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Review Date: Friday, April 13, 2012
Here in Bongo Congo
There are lots of interesting new comic book issues
out this week, so Good King Leonardo has decreed that
we get right to it and see how they stack-up against
each other: |
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Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Brian Michael
Bendis & Jason Aaron: Writers
Frank Cho:
Art
Jason Keith:
Colors
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As a prelude
to the upcoming issue #1 of the Avengers vs.
X-Men mega-event, Marvel Comics has released a prequel
issue #0. This comic book sets the
stage for the kick-off events in issue #1 with two
introductory stories, an Avengers tale starring
The Scarlet Witch and an X-Men story featuring Hope
Summers. Brian Michael Bendis has scripted
the Scarlet Witch story while Jason Aaron has written
the Hope Summers tale. Artist Frank Cho and
colorist Jason Keith provide the artwork for both
stories.
The Scarlet Witch tale begins with fast action and
takes an unexpected turn into personal soap opera.
When the Wakandan ambassador is attacked in Washington,
D.C. by M.O.D.O.K., the giant-head scientist
from evil A.I.M., its Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
to the rescue. Wanda wins the battle after the unexpected
arrival of help in the form of Carol Danvers/Ms.
Marvel and Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman.
When the duo of Avengers invite Wanda back to the
Avengers mansion post-battle, the soap opera kicks-in;
Wanda's ex-husband, The Vision, isn't too pleased
with his ex-wife's visit. Heated words are
exchanged with Avengers members emotionally squaring-off
against each other by gender. As all parties
stalk away from each other, we're left with a final
story panel depicting the emotionless android The
Vision unexpectedly in tears.
Untitled story number two is set in the San Francisco
headquarters of the X-Men and preshadows the expected
arrival on Earth of The Phoenix, the Jean Grey-connected
entity that could possibly wipe-out life on the
planet. The tale is a mix of mega-event forshadowing,
teen angst and fast action, as our teenaged heroine
Hope Summers, the heralded messiah of all mutants,
struggles both inwardly with her emotions and outwardly
with team leader Scott/Cyclops regarding the growing tension
of the situation. The action explodes as Hope
splits from headquarters to blow-off steam in Town
by brutally foiling a bank robbery by a gang of
mutant villains. After the X-Men arrive to
clean-up Hope's bloody trail through the bank battle
scene, the story concludes with Hope beginning to
find her emotional base in preparation for the upcoming
Phoenix arrival.
I haven't found much in many previous comic book
titles to justify the use of the "issue #0" marketing
concept, beyond the publisher trying to squeeze-in
some extra kick-off sales for a story mega-event.
But happily in this instance, the issue #0 strategy
both makes sense and adds worthwhile depth to the
story universe being created. Given that we're
building toward the clash of the two A-list supergroups
within the Marvel Universe, the dual prelude stories
add a needed balance to the concept from the very
beginning of the story arc effort. We clearly
learn from reading this issue the state of mind
of both supergroups just as the mega-issues are
about to be thrust upon them. Each group has
its own unique internal struggles and each group
has its respective individual, in Wanda and Hope,
conflicted and wanting to run-off as a loner, but
bound by duty and emotions to sticking with the
group. While no doubt this month's issue #1
will adequately kick-off this new story series,
reading issue #0 adds a richness to the overall
storytelling that's well-worth the reading effort.
Plus if you're a huge Frank Cho fan like me, you
don't want to miss his full-page, pin-up quality
rendering of Wanda/The Scarlet Witch on page four
of the Avengers story!
So an enthusiastic thumbs-up positive review recommendation
to start with issue #0 in your planned
reading of the many story segments about to unfold
in Marvel's latest big-time adventure event!
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Atomic
Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #1
Publisher:
Red 5 Comics
Brian Clevinger:
Writer
Matt Speroni:
Colors
Various
Artists
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Red 5 Comics
has just published issue #1 in its first spin-off
title from the enormously-popular Atomic Robo comic
book. For the uninitiated, Atomic Robo follows
the humorous adventures of a very personable robot
who was created by Edison's inventor rival Nicola
Tesla. Multi-issue story arcs in the series
follow the adventures of Atomic Robo in various
20th century decades as he runs the scientific thinktank
Tesladyne and has many worldwide action adventures.
Real Science Adventures consists of five short
stories scripted by Atomic Robo creator Brian Clevinger
and drawn by various artists, with all of the
stories colored by Matt Speroni.
The first story is entitled "To Kill A Sparrow"
and consists of a four-page story plot segment introducing
Virginia Hall and "The Sparrow," two female
World War II allied spies operating in occupied
France. Story number two is "The Revenge Of
Dr. Dinosaur," starring everybody's favorite Atomic
Robo nutbag foe, the completely crazy Dr. Dinosaur.
"City Of Skulls" is a typical Robo mainstream tale,
alternating between the years 1962 and 1992 as Robo
tries to resolve the problem of a radioactive Soviet
robot aimlessly wandering around a Siberian city.
