Review Date: Friday, June 21, 2013
Here in Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo found lots of good month-of-June
stuff on the That's Entertainment new issues shelves,
so we'll get right to it in a moment and see how this
week's four picks stack-up against each other. |
Adventures Of Superman #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Various Writers and Artists
DC Comics has just added a new Superman comic book
to its large Man Of Steel title inventory. Entitled "Adventures Of
Superman," three short Superman tales are featured in the premier
issue, each produced by a different creative team. This is an
anthology-style title featuring monthly short stories that each take place in
their own right, outside of the ongoing continuity of "The New 52" DC
storyverse events.
The lead tale is entitled "Violent Minds"
and is scripted by Jeff Parker with art by A-lister Chris Samnee. Its a
fast-action tale in which Superman responds to the crime scene of a known
Metropolis drug addict who's running amok, high on a new street drug which
gives him super-strength powers. After our hero confronts the addict with
mixed-successful results, the well-known Superman Family villain who is
responsible for the situation is revealed to the reader.
"Fortress" is the second tale, both written and drawn by Jeff
Lemire. It's a Middle America tale of two boys who creatively use their
imagination to play various versions of "Superman versus the
Supervillain," with warm-hearted and cute portrayals as a commentary
on the power of imagination. The third and final tale is entitled
"Bizzaro's Worst Day," and naturally stars the opposite-world
Superman clone Bizarro. It follows the standard Bizarro story concept of
the real and Bizarro Supermen confronting each other, until the Man of Steel
uses the expected reverse psychology to get his damaged counterpart to
behave appropriately.
I enjoyed this variety-pack of short Superman tales
very much. The stories are presented in descending order of
quality. "Violent Minds" is a high-quality and very entertaining
tale that meets the high expectations for a Chris Samnee story. It has
the same understated plot charm that Samnee has brought to such previous gems
as "Thor, The Mighty Avenger," and beautifully mixes-up fast action,
character charm and a neat surprise reveal of the villain's identity.
"Fortress" is a cute story reminiscent of writer Ray Bradbury's
well-known tales of kids growing-up in small-town mid-20th century
America. The art is crude but the plot balances-out for some fine
entertainment. The Bizarro tale didn't work for me. Its not a bad
attempt at storytelling; it's just that the convoluted, "speak everything
in reverse logic" plot details that are necessary for any Bizarro
storyline became so detailed that I practically got a headache and
ultimately gave-up trying to follow the logical specifics of what Superman
was trying to pitch to his oddball copy. The story just reinforced my
opinion that Bizarro has run his course in the DC pantheon and should be either
permanently retired or only wheeled-out to join a new story on very, very rare
occasions.
As a final review comment, while this issue
is a lot of fun, DC might want to cut the story inventory back to two tales per
issue, in order to give a pair of stories a bit more room to breath with
enjoyable script and artwork details. But whether we see two or three
tales per issue, a definite thumbs-up positive review recommendation is
deserved for the new Adventures Of Superman comic book title.
Avengers: The Enemy Within #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Kelly Sue DeConnick: Writer
Scott Hepburn: Art
Jordie Bellaire: Colors
Yet another new addition to Marvel's wide-ranging
inventory of Avengers comic books is issue #1 of Avengers: The Enemy
Within. The kick-off issue is part one of a five-issue story arc, the
rest of which will continue in upcoming issues #16 and #17 of Avengers
Assemble and issues #13 and #14 of Captain Marvel. The story
is scripted by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Scott Hepburn and colors by
Jordie Bellaire.
The plot continues an apparently on-going
storyline from another title in which Captain Marvel (the former Ms.
Marvel) deals with two issues: first, a growing brain lesion which worsens
whenever she uses her powers and secondly, her search through the streets of
New York, assisted by Spider-Woman, for an elderly missing friend named
Rose. The two plotthreads come together quickly, as our two heroines
discover that Rose has been abducted by an unnamed super-villain; by issue's
end, Captain Marvel has damaged herself some more by using her powers to free
Rose, while the anonymous bad guy has further advanced his long-term plotting
against Captain Marvel.
