue's end, I felt as if I'd
read a brand-new John Carter adventure, as opposed
to a very creative re-telling of a familiar pulp science
fiction classic story.
So a positive thumbs-up review recommendation to read
this new mini-series, whether you're already a John
Carter fan or just looking for something new to experience.
And if the quality of next summer's tie-in movie is
anything close to the creative and high quality approach
of this comic book title, there's going to one mega-box
office blockbuster hit out there in the cinematic
version of this excellent comic book series.
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Stormwatch
#1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Paul Cornell: Writer
Miguel Sepulveda: Art
Allen Passalaqua: Colors
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Among the many
new titles being released as part of DC's "New 52"
restructuring is Stormwatch #1. For the uninitiated,
Stormwatch is a title created by Jim Lee at Image
Comics which further evolved at Wildstorm Publishing
and is currently revamped for inclusion in the new
DC universe. The concept is that Stormwatch is an
international team of heroes, currently affiliated
with the United Nations, that has secretly protected
mankind from alien threats over the centuries. The
DC revival of the series includes some previous
Stormwatch characters, a few new team members and
DC's well-known superhero the Martian Manhunter.
The title is scripted by Paul Cornell with art by
Miguel Sepulveda and colors by Allen Passalaqua.
The issue
#1 storyline is part one of a multi-issue story
arc entitled "The Dark Side." The story mixes three
sub-plots together to re-start the world of Stormwatch.
In Moscow, a team of Stormwatch folk including the
Martian Manhunter pursue and confront a citizen
with mysterious powers who has no intention of getting
involved in superbeing do-gooding. In a very unique
plotthread, an alien artifact transforms the moon
into a sentient being equipped with giant claws
and a huge eye, intent on threatening the Earth.
And in the Himalayas, a pair of superpowered Stormwatch
members trackdown a giant, frozen worm creature
(shades of Dune!) for unexplained purposes. The
issue ends in a dramatic bridge as the Moscow team
is defeated by the mysterious superbeing Midnighter,
who offers the pursued Moscow super-citizen a chance
to kill every bad guy on the planet.
I had a mixed
reaction to reading issue #1 of this new title.
On the positive side, there's a lot of fun and intriguing
story stuff jam-packed into this issue. Any one
of the three sub-plots has enough action, adventure
and fresh plot concepts to stand-alone as a full-issue
storyline. I particularly enjoyed two story elements:
the "rogue sentient moon" plotthread and writer
Paul Cornell's style of dropping into the dialogue
intriguing backhistory treats about various team
members, which reflect their centuries-long history
and lives. There's also a nice feel of grand-scale,
science fiction-like events unfolding in these storylines,
similar to Warren Ellis's story approach in the
acclaimed Planetary series, which was a sister publication
to Stormwatch in its earlier Wildstorm Publishing
incarnation.
Balancing this good story stuff is a very jumbled
story presentation; the fun stuff is just thrown all
over the story lay-out with absolutely no explanation
of the Stormwatch team concept or their backstory.
Everything that I've described so far in this review
about the Stormwatch universe was derived from sources
outside of issue #1. This premier issue gives the
reader absolutely no orientation or explanation of
who the heck these folk are or what they're all about.
So a mixed review, here: a definite recommendation
to check-out this title, along with the helpful warning
that DC better add some page-one narrative details
to future issues, or the confusion's gonna mount for
"New 52" readers who aren't veteran Stormwatch fans,
and the title will be in danger of fading in fanbase
support.
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Static
Shock #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Scott McDaniel & John Rozum: Writers
Scott McDaniel: Pencils
Jonathan Glapion & Le Beau Underwood: Inks
Guy Major: Colors
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Another one
of the "New 52" titles premiering this past week
is issue #1 of Static Shock. Again for the uninitiated,
Static Shock is 15-year-old African-American teen
Virgil Hawkins, who has costumed hero adventures
using his electromagnetic powers. The character
has been around the DC and animated television universe
for a few decades and actually originated as a proposed
concept for Marvel Comics based on the Spiderman
teen-angst model. The new title is scripted by the
team of Scott McDaniel and John Rozum, with pencils
by Scott McDaniel, inks by Jonathan Glapion and
Le Beau Underwood and colors by Guy Major.
The issue
#1 re-boot is appropriately entitled "Recharged"
and opens with a fast-action sequence as Static
battles to control a renegade STAR Labs technician
who's out-of-control wearing an electromagnetic
power suit. The plot shifts to more of a mystery/intrigue
theme as we learn that the lab tech was actually
manipulated by a large supervillain syndicate led
by the villain Piranha. A second plotline focuses
on Virgil Hawkins's civilian life, as he tries to
adjust to his family relocating from Dakota to New
York City. Virgil's civilian and hero identities
blend together in his daily life when he spends
time in his new role as a student intern at STAR
Labs. The issue #1 story introduction ends in a
dramatic bridge to next month's issue as Virgil/Static
is attacked on his patrol of the city by members
of the superhero gang.
This is a
decent and entertaining read for teenaged fanboys
and fangirls as well as older readers. Its the first
DC comic that I've read since the most recent Blue
Beetle title of a few years ago that specifically
stars an average-teen-with-powers and as such does
an admirable job of filling the shoes of that previous
teen-oriented comic book. You can definitiely see
how the original teen angst persona of Peter Parker/Spider-Man
influenced the Static creators. Beyond that target
audience effort, I was impressed with the quality
of the storytelling. The writers have a knack for
weaving subtle but intriguing story elements into
this issue which most likely will lay the groundwork
for interesting developments in future monthly issues
of Static Shock. My two favorites were an unexpected
reference to the possibility of events attracting
Hawkman's attention and the presence of some corrupt
police detectives as active members of the villainous
syndicate.
So a positive thumbs-up recommendation to both check-out
issue #1 of this latest incarnation of Static Shock
and to stick around for the upcoming issues to see
where some of these interesting plotthreads lead over
the next several months.
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest
challenged you to e-mail us with your honest opinion, good,
bad or anywhere in between, regarding the quality of all
or some of the many "New 52" titles that are part of the
ongoing re-boot of the DC Comics universe. And our contest
winner is (drumroll, please)...David McBarron, who tells
us that so far he's read the New 52 Detective Comics, Action
Comics and Green Lantern issues. David tells us that he
thought that the Superman plot in Action actually was similar
in some aspects to a Spider-Man story element. In addition,
he adds "The stories seem good so far and the art was excellent...it
also seems that the heroes in these books are more on the
edge and are a little more gritty...I will keep reading
them for awhile and see what happens." Sounds like some
good obervations and advice from David as we all continue
to read various New 52 titles. Congratulations to David
as the winner of our first prize $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Announcement!!!
Let's try another local Worcester piece of
trivia again for our latest contest. Your challenge is to
e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
with the correct answer to the following question: What
well-known (and well-traveled!) Worcester roadway has been
nicknamed "The Speedway" by generations of Worcester drivers?
As always, in the event of more than one correct contest
entry, our winner of the first prize $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment will be selected via a roll of the
dice.
That's all for now, so have a great two weeks of comic
book reading (and baseball playoffs watching!) and see you
again on October 14 Here In Bongo Congo!
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