8/4/12

Another batch of comic reviews, no preamble. let's go!

 Battle Beasts #1: The comics world is digging deep for 80’s toy-line comics. Battle Beasts have divided collectors for years; are they cool or are they lame? I picked up the book so you can guess my stance on the issue.

On a far-flung planet, an anthropomorphic ram sits amidst the alien hills of a dessert bad-land, with him are his two allies: Mersk the hawk and Gruntos the walrus. Bobby Curnow’s writing is dark, brooding and spot-on. You start to love this savage world. 

The problems with the story are heralded when they are beset by a menagerie of villains. Artist Valerio Schiti, in his attempt to make an ostrich look tough and deadly, for all intents and purposes clothes him in bondage gear which only worsens the general effect. That’s not to say that Valerio doesn’t have some very good designs, he does, my favorite being the sleek, assassin-ish cow on the last page.

When the beasts head to Earth things go to pot a bit. Bliss Reynolds, a linguist based so obviously on Zooey Deschanell that the homage is stretched to absurdity, unlocks the beasts’ language and activates two orbs that change into gauntlets. These are obviously the “dread weapons” mentioned earlier. 

I may be picking nits but the lingual elements of the story bother me. I may not be a philologist but my undergraduate advisor was and I couldn’t help but pick a few principles up. (Hi, Professor Burke!) Firstly the alien language is said to be logographic not phonographic, based on meaning not sound. Bliss actually speaks a portion of the dialect from the artifact she has been studying. This would be impossible unless she somehow knew what phonemes were used. It would be like someone who doesn’t read Japanese trying to read in ANCIENT Japanese ; it would be theoretically possible to decode the meanings but you could never on your own reproduce the sounds. Further phonetic trouble ensues when the beasts themselves talk on Earth and we can only hear them from a human perspective. There are simply too many phonemes and they all but never repeat. Unless this language has tens if not hundreds of words for every English one this lack of a pattern wouldn’t emerge.

Whew, excessively scholarly rant over. I had promised myself I would never become THAT kind of blogger but hey, I like my Sci-fi to have workable “sci”. I still recommend this title. I just feel that the out of this world elements had literally stayed out of this world.

 Batman Earth One Special Preview Edition

This nifty little free comic by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank is designed to hook you into buying the graphic novel. I hate,hate,hate this kind of cheap trickery but dammit, this time it works. John’s, whose name is hardly synonymous with Batman, turns his high concept mind to a modern retelling of Batman’s origin. 

We begin with the Dark Knight chasing a suited man. The smooth, brooding, wordless panels lead to the impossible. Batman flubs miserably. We revert to the past where Thomas Wayne is running for mayor of Gotham. He has called on an old friend to be his head of security- a war toughened Alfred Pennyworth. 

Here Alfred is not a near emotionless simpering butler but a complicated badass, a treatment which even trumps Michael Caine’s movie portrayals for pure awesomeness. Young Bruce is excited for family-night-at-the-movies. Alfred insists on accompanying them but Thomas insists he stay. Every Batman fan knows what will happen next. 

If this were a miniseries, I’d buy it without an instances thought. Being a full length graphic novel, this one may not end up in my collection. So my recommendation is that the choice is yours. But whatever you do, don’t look over this preview edition just because it cost you nothing. 

 Wonder Woman #11

As I said before, this title feels like Wondie in the Vertigo universe and I love it. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Ciang work together seamlessly. Their combined visions of the Greek Pantheon is simply stunning. They are vivid, surprising, unique, yet highly appropriate. 

Apollo and Artemis make a power play to assume the throne of Olympus left vacant by Zeus. Is it mere coincidence that the story line’s end game appears to have been set up for the end of its first year? If this is indeed the end of the story line, its been a wild ride that I can’t recommend highly enough. I will likely buy the trades regardless of having all the single issues. Yet, I yearn for a more traditional Wonder Woman. I’d like to see issue #13 to launch a new creative team.

The only weak point of this series is that Wonder Woman seems to play second fiddle to her ensemble cast. Hopefully, we’ll see something more traditional coming down the pike. Either way, I think it might be back issue time. Gail Simone anyone?

 Captain Marvel #1

A woman writing a heroine comic , we haven’t seen much of this winning combination from Marvel. DC has been flirting with it on and off. 

Kelly Sue DeConnick’s writing makes me happy to be a comic fan and a feminist. Right away Miss Marvel, along with Captain America’s minor assistance, faces off against everything that is wrong with masculinity in the form of the Absorbing Man. After the battle, Captain America encourages Miss Marvel to take on the name of her namesake, Captain Marvel to reach her full potential.

After thirty-five years of carrying the diminutive suffix, it is more than time for Carol Danvers to become Captain Marvel.  Dexter Soy’s painting style art is less than ideal. Carol’s physical depiction is high on the misogynistic bull crap scale. At least Captain America is beyond Playgirl model himself. 

The letters page ends in part with “You just read the first issue of your new favorite comic.” All hyperbole aside, this is definitely a title you shouldn’t miss. I just wish the covers were a little better. Who drew that hair?