I'm giving this issue a negative review
recommendation for three reasons. First-up is the poor
scripting. While the basic story concept is fine, the dialogue is
horrendous, with an amateurish feel to the narrative and the character's
various behaviors. I felt as if I was reading the product of a high
school kid trying to figure-out how to write a comic book script. This
failure is furthered by a plainly lousy artistic style, with everyone drawn in
an annoyingly elongated, funhouse-mirror manner. Third,
this simply isn't an Avengers tale. Its a Carol Danvers/Captain
Marvel story with Spider-Woman thrown-in as a support character, along with a
very brief Thor appearance. While it makes sense that the next four
issues leave this Avengers title, none of them should be anywhere near an
Avengers-themed comic book title in the first place. The comic book fails
to establish a deserved Avengers identity for this new title, rather
than merely serving as a stop along the way for a Captain Marvel tale
that's continuing in other titles. The reader is left with no sense of
what this particular take on the Avengers team is all about, as well as no
reason to stick around for whatever Marvel Comics chooses to present in next
month's issue #2.
So bottom line, avoid this mish-mash of a
poorly-produced new comic book title that's saddled with an identity crisis,
and instead check-out one of the many fine other Avengers titles, both old and
new, available on the new issues comic book shelves.
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Rob Williams: Writer
Jack Herbert: Art
Ivan Nunes: Colors
Dynamite Comics recently published issue #1
of the latest incarnation of costumed feline Miss Fury. The
Catwoman-like character began life in a 1940's Golden Age newspaper comic
strip and evolved through many versions over the decades.
Paralleling Bruce Wayne/Batman, Miss Fury's secret identity is that of wealthy
New York socialite Marla Drake. Two of the most noteworthy takes on
the character were the 1950's Charlton Comics title drawn by veteran
artist Dick Giordano and a brief cameo appearance by Miss Fury in
Marvel's acclaimed 2008 title "The Twelve." The latest Miss
Fury title is scripted by Rob Williams with art by Jack Herbert and colors by
Ivan Nunes.
Issue #1 interweaves two storylines.
The first sub-plot neatly re-introduces Miss Fury's origin tale. Via
flashback, we learn that on a 1940's African vacation, 21-year-old socialite
Marla Drake befriends a native tribe that provides her with a supernatural
potion that gives her heightened, cat-like reflexes. Given her
spoiled-rich-girl personality, upon her return to New York our heroine follows
the Catwoman route and amuses herself by becoming a costumed cat burgler,
prowling the City at night and conducting upscale heists such as
diamond thefts. Our second plothread introduces a science fiction
element to the title. Stumbling upon a pre-World War II
Nazi domestic spy cell during her New York nighttime prowling, Miss
Fury becomes the victim of a secret Nazi technology that repeatedly richochets
her back-and forth between the New York City timeframes of 1943 and 2013.
The issue ends in a dramatic bridge to issue #2, as its revealed to a
bewildered Miss Fury that World War II is still being fought in 2013 in the air
over the New York City skyline.
This new comic book title hits a solid
homerun in terms of both quality storytelling and entertainment value, in
several respects. A common tough challenge in reviving any
Golden Age comic book character is finding the proper balance in the new
series between preserving the original character elements and introducing
modern-day plotlines and story atmosphere. The creative team does a
fantastic job here of finding the perfect blend of both. There's a
wonderful Art Deco, pre-WWII New York cultural feel to the characters and
setting that's infused with just the right amount of 2013-style
action-adventure, sex and violence that makes this comic book a must-have read
for serious comic readers.
I'm very intrigued by two elements of the issue #1
story. The first is the edginess of Marla Drake/Miss Fury's
personality. "Miss Fury" is the perfect name for Marla's secret
identity, as by day she's a snotty rich bitch and by night she's a hot-tempered
costumed thief with major anger management/violence issues. It will be
fascinating to see how her time-traveling adventure most likely redeems her by
rechannelling her anger in the direction of use toward a greater good.
The second tantalizing plot tidbit is the mysterious nature of her ping-ponging
visits to the year 2013. Issue #1 gives clues as to three possible
explanations for her 2013 experiences: time-travel to a somehow
revised actual future, a visit to an alternate reality timeline or
possibly it's all just a hallucination brought-on by anger and stress.
Again, it will be fun to see how these possibilities sort-out into one reveal
as the title's issues unfold.
My only minor criticism of this new title is
that it definitely needs to add a missing "Mature Readers,
Only" warning onto the front cover, due to a fair mix of sex within
the storyline. But that item aside, this is the most fun, fresh and
entertaining reintroduction of a classic Golden Age comic book figure that I've
read in many a year. So for a wild ride of traditional costumed comic character
storytelling, science fiction adventuring and all the good stuff that we all
want in our comic book storytelling, by all means don't miss this excellent new
series!
