Animal Man #20 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), John Paul Leon (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Step aside Daniel Day-Lewis—here comes Buddy Baker.

The Review: Every story, to a certain extent, tends to veer away from its original course somewhere along the way.  In most cases, this is a good thing; it’s a sign that creative energies are at work and the writer is not afraid to let them guide his work.  In some cases, however, a story can get so far off its path that it risks taking a completely different direction altogether, one that might lead it over a cliff.  In these cases, some course correction is necessary.

Animal Man’s problems may have started even before the Rotworld arc, but at some point, the series was no longer the deeply touching and horrifying title we fell in love with.  At some point, it became melodramatic, derivative, and gratuitous, all qualities better left to the raucous plots superhero books rather than one with potential for truly compelling and complex storytelling.  Lemire needs to regroup and center his protagonist once again, lest he totally loses our interest.

Animal Man #6 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), John Paul Leon & Travel Foreman (artists), Jeff Huet (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist)

The Story: Well, Buddy, you’re giving Clooney a run for his money on that Oscar, I’ll say that.

The Review: I have a screenwriter friend who’s a big buff for the canon of artistic cinema—loves everything Stanley Kubrick, big Criterion collector, all that good stuff.  Because I’m a lit nerd, I tend to view movies with a pretentious sniff, but under his influence, I’ve grown to see film as the potential art form it is—Twilight movies and unceasing Alvin and the Chipmunks sequels be damned.  And anyway, as a comics reader, I can’t exactly stay on a high horse.

I will say, however, that the bulk of movies tend to be more formulaic, predictable, and given to cliché than almost any other medium, even the decent ones.  Three pages into “Tights,” the last (?) movie Buddy starred in before his run-in with the Rot, you already know the angsty place the plot is heading long before Chas (Buddy’s “character”) lands himself in the hospital with an estranged wife and crying kid beside him, begging him to stop his vigilantism before it’s too late.  The premise of “Tights” also comes a bit too late in the “superhero down on his luck”-type story.

The beauty of art, though, is that no matter how much it follows formula, it can still be affecting and powerful depending on its execution.  And Lemire sure knows how to execute.  He’s not the type to insert this kind of thing into an issue just as a fun gimmick.  What “Tights” really does is give you a character study on Buddy himself through the guise of his film counterpart.  The last five issues have been so chock-full of action and plot elements that we haven’t really gotten a chance to know our hero as a person, so this sequence comes as a quiet, welcome break.

Now, we’ve seen the Baker family in action, so we know the distant father, mother, and son in the movie are at least not true to life (so to speak).  We also know Buddy is a pretty wholesome and well-adjusted guy, compared to the depressed, falling-apart drunk on screen.  There is one thing they share: an addiction to heroism, one they can’t quit even in the face of very real danger.  Red Thunder finds himself incapable of dealing with even the youngest threats of modern society, while Animal Man is poorly equipped to deal with the abstract, overwhelming foe he’s up against.  Red Thunder gets beat up; where will that leave Animal Man, I wonder?

Two significant moments in the issue signal how this movie clip will play into upcoming story.  First is Red Thunder’s admission to his grieved ex-wife and son: “I—I can’t quit…I can’t do anything else.  Without the costume…I’m nothi—”  Whether this bears any reflection to Buddy’s determination to see this horror through, even with the risk to his family, we’ll have to see.  It’s also significant to learn Cliff’s the one watching his dad’s movie this whole time.  We’ve seen in earlier issues how taken he is with his dad being in the hero business, but he just had a scary run-in with the Hunters Three, and witnessed his dad getting beat around.  It may well be he’s having second thoughts about how cool any of this is.

The Spirit #16 – Review

By: David Hine (writer), John Paul Leon (artist), Daniel Vozza (colorist)

The Story: Cosplaying may not all be harmless fun and games…

The Review: I’ve actually been in Paris this past week for work, and let me tell you, it’s a beautiful town with some good eatin’ and mostly fine people.  In fact, my estimation of the French really went up a notch this week when I found to my dismay over the weekend that I hadn’t bought a copy of this week’s The Spirit.  Not one to shirk my reviewing duties, even overseas, I went on an internet search blitz and found Arkham, the best and possibly only magasin des bande dessinées Americaines in Paris.

