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Review Date: 10/19/2009
Good King Leonardo
has decreed that we bring you an eclectic group
of reviews this week, with a variety of comics that
include a DC issue, a Marvel issue and a long-awaited classic
from Wildstorm:
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Planetary
#27
Publisher: Wildstorm
Warren Ellis: Writer
John Cassaday: Art
Laura Martin: Colors
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The
long-awaited day has finally come this past week,
with the arrival on comic book shop shelves of the
much-delayed final issue of the acclaimed comic title
Planetary. The series was created about a decade
ago by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday.
For the uninitiated, Planetary features a team of
extra-abled folks who label themselves as "Archaeologists
Of The Impossible," with the dual purpose of tracking-down
the world's secret history and investigating all sorts
of unexplainable events. The four main characters
are century-old Elijah Snow, The Drummer, Jakita Wagner
and Ambrose Chase. Snow manipulates temperature,
The Drummer has power over information dataflow, Jakita
has more traditional superhero strength and Chase
has abilities related to manipulating space and time.
Its hard to pigeon-hole Planetary by trying to find
a similar comic title to compare it to. Amazingly
unique and fresh in style and plot content, this extremely
entertaining series mixes hidden conspiracies, alternate
versions of both our real world history and superhero
universes, and traditional pulp fiction settings into
a wonderful blend of science fiction settings and
tales. For various personal reasons, the creative
team put the comic on-hold for several years, then
produced an occasional issue with the promise that
this recent issue would wrap it all up.
The plot of issue #27 is an engrossing mix of elements
reminiscent of the X-Files, Lost and the current Fox
television series Fringe. Snow, Drummer and
Wagner discover that the presumed-dead Ambrose Chase
has actually shielded himself in a space-time bubble,
and the clock is rapidly ticking-down to save him
before he dies. The first half of the story
is filled with complex and at times a bit dry and
confusing physics explanations as the team figures
out just what is happening to Chase, while the second
part of the issue is an edge-of-your seat thriller
as the team races to save him. Writer Ellis
plays the timetravel paradox to the max, loading the
story action with alternate versions of the threesome
who gather from various future points to witness
their present-day selves attempt to save Chase.
The issue concludes with a satisfying ending as well
as a perfect final panel which offers the hope and
opportunity for Ellis and Cassaday to return
with future volumes of Planetary.
Given
Ellis's below-par track record these past few years
on some of his other comic series, I held my breath
hoping that he regained his mojo with the Planetary
wrap-up issue. I'm thrilled to report that all
is still well in the Planetary universe.
Accompanied by Cassaday's wonderful art, Ellis spins
a classic Planetary episode. Our foursome's
strong and unique personalities shine through in the
excellent dialogue, combined with story plot action
that with each page unveils something new and entertainingly
unexpected about our team, all of which adds more
understanding to the Planetary storyverse.
In happy conclusion, two final thumbs-up comments.
To comic fans of all interests, if you haven't already
done so, you're missing out on something very special
if you don't become a Planetary fan by catching-up
with the back issues and trade paperback reprints
of the series, all available at That's Entertainment.
And to Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, all is forgiven
regarding the frustrating publication delays of
this series, with the publication of wonderful issue
#27. Please consider sooner than later reteaming
for another volume of this series (on a regular
publishing schedule, of course)!
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Justice
League-Cry For Justice #4
Publisher: D.C. Comics
James Robinson: Writer
Mauro Cascioli: Art
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Several months ago, I reviewed
issue #1 of this seven-issue mini-series, so let's
see how its holding-up midway through with the latest
issue #4. The series is written by James Robinson
with art by Mauro Cascioli. This title features
an alternate version of The Justice League, led by
Green Lantern and Green Arrow, with members Congorilla,
Supergirl, The Atom, Batwoman, Freddy Freeman and
Starman Mikaal Tomas. The basic premise
is that after the deaths of Batman and Martian Manhunter
in Final Crisis, these Justice Leaguers decide to
be more proactive in opposing the roots of evil, as
opposed to just reacting to crime and bad guys.
