Star Wars Legacy #1 – Review

By: Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman (script), Hardman (art), Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), Michael Heisler (letters)

The Story: 125 years after Return of the Jedi, the galaxy is still in turmoil.

Review: I didn’t enjoy this as nearly much as I’d hoped.  The primary problem with the issue is that the story is a little too busy and that leads to confusion.

The basic set-up is that Legacy takes place ~125 years after Return of the Jedi.  The galaxy is currently recovering from being ruled by the Sith and the new government (consisting of leftovers from the Alliance, Empire and Jedi) is just trying to get a functioning government back in place to keep the galaxy from fragmenting.  Of course, evil lurks in dark places and promises to make their job more difficult.  And, as expected, there are some young, plucky, budding heroes who will be asked to step-up once they become embroiled in galactic events.

Dark Horse Presents #1 – Review

By: Paul Chadwick, Howard Chaykin, Jesus Alburto, Ken Bruzenak, Neal Adams, Moose, Carla Speed McNeil, Jenn Manley Lee, Bill Mudron, Michael T. Gilbert, Frank Miller, Richard Corben, Clem Robins, Randy Stadley, Paul Gulacy, Michael Bartolo, Michael Heisler, David Chelsea, John Schork (assistant editor), Scott Allie, Rachel Edidin, Sierra Hahn & Diana Schultz (editors)

The Story: A great name in anthology comics comes back with pretty hot list of creators (see above) tossing a few pages each at the effort.

Anthologies: When I read an anthology, I am looking for something very specific: I just want one electric story that grabs me and makes me want to see more material from that creator NOW.  Other than that, I’m just looking for few nice stories, some nice art, etc.  And, I really don’t care that much if a few of the stories suck.  Just turn the page!  I think you score anthologies based on the high points, rather than the average of all the stories combined.

What’s Good: We have a winner!  In a comic that has a lot of pretty strong efforts from some creators who know a thing or two about creating comics, the best short-story is that of Michael T. Gilbert as he gives us a story of his character, Mr. Monster, fighting with a giant tree-alien calling himself Oooak (get it?).  This story has a very retro vibe both in terms of the language and the art, but it is just zany fun as Mr. Monster tries one thing after another to kill Oooak before he finally resorts to throwing a jar of “Acme Termites” at the bad guy.  This is the awesome sauce that made the whole comic worth buying.

There were a few other nice little stories in here too.  Paul Chadwick contributes a very nice story of his character Concrete.  I don’t even know the last time we got a new Concrete story, but this is some vintage stuff as we get to see the protagonist’s humanity filtered through this character that couldn’t look more different if he tried.  Neal Adams also tosses in a teaser for a new concept he has called Blood.  We get a singular image of the anti-hero Blood, but the rest of the story is recounted via a torture scene as some bad guys sweat the details out of one of Blood’s buddies.  It’s a very original way to lay out a story and Adams is on his A-game with the art too.

I’d absolutely like to see more of those three stories either in future editions of DHP or on their own.

What’s Not So Good: Considering the teaser on the cover for “Frank Miller’s Xerxes!”, it might be nice to have gotten more than 4 splash pages of art/story.  What we see is good, but it was a little disappointing when the name “Frank Miller” was one of the large attractions for the issue.  As if to compensate for the lack of story, we are treated to an interview with Mr. Miller.  I don’t know about you, but I have less than zero interest in reading an interview in my comic book.  For one thing, I pretty much don’t read interviews about upcoming projects; I’ll just look at the work when you get it done, thank you.  For another, in the year 2011, there are a bajillion places to find interviews online without having a few pages of a $7.99 comic devoted to them.

Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods #2 (of 4) – Review

By Rob Willaims (writer), Steve Scott (pencils), Nathan Massengill (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Michael Heisler (letters), Tony Harris (cover)

Like many Indy fans, Crystal Skull was a bust for me. That’s not to say it didn’t have good parts, it just had a little too much prequel George Lucas flavor. I spent a lot of time growing up watching the Indy trilogy. It’s a story, and a world that can translate very well to comics. Sadly, just because something can make the move to comics doesn’t mean it will.

Rob Williams’ has been passable so far. There are moments of dialogue, moments of action where it feels just like the movies, and then there’s the rest of it. For the good, the plot points hit the mark. They definitely have the “from bad to worse” feel that’s a trademark of the films. Unfortunately, much of the dialogue is hit or miss. The same deadpan humor, and hatred of having his hat knocked off remains. The problem is several unfortunate word choices. I don’t know how many times Indy needs to say “crap” in a bad situation, but it almost seems gratuitous and, enough, make a drinking game out of it.

As for the art, Steve Scott’s pencils aren’t anything special, the images are clean and clear, which is nice, but I’m still waiting for our favorite archeologist to get a little dirty and gritty. Even when Indy escapes the freshly blown cave, he looks like he just stepped out of the shower. There simply aren’t enough action scenes to get Indy to look Indy.

As for the little action in this issue, it is pulled straight from the films. Indy running to Jock’s plane, is an example of this. While it’s nice to see Jock again, the scene is just too familiar. A more positive side to that coin is the use of the red-line on a map for the travel scenes. It’s a nice touch.

Adapting a license like Indiana Jones to me, should simply be a “go big or go home” mentality. The story’s pacing is slow and it’s plot feels unpolished. We don’t know anything about this key, or it’s origin, or what it protects. Not enough questions are introduced to get you interested. As a result, it leaves the title to be too bland, or generic for such an action-packed franchise. Things might pick up, and the book might have a great climax in the end, but I wouldn’t hold my breath after two clunky issues. I’d say, wait for the trade. (Grade: D)

-Ben Berger