Review Date: Friday, November 16,
2012
Here in Bongo Congo
| Good King Leonardo has decreed that we celebrate the recent
conclusion of our long national election season with reviews of four
interesting-looking new comic books, so let's forget all about politics
(for now, at least!) and get right to it and see what these new issues
are all about: |
 Marvel Now! Point One (One-Shot)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Various Writers & Artists
On a parallel track to recent storyverse overhauls within the DC
Comics publishing universe, Marvel Comics has recently initiated its own
fictional universe overhaul entitled "Marvel Now!" The shake-up is in
follow-up to the recent Avengers vs. X-Men storyline and is intended to
market all-things-Marvel in an effort to attract expanded readership to
the wide range of Marvel titles. The "Marvel Now! Point One" issue is
an oversized comic book featuring six stories with the goal of providing
background information for a handful of the standard Marvel titles
included in the relaunch. While a large group of writers and artists
are involved in producing these six tales, its worth noting that this
eclectic group includes A-list creators Brian Michael Bendis, Mike
Allred, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness.
The six featured
stories provide fresh storyline beginnings for various players within
the Marvel universe. Five of the tales are presented as alternate
happenings away from the action of a main SHIELD story, which unfolds
in-between the settings of the additional five stories. In the SHIELD
tale, Nick Fury and his team attempt the debriefing of a supposed
timetraveler from the future, who plays a cat-and-mouse verbal headgame
of taunting Fury with tantalizing hints of "significant events" about to
unfold in the days to come. Our remaining five stories are presented
in-between scenes of this mysterious debriefing and serve as prequels to
the following new Marvel Now! titles: Fantastic Four #1 featuring
Ant-Man, Young Avengers #1 featuring a Miss America & young Loki
plotline, the origin of Nova in a new Nova #1 title, a Cable &
X-Force #1 issue re-boot and a Guardians Of The Galaxy title featuring
Star-Lord.
This prequel anthology concept is similar to the
DC Universe Presents #0 issue that I reviewed in our last column.
Similar to that DC effort, the issue works very well in providing the
reader with useful background and understanding of the re-boot details
across a wide range of Marvel comic book titles. While the entire
six-tale effort succeeds, a few of the individual stories stand-out from
among the crowd. Writer Nick Spenser deserves a shout-out for penning
the Nick Fury/SHIELD tale; his dialogue for the trickster time-traveler
is as good as science fiction narrative gets, as the captive futurebeing
weaves a web of things-to-come hints that may be true or may be part of
an elaborate scam. Likewise, writers Brian Michael Bendis in the Star
Lord story and Jeph Loeb in the Nova origin tale each give us a mix of
action, sharp dialogue and story action worth ranking at the top of
anyone's current comic book reading list. But my favorite story is the
Young Avengers tale starring Miss America and Loki, which combines
writer Kieron Gillen's edgy dialogue and wonderful artwork from Jamie
McKelvie and Mike Norton as the kick-off for a title reboot that's sure
to provide a lot of entertainment.
My only constructive
review criticism of this Point One issue is regarding the lay-out style
of the six-story presentation. Unlike the DC Universe Presents title
which clearly presented six stand-alone tales, Point One attempts to
interconnect these stories by presenting five of them as alternating
sidebars sandwiched in-between sections of the kick-off Nick Fury tale.
Since the six tales have absolutely no interconnection between their
respective plots, this alternating style is at times confusing and/or
just plain jarring. Its not a major flaw of this issue, just a needless
annoyance that thankfully isn't bothersome enough to sink the high
level of entertainment and quality of this issue.
If this
prequel primer issue is any indication, the new Marvel Now! storyverse
reboot is going to provide us with a lot of reading fun. So a definite
positive review recommendation for all good Marvel fanboys and fangirls
to read this one-shot Marvel Now! issue, both as an informative prequel
primer of all things Marvel Now! as well as for the stand-alone
entertainment of the six stories in this excellent oversized issue
that's well-worth the $5.99 price. |
 Sword Of Sorcery Featuring: Amethyst #0
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Christy Marx: Writer
Aaron Lopresti: Art
DC Comics is including in its latest batch of New 52 features a
"Sword Of Sorcery" comic book featuring the return of a 1980's fantasy
character, Amethyst: Princess Of Gemworld. The original series was
geared toward young readers and featured as the main character Amy
Winston, an orphaned Earth girl who discovers that she's actually the
exiled princess of the magical Gemworld. Amy's adventures centered on
her return to Gemworld to avenge her dead parents and fight the evil
ruler Dark Opal. The new series updates and revises the Amethyst
storyverse to satisfy modern reader sensibilities in today's DC
publishing universe. This revival series is scripted by Christy Marx
with art by Aaron Lopresti.
