FIRST IMPRESSIONS 6/30/10
Batman Beyond #1
By Adam Beechen & Ryan Benjamin
Price: $2.99
Brief Thoughts: Beechen gives us Batman Beyond fans a little something to rejoice about as he tells a well-paced, intriguing “next episode” of the much-missed TV show. Terry McGinnis, the future Batman, runs around the city of Neo-Gotham with hardly a break as he and mentor Bruce Wayne discover a murder signaling the return of an old foe. The reader is brought along for the ride quite well on Batman’s non-stop adventures, which are ably visualized by artist Ryan Benjamin. While Benjamin does wonders on the scenes involving anyone in a costume, his unmasked faces leave a lot to be desired, though. I was also gung-ho about the entire story until the last page reveal of the identity of the returned rogue. It’s a personal prejudice, however, as I’ve just never been a fan of the villain. There’s something to be said for the work of the creators since I’m still excited about where it’s all going.
Verdict: Give it a shot.
Captain America – The 1940’s Newspaper Strip #1
By Karl Kessel
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: If you’re in the mood for a charming little ditty about the Sentinel of Liberty and his boy sidekick, Bucky, that’s set during the 1940’s then you’re in for a treat with this. Kessel is basically giving us the Cap newspaper strip that never was and it works well for what it’s intended to do. That charm I mentioned before makes the somewhat easily anticipated twists in the tale much more palatable as you just basically just settle in and enjoy the ride, putting your critical eye away for the duration. This fact, unfortunately, doesn’t make this worth four bucks. If it were in the newspaper every day as a fun supplement to tons of other material, you’d read it like clockwork, but as a standalone purchase? Sorry, but I need a little more substance.
Verdict: Save your dough.
Green Hornet: Parallel Lives #1
By Jai Nitz & Nigel Raynor
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: Well, I’m not sure why this wasn’t called “Kato: Year One”, as it tells the story of how Kato has such a knack for developing all of the Green Hornet’s wonderful toys, but beyond that it was a decent comic. Nitz and Raynor’s work is basically fine, but their efforts don’t really do much more than get you through the issue with no real complaints. All in all, nothing bad but nothing spectacular either.
Verdict: Save your dough.
Star Trek: Burden of Knowledge #1
By Scott Tipton, David Tipton, & Federica Manfredi
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: The Tiptons and Manfredi have produced a solid Star Trek adventure that evokes the tone and style of the original series. The story line, involving an alien race who has developed a miraculous healing technology and the secrets they’re keeping, is an interesting one. Despite the good start, the issue does hit a few snags. Several plot points are either predictable (it’s really not a surprise when the one crew member that’s not part of the famous cast is the one to get hurt) or handled lazily (the starship attack). Also, the two alien races were somewhat of a bore visually. Comics have an unlimited budget, so why not use that in your designs? All in all, a solid start to what will probably be a solid miniseries.
Verdict: Give it a shot.
Iron Man: Kiss and Kill #1
By Joe Ahearne, Karl Kessel, Brian Ching & Eric Nguyen
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: Meh. The Black Widow story was forgettable, and the Wolverine tale, while being of some interest for me as I tried to figure out when during the New Avengers run it probably took place, didn’t do much for me either. And I really don’t need to reads a scene where Iron Man preempts blasting someone with a repulsor blast from his gauntlet by screaming, “Talk to the hand!” Groan.
Verdict: Save your dough.
X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Saga
By Various
Price: FREE!
Brief Thoughts: Yeah, it’s technically not a #1 issue, but I just wanted to mention that, besides the usual promotional interview and preview that these Saga issues always have, this issue also contains nine pages of all-new 1-page origins of the major players in the current X-Titles. If you happened to pick up the Origins of Marvel Comics #1 a couple months ago, you know how much fun these are to flip through and hand to your comic-ignorant friends. Plus, it’s free!
Verdict: It’s free! Duh.
X-Campus #1
By Francesco Artibani, Denis Medri & Roberto Di Salvo
Price: $4.99
Brief Thoughts: A somewhat predictable mix of the first X-Men film and the X-Men: Evolution cartoon from some years back, this European adaptation of the X-mythos tells the tale of a teenaged Rogue as she is ushered into a boarding school full of mutant youngsters. The school is run by Magneto, while teacher Professor Xavier works against him from the shadows. If this sounds a bit too familiar it’s because it is. Artibani’s script isn’t bad, it’s just that we’ve seen so many similar versions of this same story in the last decade that there’s nothing new to be found here. You’re better off reading the actual X-titles, which are doing wonderful things right now.
Verdict: Save your dough.
Robert Bloch’s Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper #1
By Joe R. Lansdale, John L. Lansdale & Kevin Colden
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: Kevin Colden’s pencils were surprisingly engaging, as his offbeat art-style brought a level of interest to this clichéd tale of a famous serial killer having connections to witchcraft, forcing him to kill people to stay young. The Lansdales’ script, based on the story by Bloch, doesn’t offer any trappings new enough to freshen up the tired plot. The protagonists’ even realize that, if you map out the locations of the Ripper’s murders, the pattern forms a pentagram. Yawn! I’ve only seen that, oh, three or four times before. Worth a flip for Colden’s art, although he needs to stop cheating on the backgrounds so much.