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Scott Snyder: Writer
Jim Lee: Pencils
Scott Williams: Inks
DC Comics has released to great fanfare
issue #1 of its new "Superman Unchained" title. The series
brings acclaimed Batman writer Scott Snyder into the Superman storyverse,
accompanied by veteran A-list penciller Jim Lee and inker Scott Williams.
Issue #1 kicks-off a multi-issue storyarc with a
segment entitled "The Leap," consisting of three separate
storythreads. In the brief introductory sub-plot, we flashback to the
April, 1945 atomic bomb drop over Nagasaki, in which a young boy witnesses a
previously-unknown superpowered being who was apparently linked to the
event. Our second storythread flash- forwards us into a typical
Superman-Lex Luthor confrontation, in which Luthor challenges Superman by
crashlanding various orbiting satellites around the Earth. And our third
sub-plot shifts the story focus to General Lane, Lois Lane's infamous
Army General Dad. Without being a detail spoiler, Superman unwittingly
crosses paths in his satellite retrieval with a secret military project run by
General Lane. Two end-of-the-issue dramatic bridges lead us to next
month's issue: its revealed that General Lane has a connection to the
mysterious Nagasaki superbeing, and a brief two-page Epilogue scene reconnects
the 2013 storyline back to the young boy who witnessed the unknown superpower
activity in 1945.
This is an entertaining new Superman title that
brings some freshness to the Superman storyverse in a few ways. First,
its just plain exciting to read Scott Snyder's entry into this wing of DC's
publishing inventory. He brings to this issue the same style of
introspective, absorbing story narrative that made his many Batman issues such
great entertainment. I also liked very much the intriguing story element
of the WWII mysterious Superbeing, who's obviously on a plot collision course
in 2013 with Superman. Third, I liked the way that Snyder comfortably
fits our modern hi-tech social media elements into the daily lives and
behavior of Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson. All three have
left behind the stodgy, old-style trappings of The Daily Planet and now
Tweet, text and blog all of their journalistic activities, adding some neat
real-world credibility to their profession in this comic book world.
Two final minor but noteworthy review items:
First, I really loved the way that Snyder presents Superman as identifying more
with the Clark Kent side of his persona than the Kal-El side; throughout the
story, in his inner dialogue with himself, Superman refers to himself
as Clark, giving him more of a connection with his civilian identity than
is usually seen in DC's stories. Its a small but noticeable touch that
goes a long way toward making Clark Kent a real person as opposed to just a
costumed persona for The Man of Steel. Secondly, there's a nice
poster-size pull-out for pages four and five of this issue that presents a
panoramic outer space action scene, the fold-out size of which enhances
the major impact of this epic scene to the story.
All-in-all, DC has hit a grand slam home with this
excellent new addition to the many Superman titles on those new issues
shelves. So what are you waiting for, stop reading this review already
and get down to That's Entertainment to pick-up your very own copy of
Superman Unchained #1!
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest is our annual Summer Movie
Challenge, in which we asked you to tell us what summer movie or movies you're
looking forward to seeing, and why we should all also get in line with you to
see your choice! And our contest winner is (drumroll, please...) Nessa
Shields, who tells us that she's really looking forward to seeing two
movies. First, she wants to see the new "Superman" movie
because "it looks very different from what we have been used to, for
example, the new suit, and it has a great cast." Secondly, she wants
to see "After Earth," starring Will Smith and his son Jadin, because
"we've seen Will Smith grow into an amazing actor, I can't wait to see the
next generation!" Two great choices for summer movie-going fare:
congratulations to Nessa, who wins our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to
That's Entertainment!
New Contest Challenge!!!
The Bongo Congo Panel Of Contest Judges has decreed
that we offer-up a civics trivia question for this week's contest.
Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
no later than Wednesday, July 3 with the correct answer to the
following question: which U.S. State is the only one among the 50 states
that has a two-sided state flag instead of a one-sided flag? For extra
credit (but no extra prize), can you also name the currently very popular
television sitcom that also mentioned this trivia fact in an episode? As
always, in the event of multiple correct entries, the winner of our $10.00
first prize 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 two great Boston Bruins Stanley
Cup Finals (Go Broons!!!) and comic book-reading weeks
and see you again on Friday, July 5 Here In Bongo
Congo! |
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