Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 – Review

by Darwyn Cooke (writer & artist), Phil Noto (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer)

The Story: Getting to know the Minutemen…

The Review:  Well, it’s finally here, the moment you’ve either been looking forward to or dreading but are, most likely, at least highly curious about.
After reading this first issue, I’m left feeling that a Watchmen prequel, or more Watchmen comics in general, actually isn’t a bad idea.  It’s not so much the characters that necessitate returning to so much as the Watchmen universe.  Cooke’s artwork really hammered this point home.  Not only is it gorgeous in Cooke’s usual stylish, retro way, but it’s really immersive and creates and establishes a unique world that is evocative and characterful in its own way.  Cooke legitimately gives us a world that feels like a different time and, well, just flat out different.  Minutemen is a book that is, more than anything else, an escape, or a trip, to another world and another time.  In that sense, Minutemen #1 is an easy book to get lost in, in the best way possible.

Cooke devotes almost the entirety of the issue to introducing each member of the team individually.  Overall, it’s extremely well-executed.  In 2-3 pages, we get a firm handle on the core essence of each of these characters, that is, their personalities, their backgrounds, their motivations, and their physical presences.  Speaking on this last point, I loved how Cooke distinguished each member’s unique fighting style; each battles the baddies in an entirely different way, even if it always involves fisticuffs.  Each also has an entirely different persona and by the end of the issue, you feel like you know each of them and can see each as a distinct piece that slots into the team in its own way.  Guiding this all along is narration by Hollis Mason from his book “Under the Hood,” which gives the book a controlled, structured feel that also makes everything seem significant.

Overall, the best I can say about this comic is that throughout, it’s amazing well-crafted.  More than most comics I read, it felt like a tremendous amount of thought, and labour, went into each individual textbox and each individual panel.  Everything is well-considered and you can tell that Cooke, and his editors, presumably, have put a lot of time into making the best comic they can.  The end result is an issue that feels tremendously polished, one that feels a cut above the usual weekly morass.  It feels well-crafted, with an effort to make everything just right.  This also leads to a comic that is very structured with a clear, methodical pace and plan in mind.  You can tell that a lot of work went into preliminary outlines and such long before Cooke ever wrote a single line or drew a single panel of it.

DC Universe Legacies #4 – Review

by: Len Wein (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (penciller), Dave Gibbons (inker)

The Story: Paul Lincoln continues his narration of the history of the D.C. Universe to, as of yet, and unknown audience, but for the time being, us, the reader.  After the emergence of the Silver Age of Superheroes, vigilante crime fighting is in an upswing, as we see heroes back on the streets, fighting to protect the people.  And this time, they’re back with sidekicks.  But is it possible to have too many heroes?

The Good: I don’t know how Len Wein does it, but with such a vast array of history, he really narrows down the high points of the DCU history and presents it in a clear, concise manner that is easy to follow.  This particular issues brings back some of the Golden Age heroes, the Silver Age heroes and introduces the next generation, the Teen Titans.  One would think that this would be too much for one book, but Wein is a talented writer and really does a good job, combining them into one issue.  Not great, but good.

A definite highlight of the book is the pairing of the Golden Age heroes fighting alongside of the Silver Age heroes, perhaps a nod to the ideology of Kingdom Come.  Wein continues to map out the ground work of DCU on every page of this issue, keeping it interesting and entertaining.  Thus far, I haven’t had the feeling of rolling my eyes as I relive some of the greatest moments of the DCU history.

Scott Kolins’ artistry of the first two pages of the issue is very reminiscent of the style of Alex Ross, which is a nice touch to the nostalgic tale of the story.  The detail is so strong that I feel as though I’m looking at photographs with word bubbles drawn on them to better tell the story.

DC Universe Legacies #3 – Review

by Len Wein (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (penciller) and Dave Gibbons (inker)

The Story: Len Wein continues his story telling, through the voice of narrator Paul Lincoln, as he recounts what he remembers of the onset of an expected new group of superheroes, after the United States government so hastily pushed aside its first generation of costumed avengers.  But is the world ready to welcome back the idea of costumed vigilantes?

The Good: I have to start out with saying that I really enjoyed the artwork in this issue.  A combination of Kolins, Garcia-Lopez and Gibbons all work together really well to capture a sense of nostalgia in every frame.  There isn’t much flow from panel to panel, and really, there shouldn’t be.  The idea is that this is a story being told from one old man’s memory.  Instead, we see almost snapshots, traveling from specific memory detail to specific memory detail, as Paul Lincoln remembers it all happening.