The prequel issue #0 storyline
is entitled "Homecoming" and revises/updates our young heroine's origin
story. The storyline alternates between three interweaving sub-plots.
In the main storythread, we meet Amy Winston on the eve of her 17th
birthday. Amy's single mother has moved her from town-to-town,
harboring a family secret which she promises to reveal at a specific
crucial moment on the eve of Amy's birthday. The second sub-plot
focuses on Amy interacting with her new high school classmates, as we're
introduced to various teen characters ranging in behavior from good to
bad. And our third sub-plot updates life in the other-dimensional realm
of Nilaa. Here we learn that Amy's folks had ruled the House Of
Amthyst and that her mother had fled to Earth with her as a baby after
Amy's evil aunt killed her father and took over the kingdom. The issue
climaxes as Amy's mom teleports the pair back to the magical realm at
the moment of revealing her origin, throwing mother and daughter into a
pitched battle between their old allies and the evil aunt's forces.
I couldn't help but compare this comic book to the Robyn Hood title
from Dynamite Comics that I reviewed two columns ago; both titles
premise the hiding of a magical realm girl on our Earth, who as a teen
learns of her heritage and returns home to battle evil. While I liked
the Robyn Hood tale, this Amethyst storyline has much more depth to it
than its initial 1980's publication run, providing more story
possibilities in the latest title version. I loved the many little
changes to the 1980's Amethyst storyverse, all of which successfully
update the title for a modern-day quality of entertainment. My three
favorite revisions include first, the living presence of Amy's mother as
a guide/mentor/partner in her adventures and secondly, the implied
reference in a back-of-the-book narrative that this storyline will
feature Amy shuttling back-and-forth between Earth and Nilaa, thus
balancing her fantasy adventures with her efforts to cope within a
typical high school environment. Third, I like the updating of the
fantasy realm, renaming it from Gemworld to planet Nilaa, on which
several gem-named royal kingdoms, all jockey for position against one
another. This situation allows for the possibility of some entertaining
story alliances and conflicts among all parties.
Credit
is due to writer Christy Marx for transforming a 1980's style teenaged
girl fantasy comic book into a more sophisticated fictional concept, one
that successfully balances old and new Amethyst elements into a fresh
comic book title to be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Normally, I
wouldn't read this style of comic book story beyond a review issue, but
there's enough intrigue and story possibilities built into this re-boot
that I've decided to check-out next month's issue to see where this
story arc takes us. And a final shout-out is deserved to artist Aaron
Lopresti for his high quality renderings of both worlds that Amy and her
mom inhabit in their dual-world adventure. So all-in-all, a positive
review recommendation is well-deserved for this excellent DC Comics
edition to the fantasy comic book genre. |
 Princeless #1
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Jeremy Whitley: Writer
Nancy King, Quinne Larsen & Emily Martin: Art
In follow-up to the above review of DC's reboot of its Amethyst
fantasy title, I thought it would be interesting to review another new
title that also features a fantasy princess storyline. The small press
publisher Action Lab Entertainment has just released issue #1 of a
two-issue mini-series entitled Princeless. Subtitled "Short Stories For
Warrior Women," the comic book is in follow-up to a 4-issue mini-series
of the same title published in 2011. The series depicts the adventures
of the preteen Princess Adrienne who lives with her family and subjects
in the fantasy kingdom of Ashland. The three short tales presented in
issue #1 are written by Jeremy Whitley with art by Nancy King, Quinne
Larsen and Emily Martin.
Our first short tale, entitled
"The Thing In The Dungeon," introduces Princess Adrienne and her
playmates. Excitement ensues when Adrienne and her friend Devin nose
around the castle's dungeon, leading to an unexpected enounter with a
dragon. Story number two is entitled "The Merry Adventures Of Young
Prince Ash" and introduces us to the Prince Ash of the title, who is at
least a teenager if not a young adult. The plot is a flashback, in
which Prince Ash recounts to the King an adventure that he experienced
during a footrace through an enchanted forest. Our third tale is a
five-page preview of a longer story scheduled for next month's issue, in
which the King gathers together a colorful assortment of knights,
challenging them to capture a rogue knight and dragon with the victor
receiving the hand of any one of the King's princess daughters.