"Leaping Metal Dragon" is set in the year 2010 at
a Tesladyne staff facility. The story begins
as a quirky tale about employee exercise issues
but takes a quick flashback turn to 1970 Hong Kong,
introducing kung fu star Bruce Lee for future segments
of this multi-issue story arc. The final tale
is entitled "Rocket Science Is A Two-Edged Sword"
and is a four-page story segment reprinted from
a longer tale previously published in the main Atomic
Robo title.
While I'm giving this issue a worthy positive review
recommendation, there is a major presentation flaw
in this comic book that takes away from
a lot of the wonderful and unique fun of the Atomic
Robo franchise. It was a huge mistake by the
publisher to try and jam five story segments into
one standard-sized comic book. What we have
here are five 4-page story segments, each needlessly
separated by one full title page. This structure results in
incredibly brief story snippets, each of which leaves
the reader begging for just another page or two
of each overly brief presentation. It
would have been much more satisfying to drop the
four internal story title pages and reduce the five
story lay-out to two basic stories, thereby giving two
stories room to breath and be adequately absorbed
and enjoyed by readers. My advice would have
been to stick with the Dr. Dinosaur and Bruce Lee
tales, clearly the best of the bunch.
While the City of Skulls tale was well-presented
and emotionally poignant, the Sparrow tale in its
focus on two WW II female spies felt out-of-place with
no connection to the Atomic Robo storyverse.
And I'm still scratching my head in puzzlement as
to why a four page chunk of a previously published
Robo tale is crammed in here for story number five,
giving us a confusing partial piece of a longer
story plot and further suffocating the lay-out of
this issue.
I guess its a complement to the wonderful world
of all things Atomic Robo that in light of the major
formating defects of this premier issue, its still
such a worthwhile experience to read and
enjoy the story concepts mashed-into this
comic book. Its kind of like really craving
a McDonald's Big Mac and opening the cardbox box
to discover only half a Big Mac inside; while there's
a lot of disappointment in the discovery, its worth
noting that half a Big Mac to savor is better than
none. So a positive review recommendation
for issue #1 of this Atomic Robo spin-off, combined
with the warnings above and a sincere plea to the
good folk at Red 5 Comics to restructure the concept
here, cutting back the number of stories per
each future issue in order to let a few good
tales have the room to breath and flourish
for our reading enjoyment.
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Journey Into
Mystery #633
Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Kieron Gillen:
Writer
Richard
Elson: Art
Jessica
Kholinne: Colors
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Issue #633
is the latest in the long-running Marvel Comics
title Journey Into Mystery. Similar to DC's
Action and Adventure comics series, this is one
of the handful of iconic flagship titles originating
from the late-Golden Age and early Silver Age of
comic book publishing still in publication today.
Originally a science fiction and horror series,
the title is famous for switching over to the superhero
genre with the introduction of everyone's favorite
Norse god superhero Thor, in issue #83. Its
also one of two early 1960's comics in which Atlas
Comics initially announced its name change to Marvel
Comics. The current Thor storyline is scripted
by Kieron Gillen with art by Richard Elson and colors
by Jessica Kholinne.
Similar to the recent Thor title that I reviewed,
the Thor story universe is currently focused on
the post-war effects of a massive Asgardian struggle,
in which the evil Serpent was defeated and now two
Asgardian cities lie in semi-ruin outside the town
of Broxton, Oklahoma. Issue #633 weaves three
sub-plots into one story segment. A brief
storyline focuses on post-conflict efforts, as the
good Asgardians begin to rebuilt their city and
the evil Fear Lords lick their wounds and ponder
their next bad guy move. The bulk of the issue
focuses on the young teen Loki, Thor's formerly
evil teen half-brother. Its a simple story
segment in which he and his Norse goddess teen friend
Leah have a confrontation in a Broxton ice cream
shop with a human bully, after which the adult gods
ground Loki, like any teenager who gets in trouble.
Our third sub-plot features a demonic good guy who's
desperately trying to save scattered children across
the U.S. who are dying from demonic possession.
The issue ends in a dramatic bridge to next month's
story segment as the demon hunter follows a clue
to Asgard and mistakenly attacks Loki as a perceived
threat.
I wrote in my previous Thor title review that I
loved the new interpretation of Loki as a supposedly
reformed average teen and I have to say that I'm
even a bigger fan of this concept after reading
this issue. Writer Gillen is superb in developing
this fresh take on Loki's personality. The
situation is reminiscent and parallel to the Superboy
basic story universe over at DC, i.e., exceptional
teen character trying to sincerely fit into the
small town social structure, deal with parental
and responsibility issues, etc. There's a
nice element of lightheartedness here, provided
by Gillen's exceptional dialogue as well as two
support characters, Loki's fellow Asgardian friend
Leah and Loki's talking crow mentor/protector Ikol
(note to all good readers: never try to separate
Leah from whatever ice cream she's obsessed with
at your local ice cream shop!). And a tip-of-the-review-hat
is well-deserved for artist Richard Elson and colorist
Jessica Kholinne for the top notch visuals and excellent facial
expressions on Loki throughout this adventurous
tale.