Verdict: Save your dough.
Spider-Ham 25th Anniversary Special #1
By Tom Defalco, Tom Peyer, Jacob Charot, Adam DeKraker & Agnes Garbowska
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: It’s Spider-Ham! So, really, you’re either going to be in to this or not. You don’t even need to open the book. Look at the cover. Spider-Ham. Spider-Man as cartoon pig. There it is. You’re buying it or not, but you know which side you’re falling on pretty quickly with this one. I like Spider-Ham, so I’m all in. My guilty pleasure. Plus, where else can you get a cute little nod to Indy cartoonist Jason, an anthropomorphic take on “Kraven’s Last Hunt” and, well, Dr. Octopussy. Seriously, sold.
Verdict: Give it a shot.
Disney’s Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm #1
By Jordan Mechner, Tom Fowler, & Bernard Chang
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: I haven’t seen the film based on the Prince of Persia video game, so I’m not entirely sure if this is an adaptation or a prequel of some sort. Despite that minor bout of confusion, this was by far not a bad comic book. Mechner’s script supplies a reasonably entertaining story, although whenever it focused on the titular character, my interest waned. Far more interesting was the oily character of Sheik Amar, who tells a tale of meeting the Prince in the past. The love story at the core of the plot is too light and hackneyed, as well. Fowler’s artwork on the first section of the issue was wonderful, and captured the time period well. Alas, he only pencils 6 of the 32 pages in this issue. Worth a look at the shop, though I’m not positive that it’s worth a spot in the collection.
Verdict: Save your dough.
Mindfield #1
By J.T. Krul & Alex Konat
Price: $2.99
Brief Thoughts: This one’s worth picking up. Krul delivers an involved tale of psychic CIA agents who use telepathy and remote viewing to take out terrorists. His four lead characters all show potential to be captivating protagonists and the decision to dedicate as much time in the issue to our heroes’ downtime as their action scenes is a smart move which makes them all the more relatable. Konat’s pencils do an able job bringing the plot to life in the usual Aspen house-style. It’s solid work, while not terribly original. It does give the comic a summer blockbuster feel to the whole affair, though, which works with the material. A pleasant surprise. Click here for a full a review.
Verdict: Give it a shot.
Joker’s Asylum II: Clayface #1
By Kevin Schinick & Kelley Jones
Price: $2.99
Brief Thoughts: A weak story with amazing artwork from Kelley Jones. Jones was obviously born to draw a Clayface story, and that alone made me pleased with having picked this up. The plot, however, about Clayface developing an army of followers, is entirely by the numbers and a sad addition to the visuals. If only the script matched the level of the artwork, we could’ve had a real winner on our hands.
Verdict: Save your dough (unless you are all about the art, then Give it a shot.)
Abe Sapien: Abyssal Plain #1
By Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Peter Snejbjerg
Price: $3.50
Brief Thoughts: Hellboy and its related family of titles just hasn’t been my thing in the past. I’ve given them a shot here and there, but always found myself uninterested. So, I went into this one biased as all hell. Why should this comic be any different, I asked myself? Well, insert foot into mouth, because I really enjoyed Abyssal Plain. Snejbjerg’s art is the real star of this miniseries, but Mignola’s & Arcudi’s story is nothing to sneer at. The story starts with no time wasted and the characters are sufficiently introduced for the plot about a sunken submarine and the invulnerability-inducing helmet trapped within to be understood. A quick in, leading I assume, to a quick out, and I loved it. The only first issue this week that made me want to immediately read the next installment.
Verdict: Give it a shot. Definitely.
Zombies vs. Cheerleaders #1
By Steven L. Frank, Ben Glendenning, Jessica Hickman, Frankie B. Washington & David Namisato
Price: $3.99
Brief Thoughts: Let’s say you’re not at all tired of the endless zombie glut that has been going strong in the comics industry for the last five or ten years. Let’s say you enjoy juvenile humor and lame jokes that you can barely call jokes because, well, they’re not funny. Let’s say you’re a fan of a story with the barest of plots. Let’s say you enjoy having one issue of a comic drawn by four different artists who draw in completely different styles, despite that they’re penciling chapters of the SAME story. Let’s say you really get a kick out of throwing away four bucks. Then you, sir or lady, should really buy this comic.
Verdict: Save your dough.
-Joe Lopez
Other #1 issue reviews on WCBR:
Invincible Iron Man Annual #1
Death of Dracula #1
Filed under: Boom! Studios, Marvel Comics, Other, Picks of the Week | Tagged: Abe Sapien: Abyssal Plain #1, Batman Beyond #1, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE 1940'S NEWSPAPER STRIP # 1, Green Hornet: Parallel Lives #1, Mindfield 1, Spider-Ham 25th Anniversary Special #1, Star Trek - Burden of Knowledge #1, THE JOKER'S ASYLUM: CLAYFACE, X-Campus #1, Zombies vs. Cheerleaders #1 | 2 Comments »
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