We also learn that our narrator had also spent some time as a police officer.  This seemed a strong reference to the fact that we are surrounded by costumed superheroes every day, who go by different titles, such as police officer, fireman, doctor, etc.  We are all human and have the ability to do great things.  We don’t need to search for heroes from another planet.  Besides, as Paul’s partner, Officer John Jones, tells us “…there are no aliens on earth.”

DC Universe Legacies #2 – Review

Len Wein (writer), Scott Kolins (artist), Andy Kubert (penciler), Joe Kubert (inker)

The history of the DCU continues to unfold as the story of Legacies proceeds forward.  Our Justice Society of America is called before Congress, specifically the Un-American Activities Committee is, to answer for their vigilante behavior, but face a difficult decision when demanded to unmask themselves in order to be cleared by the Congressional committee.

DC Universe Legacies is taking on a huge challenge in highlighting the important historical background of the DCU in only ten issues.  Issue number 2 has seemingly gotten past its Watchmen overtones and is breaking out into its own storyline.  In this particular issue, we start getting a more focused story about one man, Lincoln—-, and how the Justice Society of America was important to him in his own upbringing.  He is our narrator throughout the story thus far, though it’s hard to say if he’s talking to us, the reader, or a character who might be interviewing him.  Either way, that’s hardly a point of contention.

What I am enjoying about this story is that Len Wein has found a touching way to bring the history of the DCU to the masses, by making it one person’s fond recollection of the events of the Golden Age of superheroes.  Though there will be more significant moments in history yet to come, issues one and two of this ten-parter bring us through the introduction and end of our Golden Age heroes; The Atom (Al Pratt), Black Canary (Dinah Drake Lance), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Hawkman (Carter Hall), Flash (Jay Garrick) and Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider).  When called upon to share their real identities during a time of national crisis, these six “mystery men” have a deeper understanding for the need of their personal privacy and opt to simply go away and not bother anyone ever again.

Human Target #5 – Review

By Len Wein and Robbie Thompson (Writers), Bruno Redondo (Penciler), Sergio Sandoval (Inker), Chris Sprouse (Penciler) & Karl Story (Inker).

Christopher Chance (AKA the Human Target) is again whisked away to another worldly location, Hong Kong this time, in the hope of finding and procuring more of Morelli’s important ledgers, to help get him safely to Washington D.C. to turn states evidence against his Mafioso family.  To complicate matters, a traitor is finally revealed.

Len Wein and Robbie Thompson have finally given us something else to think about with a traitorous member of Christopher Chance’s group that he is trying to protect and deliver to Washington D.C.  There has been a build for this reveal to happen for the last 1 or 2 issues, through subtle hints dropped in characters conversations to each other, specifically between Chance and Guerrero.  However, with the lack of characters in the book, it’s not enough of a twist, since picking out the traitor is as easy as walking into a pencil factory and finding a pencil.  The rest of the story is pretty status quo for the rest of the books in the series thus far.

The more that I have read, the more I have realized that this is clearly a promotion for the TV series more than anything else.  The book itself reads as a TV episode more than a book, which is just one issue with the writing.  Another problem with the writing is that it’s mostly voice over narration by Christopher Chance.  Now, that alone isn’t necessarily bad and could potentially work, if he was actually thinking about something worthwhile that had to do with the story.  However, his voice over narration is simply explaining what we’re seeing in each panel.  I can see that four goons are behind you.  I don’t need to read you thinking: “Great.  Four goons behind me.”

FanExpo 2009 Recap

Last weekend, I attended Fan Expo 2009 in Toronto, Canada, a convention featuring science fiction, comics, anime, horror, and games. I paid the most attention to the comics stream (obviously) and attended panels by five publishers and sat in on two sessions by Len Wein (creator of Wolverine, some of the New X-Men, Swamp Thing, etc). Here’s what I pulled out of it, straight to you, hot off the presses.

Aspen MLT Inc

Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Joe Benitez, Micah Gunnall, Mark Roslan, Alex Konat, Dave Wohl and Marcus To did the A to Z of Aspen comics. It’s hard to believe that Fathom is ten years old and finishing its third arc, and that it’s got a movie deal. Soulfire, Aspen’s other flagship book, is five years old. Aspen has lots of other great titles on the go, including Dellec, Shrugged and especially Executive Assistant Iris. Part of this year’s business strategy will be to do more trades so that fans can easily catch up on their books as new story arcs come out. Executive Assistant Iris also seems to be laying the groundwork for other executive assistant books and stories that would really round out that milieu.