Its clear from the tone and enthusiasm of fan letters
published in this issue's letters column that I'm
not alone in my positive reaction to the current
version of the Thor universe. Big brother
Thor looks due to arrive back on the story scene
in next month's issue #634. So now is a very
good time to get on-board with this month's kick-off
first installment of this multi-issue storyline
that definitely provides one of the most entertaining
superhero story arcs currently on the new issues
shelves at That's Entertainment!
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Rocketeer
Adventures (Volume 2) #1
Publisher:
IDW Publishing
Various
Writers & Artists
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IDW Publishing
has just released issue #1 in the second volume
of its Rocketeer Adventures series. The concept
is to present three stories in each of four annual
issues, featuring various writers and artists as
an homage to the pulp adventure comic book series
that was at its peak of popularity in the 1980's.
For the uninitiated, the Rocketeer is Cliff Secord,
a stunt pilot who finds a jet pack and facemask
in 1938 Los Angeles and has pulp-era adventures
both fighting crime and rescuing his actress
girlfriend Betty. The Betty character is based on
well-known Golden Age pin-up model Betty Page.
Created by the late Dave Stevens, the comic's
popularity led to a successful 1991 Rocketeer
movie by Disney. I had reviewed an issue of
last year's Volume 1 and decided to revisit the
title with this month's kick-off Volume 2 issue
#1.
Similar to previous issues, the latest comic
book features three main stories and a Betty
pin-up page. Our first tale, entitled "The
Good Guys," is written by Marc Guggenheim
with art by Sandy Plunkitt. Badly injured
while crashlanding in a small Town after fighting
bad guys, Cliff slowly recovers while the townfolk
debate what to do with their unexpected vigilante
guest, making a final decision to help Cliff by
story's end. "The Ducketeer," written by Peter
David and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz, is a humorous
tale in which Cliff and Betty go to a movie and
Cliff is appalled to discover a Donald Duck cartoon
based on his "real-life" adventures. The issue
concludes with "A Dream Of Flying," with story and
art by Stan Sakai and colors by the well-known Dave
Stewart. I don't want to be a plot spoiler
of this very inventive story, beyond saying that
its a Rocketeer tale with a plotline that serves
as a beautiful homage to DC's Superman.
IDW Publishing hit the sweet spot of quality writing
and pitch perfect artwork with last year's
issue #1 of this series and has never lost that accuracy
of excellence and entertainment. While all
three stories are enjoyable, "The Ducketeer" is
hilarious, both in its subtle commentary on the
popular media twisting of a celebrity and Cliff's
grumpy reaction to being satirized by of all characters,
Donald Duck! "A Dream Of Flying" is an exceptional
tale that in my opinion is the best story of the
so far five-issue run of this series. I really
don't want to reveal even a bit of this Rocketeer
homage to Superman, beyond commenting that its a
simple and poignant tribute to the Superman story
universe in the vein of Tim Sale's classic "Superman
For All Seasons" series and deserves a nomination
for a 2012 Eisner Award in an appropriate award
category.
As with each previous issue, this month's Betty
pin-up by Arthur Adams and John Rauch is second
to none in both pin-up sexiness and Rocketeer action
scene quality. And finally, all good readers
must take the time to read the back-of-the-book
bio and tribute to the late Rocketeer creator
Dave Stevens, which includes donation contact information
for the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation,
Inc., which strives to combat the disease
that took such a talented comic book creator from
us much too early in 2008.
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to correctly answer which
U.S. President had a famous incident of getting himself
stuck in the White House bathtub. And our winner selected
via a roll of the dice from among several correct entries
is (drumroll, please)...Christopher Begley, who correctly
identified William Howard Taft as the stuck President.
As our 27th President from 1909 to 1913, Taft was also the
heaviest at 332 pounds. Rumor has it that it took
a gallon of butter and four White House staffers to dislodge
poor Taft from the tub. The incident must have had
an impact on Taft because after leaving office he went
on a very successful diet and lost 150 pounds. Taft
is also the only ex-U.S. President to be appointed as a
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Congratulations
to Christopher who wins our first prize $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Announcement!!!
Unless the Bongo Congo panel of contest judges miscounted,
it looks like we're pretty close to reaching our 500th comic
book review for this column (time flies when you're having
fun!). In recognition of this upcoming milestone,
we're challenging you to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
no later than Wednesday, April 25 with your recommendation
for a comic book title to review for the 500th Bongo Congo
review. Tell us your proposed title along with a brief
pitch for why its worthy of the 500th milestone review.
Please note that our first prize $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment is redeemable for regular retail
merchandise or in-store ongoing specials, only.
That's all for now, so have two great Boston
Bruins play-off watching (Go Bruins!!!) and comic
book reading weeks and see you gain on Friday,
April 27 Here In Bongo Congo! |
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