3/27/12

Welcome again dear readers. I must shudder to think of how oft I left you wrenched with sighs and rending your garments waiting with baited breath for the next installment of Gonzo’s Dressing Room. (O.K. so realistically you probably have no idea if it’s been two days or two months since the last installment. I’m not kidding myself here.) But since my blog is yet again late and the next post may be even later, I’ve decided to bestow a quintet of reviews. Yes, five, count ‘em, five comics will be put under the microscope this week. (To save your eyes and brains undue stress I have kept them as succinct as practical.) So away we go...

Age of Apocalypse #1

Remember the Age of Apocalypse? Possibly the first X-Books- wide mega-event in which we see a world where Charles Xavier never founded the X-Men and Apocalypse

ran a planet-wide Darwinian mutant distopia? No, neither did I at first. Well, apparently this tangent world did not end. Big Blue has been overthrown but this universe’s Wolverine, now called Weapon Omega, has fallen right into Apocalypse’s shoes. ( See, see, I’ve always said Logan was the most potentially corruptible of the core X-men.)

David Lapham’s scripts are topnotch but I have a few bones to pick with Roberto De Latorre’s art. Admittedly, Jean Grey looks like Annie Lennox from the Eurythmics if back in the day Annie didn’t looked like she subsisted on krill. The shocking character revealed on the last page is simply sexy despite being male. Oh, yes, I was complaining...

De Latorre’s style is the kind of gritty realism I generally can only stomach from Alex Maleev. Also, one of the female characters has” breasts the size of her head syndrome.”

If you are as confused about what’s happening with the X-Men lately as I am, this is a great title to pick up, particularly as it seems it will not have major effects on any other X-title.

Avengers Assemble #1

I swear I’ve read this kind of stuff over and over again and considering it comes from Brian Michael Bendis, that’s quite a shocker. The art is passable but a little too “comicbooky”.

Bendis balances banter and combat well but he has no idea how to handle Black Widow. Natasha comes off as a straw feminist, at best. When Hawkeye half jokingly flirts with her, she doesn’t so much put him in his place as spur him on with a half-hearted rebuke.

I enjoyed seeing Thor out-muscled but I fear this is a typical case of making the bad guys their strongest at the beginning only to be easily defeated at the end of the story line.

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake #1

I promised a friend that I would review this book ,so although it hurts my ego, I will be gentle. Adventure Time is a Cartoon Network Show which I have never seen. The rollicking over-caffeinated, over-sugared zaniness must be pure crack to circa thirteen year olds. If you have either not seen the show or have a high school diploma,at least a bit of this comic will seem utterly nonsensical.

Finn, our main hero appears to be wearing a diaper on his head and his stretchy dog, Jake is an aesthetic horror show. I can just hear the toddlers in front of their t.v.s “ His eyes, his eyes, Mommy what’s wrong with the doggy’s eyes?” I do like Marceline the Vampire Queen though.

The first of the two stories is a to-be-continued in which a monster named the Lich returns to destroy the whole world by placing it in a bag of holding. ( Apparently, the series’s creator has spent some time at the Dungeons and Dragons table.) I hate to spoil a surprise, but it would be best not to have eaten anything too heavy when Finn puts on Jake as a battle suit.The Ice King, writing fan fiction, is a wonderful touch.

Moving on to the second story, Arron Renier is a much better writer than artist. I’m sure children would love his pencils but to me it seems like a horribly wrong mix of Doctor Suess and the Phantom Tollbooth.

The story is a silly, absurdist tale of mysterious cider from the sky and a mysterious mummy-wrapped figure. It is just gross enough to delight any red blooded eight-year-old boy. I have a huge spot in my heart for this tale’s protagonist, “Tree Trunks”.

I picked up the third printing of this book along with issue #2 so I will refrain from making a final decision on the title’s worthiness until I have perused the second comic. If you have kids however, be prepared to be seeing a LOT of “Diaper Head and Horror Eyes” in the future!

Green Lantern #7

Geoff Johns is a genius. He may not be the best comic writer of all time but for my money he is definitely very close to the top. His work and this Green Lantern run in particular has me finishing an issue and saying “ I want to know what happens next NOW.” No comic has ever made be say this so strongly in my life.

I am angered, shocked and a little hurt that the Indigo tribe appears to be a cult. The evidence is scant however, and the neck manacle placed on the Black Hand at the end of Blackest Night now adorns every Tribe member. Perhaps they’re under someone else’s control.

Sinistro must really learn to knock. Every time he visits Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris is nude in bed. Carol’s Star Sapphire outfit has long been the bane of every female comic fan. It’s about as degrading and antifeminist as possible. I’m not defending it but she does don her ring to kick some Indigo One and Sinistro butt to save her boyfriend,Hal.

Most DC comics and Green Lantern in particular, are way short on content but for my money this is the best mainstream book out there.

Saga #1

I have been sitting in rapturous awe trying to decide how to start this review. Well, I suppose I just did. On the fringes of comic fandom this comic has been hyped like the second coming of Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore’s final work combined. They have not done it enough justice. The opening scene is the best I can ever remember reading in my twenty plus years as a comic fan.

I have not experienced such a visceral joy reading a comic since Wendy and Richard Pini’s Elf Quest showed me that there were more to comics than Iron Man punching Fin Fang Foom.

Brian Vaughan is obviously trying very hard to please every possible comic fan while staying true to his own vision. I find there to be a bit too much violence. I do not believe I can make any other complaint.

This comic would be nothing more than one of the greatest novels ever written without the art work of Fiona Staples. I would be glad for this comic to come out quarterly or even bi-yearly if that’s what it took to keep her gorgeous art at this level.

My only concern is that they may have outdone themselves. How does one possible top this issue? And how can Hazel possibly be as interesting as her parents?

You may have been wondering what I meant by saying this blog is from a “slightly skewed perspective” . Let me give you a little clue. My favorite character in

the whole issue is Prince Robot IV ‘s alligator butler who appears in only one panel.

If you can find this comic BUY IT NOW. I’ll be at the zoo trying to teach an alligator to wear kid gloves.