It was there that I bought this issue for a blistering four euros (thank God DC “held the line”, or else I’d have had to pay the equivalent of an Olive Garden meal for the comic).  Still, you can’t beat taking the Metro to a quiet, ancient corner of the City of Lights, grabbing a fresh peach from a corner fruit and vegetable vendor, and perusing graphic novels in a Parisian LCS with French heavy metal playing in the background.  Call me a romantic, but that’s a life I can get used to.

But enough with praising the French, and let’s get on with praising an American.  I often hassle writers who use excessive narration mostly because they like the sound of their own ideas.  Hine sticks to giving you the facts, allowing the dialogue, art, and your imagination to do the rest.  He just channels that pulp language evocatively.  Ovsack: “A cool million bucks and the eternal gratitude of the Octopus to whoever brings me the Spirit’s head.”  Doesn’t get better than that.

Captain America By Ed Brubaker Omnibus Vol.1 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (Writer), Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Michael Lark, John Paul Leon, Tom Palmer, Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin, Lee Weeks, Stefano Gaudiano, Rick Holberg, and Jesse Delperdang (Artists), and Frank D’Armata, Javier Rodriguez, and Matt Milla (Colors)

This is an absolute necessary collection for anyone who is currently reading Captain America. I’ll admit, I fall into the category of readers who jumped on the series around Civil War. Having only read those issues, I knew where this big tome of story would end up: Captain America dead, and Bucky back from the dead. Despite knowing exactly how it would end, the story found in this omnibus not only kept me enthralled, but several times it kept me on the edge of my seat. Ed Brubaker is a master storyteller, and I can see why his run is already being heralded one the best in Cap’s history.

The story contained within is very personal. We get to look into the life and mind of Steve Rogers, as well of several of the supporting cast members. Knowing that the Winter Soldier would end up being Bucky, it was painful and poignant to see Steve Rogers discover this for himself. Through Brubaker’s clever use of flashbacks, we also get to see the great dynamic that developed between these two partners as they fought together in World War II. Where Bucky’s return as a brainwashed Russian agent brings sadness into the life of Steve Rogers, we get to witness the development of his rekindled relationship with Sharon Carter. This relationship brings Cap rare moments of fulfillment.

Of course, the brilliant characterization is not just limited to the good guys. On the villainous side of things, we get several displays of genius, treachery, and just pure evil on the parts of both Aleksander Lukin and the Red Skull (along with their minions.) Fans of bad guy romance even get appeased as the relationship between Crossbones and Sin develops.

The characterization is only half of what makes the story so good. The other half is tons of action. In fact, this story has some of the best action I’ve seen in comics. Whether it is Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, or any of the other artists who contributed to this book, the action they bring to these issues is dynamic, cinematic, and just plain stunning to look at. Stuff likes this leaves me hoping that the Captain America movie will be popular enough just so this storyline can be adapted to the bring screen.

I realize this is a pretty expensive book to buy ($74.99 for 25 issues of story), but any current fan of Captain America who hasn’t read these stories needs to pick this up just to appreciate who the old Captain America was, who the new Captain America is, and just how genius the Red Skull has been in the implementation of his diabolical plan. If you want a money saving tip, save up, and buy it used on eBay (that is what I had to do), or buy it from a store like DCBS. It’s definitely worth your money. (Grade: A+)

-M. Staples

Scalped #12 – Review

By Jason Aaron (writer), John Paul Leon (art), Guilia Brusco (colors)

Issue #12 brings Bad Horse back into the story line. He’s plagued with reoccurring dreams of his death. Each time, he dies by Red Crow’s hand and it’s beginning to overcome him. We also learn why he’s working for the FBI – he’s trying to earn back his freedom. But at what will be the ultimate cost of his freedom? His mother tries to give him the answers in a series of prophesying dreams, but it just doesn’t make sense to him.

John Paul Leon does the art chores for this issue, and while his artwork is no where as striking as that of R.M. Guera, he keeps the tone consistent. It’s great to see Bad Horse back after such a long hiatus, but the story continues to chug along.

We get a lot of foreshadowing, yes, but it’s also safe to assume that everything his mom says is easily going to happen anyway. I guess the Bad Horse is too dumb not to figure out the obvious and needs it spelled out to him. Great dialogue as usual by Jason Aaron, but this issue felt like unneeded filler. (Grade: C+)

– J. Montes