Marvel Digital panel

Joe Quesada showed off the Spider-Woman and Astonishing X-Men motion comics. This was the first time I’d seen either one, and I was impressed, but not sold of the medium. I asked a question about the business model, and they’re using access to motion comics through iTunes sales as a platform to reach new audiences. Smart idea, I hope it works. My only question here is, since when did Jessica Drew get a British accent? Maybe I missed something in Secret Invasion.

DC Universe Editorial Presentation

Dan Didio and a big DC contingent talked shop for an hour and answered questions from all comers. One of the most interesting things I found about this was the focus that DC is doing on each of its eight cornerstone franchises. The franchises are obviously Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman, as well as the three team franchises: the JLA, the JSA and the Titans. One question that came up was “Where’s the love for Aquaman?” Didio diplomatically and rightly pointed out that Aquaman was never really that popular (same with Hawkman). Sure, they both have fans, but they don’t have the same draw as the flagship characters. Neither has the same sort of unambiguous, iconic image in the public’s eye that someone like Batman does. And, with a cast of characters as large as DC has, it makes sense to focus on a few flagship brands, make them really good, so that you can do more stuff with the people and characters and situations around them. I think it’s a great decision and I was pleased to hear that Wonder Woman was part of the lovin’ too.

Cup o’ Joe

Joe Quesada took us on a review of the Marvel universe, but mostly answered questions. One of the most important things for me, personally, was hearing the news about Marvel’s submission policy for people who want to write for Marvel. That was why I went to the con, and I was pleased that I was able to talk to C.B. Cebulski afterwards to get more details. In the session, I asked Joe a question about the Immortal Iron Fist, and how I thought it was a really quality book, but since it didn’t hold the readers in numbers to justify keeping it around, what could they have done differently creatively? There were also plans for Danny Rand after the current Immortal Weapons miniseries. They called it a cooling off period to build up anticipation. I hope it works. IIF was a brilliant series. Someone else asked a question about Dr. Strange, and I was glad to hear that Marvel had plans for him as well.

BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios really gave the impression of being dynamic and on the go. They’re hitting new markets, acquiring licenses left and right, looking at new distribution systems, and putting out quality books. Very impressive… They rightly pointed out the sales successes of Irredeemable and Unknown, and especially the artists that they were able to pull in who wanted a chance to work with Mark Waid. Everyone should be keeping an eye on BOOM!

Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mauro Cascioli (artist)

The Story: Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, tells the assembled JLA that he’s had enough and that it’s time to put the justice back into the Justice League and to take the fight to those who make the evil in the world. However, not many are willing to follow where he’s headed. At the same time, Ray Palmer (the Atom), Mikaal Tomas and Congo Bill come to views very similar to Green Lantern’s.

What’s Good: Almost everything. Robinson starts us off with a very strong concept: that some heroes are taking the initiative. They’re not going to act like police respecting Miranda rights; they’re going to take the informal war between good and evil on the offensive. This is a very “mature reader” perspective to bring to such an iconic series. which has been long overdue. It’s similar to the switch that detective fiction took in the 1920’s when American writers found the British cozy mysteries too contrived and artificial and instead introduced the gritty, realistic American detective that had to confront brutal criminals in violent ways. This is the can of whoop-ass that is going to put the JLA at the center stage of the comic book industry for months.

The concept of justice itself is very emotional and it allows Robinson and Cascioli to shine some powerful lights into the inner worlds of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Atom, Congorilla, and Mikaal. The emotions they uncover are raw and visceral, making the storytelling powerful both in words and pictures.

Speaking of pictures, where has Mauro Cascioli been all my life? He’s freaking awesome! The lighting is brilliant and he’s got some tricks of shadowing and light that put such texture onto the page that you have to see to believe. And if you really need convincing (as if the cover doesn’t convince you), look at the flashbacks of Batman and Martian Manhunter tragedies. Look at the billowing clouds of fire and smoke bursting out of a car. Look at Congorilla’s face! The art is just unbelievable!

I also loved Robinson’s message to the readers at the end. He tells us what JLA: Cry for Justice is about, what he thinks it will do and where the characters are coming from. And to top it off, we got a punchy little Len Wein/ Ardian Syaf/ John Dell two-pager at the end on the origin of Congorilla.

What’s Not So Good: My only compaint, other than some slightly over-developed biceps in places, were two pieces of clunky dialogue. My pet peeve is when dialogue is used to tell readers something that the other characters on the page already know. It’s just not genuine. Superman indulges in some (“We all know exactly who and what we’ve lost”) and so does a mortician (“I guess you know the details. He was visiting….”). These are tiny notes in an otherwise flawless symphony.