Issue #4 is entitled "The Fix," and seems to
be a transition issue at the halfway point of this
mini-series, cobbling-together a few pages each of
various ongoing sub-plots in the series. Its
hard to follow the plot, given that I haven't
read all three of the previous issues, but I enjoyed
two particular sub-plots; the beginning of the issue
in which the Justice Leaguers dig themselves out from
the rubble of an attack and brainstorm how to confront
and defeat supervillain Prometheus, along with a second
sub-plot in which Congorilla attempts to track down
and bring to justice the murderers of his original
gorilla tribe. Non-League hero The Golden Age
Flash is featured as contacting heroes around
the world, and Green Arrow and The Atom have a nasty
confrontation over the relevant issue of how far torture
should go in the search for justice.
I'm giving this comic a qualified thumbs-up review,
as average at best. While Mauro Cascioli's oil
painting-style art is excellent, Robinson's writing
in this series has been generally criticized to-date,
and for good reason. While his mix of alternate
Justice League members is fresh and entertaining,
the story sub-plots are too numerous and scattered.
There's just too much going-on here for my taste in
a limited seven-issue mini-series. The Golden
Age Flash run around the world seemed inexplicable
and pushed the other worthy sub-plots out of the way
too much. Robinson would do the reader a much
better service if he simplified and expanded
the story elements around such revived DC characters
as Congorilla and Starman. giving us a better-paced
and richer multi-issue story arc.
I don't recommend skipping this series, as it adds
a nice interpretation to the world of The Justice
League. Just realize that this isn't a classic,
highest quality series and enjoy it as the solid
benchwarmer effort that it is. Word on the comic
book reading street is that the mini-series is a warm-up
for Robinson taking-over regular writing duties on
the main Justice League title. Hopefully, he'll
use this warm-up period to get the writing bugs out
of his current product and give the reader more story
focus when he transitions to the main comic.
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The
Torch #2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Alex Ross, Jim Krueger & Mike Carey: Writers
Patrick Berkenkotter: Art
Carlos Lopez: Colors
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Issue #2 is on the new comics shelves this week
of Marvel's eight-issue mini-series starring the original
Golden Age Human Torch. The mini-series is written
by the team of Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Mike Carey,
with art by Patrick Berkenkotter and Carlos Lopez.
Issue #1 focused last month on the return of the Torch's
sidekick Toro as well as his capture by the Torch's
old mad scientist nemesis, The Thinker. The
latest issue storyline has The Thinker attempting to
reanimate The Torch's artificial human body and
brainwash him into a superweapon of evil.
Much of the plot focuses on revealing interesting
background facts about the origin of Toro's abilities
as well as the technical details of The Torch's articifical
design, as The Thinker and his assistant work to understand
the technology of both heroes in order to successfully
bring The Torch back to life. By the end of
issue #2 The Thinker is successful, bridging the story
to the next issue in which Toro will have to confront
and deal with the brainwashed revived Torch.
The creative team has kept-up the high quality of
issue #1 with the latest installment of this mini-series.
Its very entertaining to read about the two Golden
Age heroes and their archenemy functioning in today's
world, with very credible plot details via flashbacks
linking their current lives back to their Golden Age
origins. Credit is due to the creative team
for nicely combining Golden Age comic characters with
a modern-day story setting. With six issues
remaining, there's still plenty of space in this mini-series
to evolve the storyline much farther along in the
direction that its already sucessfully begun
with the first two issues. So another thumbs-up
for this latest Marvel revival of heroes from its
Timely Comics Golden Age roots.
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New
Contest Announcement!!!
Our latest contest is a
television-based challenge. The Bongo Congo panel
of contest judges was very impressed with how our Summer
television season, as well as our current Fall t.v. line-up, featured
so many enjoyable science fiction, fantasy and comic genre-type
t.v. series. So we challenge you this week to e-mail
us at Gordon_A@msn.com and submit to
us your favorite speculative-type t.v. show and tell us
why you think we should all be watching your show.
As an example, I love the new t.v. show "Warehouse 13,"
which just ended its first season on the SYFY channel.
It has a fresh and interesting take each week on an artifact
of science fiction or fantasy which causes havoc when someone
uses it the wrong way.
There's a lot of great
stuff out there right now, so e-mail us now and tell us
what show we shouldn't be missing! The winner will
receive the contest prize of a $10.00 gift certificate to
That's Entertainment.
That's it for now,
so have a great comic book reading week and see you again
next week Here In Bongo Congo!
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