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Review Date: 04/09/2010
Good
King Leonardo has decreed that we review this week the following
three Marvel comics and one D.C. comic:
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Haunt
#6
Publisher: Image Comics
Robert Kirkman: Writer
Greg Capullo: Pencils
Todd McFarlane & Danny Miki: Inks
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Image Comics has just published issue #6 in its
Haunt title. The comic book is the co-creation
of writer Robert Kirkman and famed artist Todd McFarlane,
with pencils by Greg Capullo and inks by Todd McFarlane
and Danny Miki. For the uninitiated, Haunt stars
Catholic priest Daniel Kilgore and the ghost of his
brother Kurt, a secret agent who is killed in the line
of duty. Kurt's ghost and Daniel somehow
bond to form the superhero Haunt. This title has
gotten off to a popular start, with sales unusually
high for a new independent comic, no doubt due to McFarlane's
extensive personal fan base.
Issue #6 is
a stand-alone storyline in follow-up to the first
5-issue storyarc, which established the high-action
spy thriller details which led to Kurt's death and
his ghost combining with his live brother for the
superhero situation. This current issue
is apparently a summarized re-telling of the
tale from the perspective of Mirage, Kurt's female
spy partner. Two sub-plots interweave, with the
main plot giving us high action of Kurt and Mirage
infiltrating an evil scientist's lair and stealing
a secret research book, leading to Kurt's eventual
death. A secondary plot focuses on Mirage struggling
to come to terms with Kurt's wife after
his death, as the partners Kurt and Mirage were having
a romantic affair in the first five-issue storyline.
This comic
series has been getting mixed reviews, and I
can see why. On the plus side, its a sharp,
fast-paced and sexy spy thriller with very high quality
penciling from the talented Greg Capullo, who is taking-over
art duties starting with the current issue #6.
On the downside, its an overly-bloody comic book concept,
with a lot of gratuitous violence that's so unnecessary
that at times it gives the storyline a very amateur
and unprofessional feel. Its also extremely
confusing to figure out the basic storyline in this
issue. It wasn't until I read a narrative at
the end of the issue that I understood anything that
was going on in this sidebar perspective of the main
Haunt storyline. Placing that narrative on page
one would have made this comic a much more effective
and understandable read.
So I'm giving
this issue #6 of Haunt a qualified thumbs-up.
This is an interesting high action spy thriller title
that's too blood-soaked for my personal enjoyment
and does lower the quality of the story, even if you're
a fan of splatter. But its more of an enjoyable
read if you start by reading the end-of-the-issue
narrative first, then back-pedal to the front of the
issue in order to follow this sidebar tale through
the eyes of Kurt's spy partner Mirage. I'll
review a future issue in the upcoming new multi-issue
story arc to give you a review opinion of the main
story concept of this beautifully-drawn high-action
thriller comic book.
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Deadpool:
Merc With A Mouth #9
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Victor Gischler: Writer
Matt Milla: Colors
Bong Dazo: Pencils
Jose Pimentel: Inks
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Marvel
has just released issue #9 in the Deadpool: Merc With
A Mouth title, one of several Marvel titles starring
Wade Wilson a.k.a the masked mercenary-for-hire known
as Deadpool. The issue is scripted by Victor Gischler
with art by Matt Milla, Bong Dazo and Jose Pimental.
The character was created by Marvel in the early 1990's
and eventually evolved into the comic parody that its
known for today. The "Merc With A Mouth" comic
series pairs Deadpool with the bodyless "Headpool,"
the zombie head of an alternate universe Deadpool from
a previous Deadpool comic book title.
Issue #9 keeps
the satire coming at the reader on full throttle,
as Deadpool pairs-up with a pair of thong-clad hot
female scientists in a visit to an alternate reality
which is infested with a virus that turns everyone
who comes into contact with it into (you guessed
it) a human-eating zombie. Sub-plots include
the scientist-chicks working to discover a cure for
the virus, Deadpool lusting after one of the thong-scientists,
Deadpool trying to capture a zombie on behalf of the
scientists, and on and on. You get the drift
of how this satire on zombie comics and fiction is
structured. The issue concludes on a nice cliffhanger
dramatically bridging us toward next month's
issue with an action event involving what else: more
zombies! There's also an iconic parody of
the classic movie "The Graduate" in the poster-worthy
cover of this issue, which combines the
most famous scene from that movie with some Deadpool-style
zombie-madness.