Conclusion: JLA: Cry for Justice is expected to do big things for the DCU and set up conditions for Robinson when he takes over the main JLA title. This is big stuff and it shows. Buy this book!

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

A Second Opinion

Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 is a lot like the majority of comic books throughout the 90s; the art shines, and the story/ writing tanks. Each subplot reeks of a lack of originality, inconvenience, camp, and unimportance.

In the part where Hal Jordan calls out the Justice League, and decides to serve his own brand of justice, the dialogue is made up corny and cliche banter. With phrases like, “You and me. Old times, new times, all the time.” and “I’m saying this will not stand. I’m saying they hurt us, we hurt them back,” Robinson is unforgiving in shoving stock moments down our throats.

In the second part where the Atoms are raising hell in a dive bar, it’s text box galore, where Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi take turns jocking one another, just like Superman and Batman in Public Enemies. It’s unoriginal, and it’s annoying to read the same words from each character… Robinson fails to give Ryan Choi a memorable voice, while the faux-badass attitude he has tagged on Ray Palmer is laughable. “He’s a hero. I’m Ray Palmer. Welcome to pain.” WTF?!

As for Congo Bill/ Congorilla, who gives a shit? It’s obvious that DC and Robinson knew he is/ was going to be the least cared about character in this book; which is why they had to throw in a last minute origin wiki at the end.  Are we really going to be seeing origin tales for characters that we should already know and care about?

It’s unfortunate that this book didn’t live up to my expectations. I was duped into thinking that this was going to be one serious story with “Identity Crisis like” themes and situations. Instead, I got a book that features a poorly written tale and an article in the end  from the writer in which he tries to assure me that what I’m reading is going to matter.

Grade: C+

-Ray Hilario

The Immortal Iron Fist: The Origin of Danny Rand #1 – Review

By Matt Fraction, Roy Thomas, Len Wein (writers), Kano, Gil Kane, Larry Hama (artists), Dick Giordano (inks), A. Crossley (colors)

I was wondering if or when Ed Brubaker or Matt Fraction would take it upon himself to retell or retcon the origin of Danny Rand. Looking back on their run it’s surprising how Danny Rand was left out of their series of big origin stories. After all, he is the star of the series. But after reading this issue, it all makes perfect sense: why ruin a good thing?

For those looking for a fresh story, look elsewhere. This book is essentially a reprinting of Marvel Premiere #15 and 16 with a few pages of new story by Fraction which acts as little more than window dressing. What impressed me is how well the origin of Danny Rand still holds up. Sure, some of the dialogue and thugs are cheesy (the guys who ambush Danny in New York look like a bunch of frat boys), but for the most part it’s a pretty entertaining story with just a tad of Marvel 1970s goofiness thrown in for good measure.

Reading these two reprinted issues, it becomes very obvious how these stories inspired Brubaker and Fractions run on the books. If you’ve read their run, the narrative will be all too familiar; you’ll feel right at home. Another thing I enjoyed is how the old 1970s art by Gil Kane and Larry Hama has been completely recolored with computers. Normally, I would be against this sort of thing, but the coloring work by A. Crossley isn’t intrusive. Instead, it enhances the artwork in a subtle and respectful manner. If Marvel wants to do more of this stuff in the future, I wouldn’t be against it.

Sure, this book may just be a reprint, two stories for $3.99 ain’t a bad thing these days. (Grade: B+)

– J. Montes

Comic-Con 2008: Sunday Programming!

Sunday is Kids day! That’s good, because if it were a Saturday a lot of people would be pissed. Usually, Sundays has the fewer panels of the convention, but this year there are a lot of interesting ones to attend to.

Highlights include a Smallvile screening and Q&A, a Jack Kirby Tribute, Zuda Online Comics, Terry Moore, Dave Stevens Tribute, Supernatural screening and Q&A, Hamlet 2, Jeph Loeb, Len Wein, Mark Waid and Grant Morrison among others.

The one I’m not going to miss (and I’m sure it’ll be packed): The Life of Michael Turner Tribute Panel: — Celebrate the life and times of acclaimed artist, creator, and Aspen Comics president and founder Michael Turner, as Aspen Comics and a host of popular comic book creators pay special tribute to the creator of the best-selling titles Fathom, Soulfire, and Witchblade, and the cover artist behind the mainstream comic event hits Marvel’s Civil War and DC Comics’ Identity Crisis and Justice League of America. In honor of Turner’s tremendous spirit and body of work, as well as his countless contributions to the comic book industry, Aspen Comics will return the favor by remembering Michael Turner’s amazing life both in and outside of comics at this very special tribute event.

Check the complete lineup here!