This is a cute and harmless comic series drawn in the manner of a
Saturday morning cartoon with storylines definitely geared to very
young readers. As such, it serves as a pretty decent introduction for
youngsters to the fantasy genre of fiction. Its colorful, while the
stories are very brief and simplistic. Most important of all, the issue
is crammed with pin-ups, ads and promos of the Princeless storyverse,
all of which provide a nice mix of short attention-span amusement for
little kids. The second tale in the issue that features the adventure
recollection of Prince Ash does have the potential of a spin-off series
that could be scripted to the entertainment level of teenaged readers.
But for now, what we have is a high quality fantasy comic book for
little kids. So a thumbs-up positive review recommendation for you
older readers to encourage younger readers to check-out this new
children's fantasy comic book series. |
 The Bionic Woman #5
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Paul Tobin: Writer
Daniel Leister: Art
Kristy Swam: Colors
Dynamite Entertainment is up to issue #5 of its Bionic Woman comic
book. Aging fanboys and fangirls will remember the popular 1970's
television shows The Bionic Man and The Bionic Woman, in which the
respective characters Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers were partially
rebuilt with bionic parts, after which they had action adventures as
federal government agents. The Bionic Woman comic book series is
scripted by Paul Tobin with art by Daniel Leister and colors by Kristy
Swam.
Issue #5 is the latest segment of an untitled
multi-issue story arc in which Jamie tracks and confronts a criminal
organization that traffics in black market bionic body parts. The first
half of the issue is very dialogue-oriented, as Jamie has an extended
conversation with Nora, a young woman with flame-producing powers. The
focus here is Nora's struggle with her guilt over badly burning one of
the black market bad guys back in issue #4. The action kicks-in midway
through the story, as Jamie and Nora infiltrate the secret black market
facility, where they discover a gruesome organ-harvesting operation with
partially dismembered victims kept alive for their parts. Naturally, a
battle ensues which builds to an end-of-the-issue cliffhanger as one of
the baddies tosses Nora off of the building roof.
I really
disliked this issue for two reasons. The main flaw here is the manner
in which the creative team has updated the Bionic Woman story style from
its 1970's television kitchiness to a 2012 version that's bloody,
coldly violent and gruesome in its depiction of the story victims. The
charm of the original series concept is completely erased and replaced
with a gruesome style which is overly violent. Most disturbing is the
casual manner in which Jamie Summers now barehandedly kills her
opponents. The second negative here is artist Daniel Leister's bizarre
decision to draw every woman in this comic book, and I mean every single
women in this storyverse, as the drop-dead gorgeous replica of a
Playboy centerfold. Its just fanboy nerd creepy when this happens as it
does in the occasional comic book, and just seems more geared to a male
teen-aged reader's fantasy rather than creating a product even
semi-realistic and readable for general fandom.
So bottom
line, a thumbs-down negative review recommendation on The Bionic Woman.
If you're a fan of the 1970's version of this fiction franchise you'll
just be plain depressed at how the current reboot takes all of the
original style and fun out of this storyverse and if you're a new fan,
you'll find that this series is just a thin replica of so many much
better action-adventure series available throughout the new issue
shelves at That's Entertainment. |
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to correctly tell us what is the
most filmed fiction story of all time. We had only one correct entry
this week and our winner is (drumroll, please)...Erin O'Connor, who
correctly identifies Dracula as the most filmed story in history!
Congratulations to Erin who now has the opportunity (if she so wishes)
to use her first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment
to buy any Dracula-related stuff available in the store!
New Contest Announcement!!!
Since we're about halfway through the 2012 National Football League
(NFL) season, this week's contest offers-up a football trivia question.
Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
no later than Wednesday, November 28 with the correct answer to the
following question: What NFL team has won the most Superbowls and how
many Superbowls have they won? We all know that the Yankees have won
the most baseball World Series, but how many of us know which NFL team
is the all-time leader in Super Bowl championship wins? As always, in
the event of multiple correct answers, our winner of the first prize
$10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment will be selected via a
roll of the dice. Please note that our first prize $10.00 gift
certificate to That's Entertainment is redeemable for regular retail
merchandise or in-store on-going specials, only.
| That's
all for now, so have a great Thanksgiving holiday as well as two great
comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday, November 30 Here
In Bongo Congo! |
|