For all of
the many years that Deadpool has been featured in
the Marvel universe, I've never read a single story
featuring this character. I'm pleased to report
that I was blown away by the extremely high quality
of the satire in at least this particular issue.
This issue is a very entertaining and highly
funny riff on so many different comic book and general
fiction themes, including superheros, supervillains,
zombies, hot-looking women scientists in thongs, etc.
with a fast-paced dialogue style in the tradition
of the best of graphic-based satire, including an
obvious strong influence by the late great
team of Mad Magazine pioneers Harvey Kurtzman and
Will Elder. The art team's style is the perfect
form of cartooniness that best delivers this kind
of crazy stuff. So enough said already: stop
reading this review and get over to That's Entertainment
to get your hands on this top notch parody that puts
the "comic" in comic book (ouch!)!
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She-Hulk
Sensational #1 (One-Shot)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Various Writers & Artists
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Marvel
Comics is honoring the 30th anniversary of She-Hulk
with a large-size one-shot commemorative comic book.
Comic book pioneer Stan Lee created She-Hulk
back in 1980 as Jennifer Walters, cousin of Bruce Banner/The
Hulk, who gained her Hulk abilities after receiving
a blood transfusion from cousin Bruce. She's been
a solid staple of the Marvel universe for a generation
now, appearing in various superhero team comics as well
as several of her own titles. Most memorable was
the two-year run of She-Hulk that started in 2004, in
which writer Dan Slott created a perfect blend of campy
humor and social satire as Jennifer worked
as a lawyer in a firm that specialized in legal representation
for both superheroes and supervillains. It was
a great take on the fact that lawyers will represent either
side of an issue as long as the client is a paying client.
This one-shot
issue presents three anniversary stories starring
She-Hulk. The lead story is entitled "The She-Hulk
Story That's A Riff On Christmas Carol." Written
by Peter David with art by Jonboy Meyers, its an entertaining
tale in which Walters is depressed about being a 30-year
comic character, and is visited by creator Stan Lee,
followed by the ghosts of She-Hulks past, present
and future. The second story is entitled "Ladies
Night" and is written by Brian Reed with a large art
team. Its an action-oriented tale in which She-Hulk
teams with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman in a story
involving a connection between local bank robbers
and the world terrorist group HYDRA. The issue
is rounded-out with a third untitled tale written
by veteran writer John Byrne with art by Byrne and
Glynis Oliver.
While the Christmas
Carol satire in the first story is cute and well-presented,
its the second story in the issue that really shines.
Both the general story plot and the interaction between
the three female superhero characters is first-rate,
with a nice balance between action and dialogue that pulls
the reader in for a very entertaining read.
The third story created by John Byrne is referred
to in a page-one narrative as "a memorable gem" reprinted
from a past She-Hulk issue and is just plain horrifying
as a stiff and plainly weird attempt to be satiric
and utterly failing. My first reaction was embarrassment
for Byrne in the reprinting of this dud. But
in hindsight, I think its not a bad idea to include
such a piece of failed historical schtick in this
issue, if only to contrast with the first two
true gem stories of this issue, in order to show
how far we've come in evolving comic book story quality
from some past periods of poor quality production.
So a definite recommendation to enjoy the first two
stories in this issue as a worthy anniversary
tribute to She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters.
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenge was for you to
tell us what comic book or books you would bring with you
as necessary for your sanity if trapped on a "Lost" or "Gilligan"-style
deserted island. Ken from That's Entertainment selected
Action Comics #1. Given the rarity and value of that
treasure, Ken would have to be trapped on Fantasy Island
in order to have Action #1 with him!
We have two contest winners this week and
they are (drumroll, please)...Gordon Dupuis and Ray Loughlin
III. Gordon Dupuis tells us that he would bring
with him the complete run of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and
if he wasn't rescued by the time he read the 10th or 11th
issue, he'd start to write a volume of Sandman fan fiction.
Ray Loughlin III tells us that his first choice
would be to have a "how to" comic book with him that would
tell him how to get off of the island, so he could get back
to That's Entertainment to buy all the comic books that
he wants. But if that wasn't possible, he'd go the
classic route and relax in deserted isle splendor with some
Batman/Joker comic books because those are his favorite.
Good entries, Gordon and Ray, and congratulations
on each winning the contest prize of a $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment!
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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