Voulez-vous lisez des comics avec moi?

Although I’d discovered plenty of shops in Paris which sold les bandes-desinnées, they mostly consisted of French works (which, I can assure you, are created with as much care and finesse as their food) or manga.  It also occurred to me during my travels in Paris that French people care as much for us Americans as we do them, so the likelihood of finding a shop dedicated to our superheroes and comics seemed a bit thin, to say the least.

Still, I thought I’d take a go at it, especially since, as I mentioned yesterday, I needed to review The Spirit #16 and had no hard copy to look at.  Through some internet browsing, I landed on Avoid the Future!, a blog dedicated to international comics, which featured an interview with Philippe and Philippe, owners of Arkham, the most famous (and the only?) store in the city entirely dedicated to the comics of North America.

The shop is located in the 5ème arrondissment, a little ways southeast of the central, touristy parts of Paris.  I took several transfers on the Métro to get there, finally exiting off ligne 7 at the station of Censier-Dauberton to arrive at a very pleasant, quiet, unsurprisingly charming and pretty corner of Paris:

After proceeding a couple minutes south, I found myself on Rue Broca, the corner of which had a fruit-and-vegetable vendor with a grand, colorful display of seasonal produce, where I bought myself a particularly beautiful-looking peach.  Rounding the vendor, I immediately spotted Arkham by its Technicolor sign and the Jack Kirby art along its upper scaffold.

Invincible Iron Man #506 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Tony makes a deal with Odin that finds him playing Snow White.

What’s Good:  While I was fairly positive of it in my review in Fear Itself, I’ve become somewhat divided on Tony sacrificing his sobriety to Odin.  On the one hand, it seems sort of cheesy.  It also seems unbelievable that after one night off the wagon, Tony’ll be back to his hard-drinking ways.  That said, while I have mixed feelings about this stunt in general, I can’t argue with Matt Fraction’s subsequent portrayal of Tony this month and the accompanying, drunken dialogue.

On the one hand, there’s no denying that drunken Tony is pretty funny to watch.  Sure, there’s a constant lingering sense that we shouldn’t be laughing, but it’s hard not to smile at Tony’s drunken buffoonery and certainly, Fraction writes a nice, happy drunk.  However, it’s not that simple.  Later in the issue, we see suggestions of the nastier side of drunken Tony and all the good-humoured guffaws end up taking a more ominous tone.  It’s nothing overly heavy, but that little hint of darkness is a nice touch.  Fraction is riding a line here and doing it well.  He’s not allowing drunk Tony to become a comedy act, nor is he yelling outright that the sky is falling.

It’s also a good month for Pepper Potts, as she suits up to do her part.  Of course, once again, Fraction has Pepper questioning just what that part is and whether or not she really is a superhero, or whether she even wants to be one.  I’ve always enjoyed this part of Pepper in Fraction’s comic, as she really does occupy a kind of liminal position.  She has a super-powered Stark-powered suit, but she’s a far cry from being an Avenger or anything like that.  Yet certainly, she is capable of heroism.  It’s always great to watch, and that’s no different here.  Her vulnerability and self-doubt are well-balanced with her sense of responsibility.

Invincible Iron Man #505 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors, and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: “Paris is a nightmare.  It’s…it’s biblical, Pep.”

The Review:  A lot of comic readers resent event tie-in issues.  I think a large part of this often-merited resentment has to do with the fact that they often derail a writer from telling the stories he/she was telling up to that point.  The end result is a bunch of issues that often come at an awkwardly timed moment and feel like a multi-month digression.  The fact that with this issue, Matt Fraction manages to acknowledge and, in some respects, even resolve past plot elements is cause for goodwill from Invincible Iron Man readers and also leads to a comic experience that feels more natural and organic.

The haunting locale of Paris is a bit more in the background this month; while it’s still very hauntingly and noticeably empty, it’s firmly in the backseat to all the giant-sized action.  For what it’s worth, this is Iron Man-styled action that readers expect from an Iron Man book.  That is, Iron Man battling big, powerful foes and taking a whole bunch of punishment.  It’s a lot of fun to read and Salvador Larroca acquits himself quite well.

The real treat, however, comes in a surprise appearance by a character from earlier issues in Fraction’s run.  It’s no throwaway cameo either.  Rather, it’s a highly entertaining shocker and one that ultimately ties up something of a lose end that Fraction’s left behind.  It’s a wonderful moment, as Fraction ends up giving us an event tie-in issue that doesn’t just throw his main cast into the environs of Fear Itself, but also the series itself with some its past baggage.  You’d think more writers would understand this:  a series tie-in is meant to bring a series into an event, not just a few characters.  Ultimately, this was really cool.

Invincible Iron Man #504 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: After hiring a new chief of security, Tony Stark flies to Paris’ rescue, only to find a city of stone.

The Review:  I know a lot of people ragged on Invincible Iron Man during the “building a car” arc.  I liked it, but seemed in the definite minority.  I hope issues like this turn the tide back in Matt Fraction’s favor.  Certainly, if all, or even most, of the Fear Itself tie-ins are this good, Marvel readers have a very good summer ahead of them.

As you might’ve heard in solicitations and such, Tony heads to Paris to find a city, and its inhabitants, turned to stone.  It’s here that Fraction does his best work this month, while also encapsulating much of what Fear Itself is in terms of tone and atmosphere.  The feeling of Tony in a city of statues is truly haunting, almost too desolate to carry tinges of horror genre that such a situation might otherwise give off.  When Tony is struck by the enormity of it all, so are we.  It’s hard to fathom just how many people are dead, turned to stone, and Fraction boggles the mind here with all that death and devastation.

More than that though, Fraction and Larroca do a good job of conveying a city that’s silent.  Better still is that the plot ends up turning into one of the Worthy tracking down and beating down Tony in this ghost town.  The result is almost a “minotaur in the labyrinth” scenario, with Tony being hunted in a city of the dead.  It’s chilling stuff, with the last page hammering that home.  Amidst so much death, Tony seems tiny and powerless, which is something that’s worked well in Fear Itself thus far.  Truly, the Worthy have wreaked a situation  whose scope is horrifying.   The sheer size of the situation, a Paris turned to stone, makes for a powerful comic.

Spider-Girl #2 – Review

By: Paul Tobin (writer), Clayton Henry (art pps 1-13), Ray Anthony Height, Walden Wong, John Livesay & Paris (?) (art pps 14-24), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: Red Hulk runs amok….what’s a Spider Girl to do?

What’s Good: This comic succeeds mostly at what (I think) it is trying to do: Show what it is like for a teenage girl with no powers to be a super-hero and deal with personal loss.

When we last left Spider-Girl, she was coming to her father’s rescue as the Red Hulk went rampaging through Manhattan.  Mind you, her Dad knew she was Spider-Girl and encouraged that behavior giving her a very different vibe than a young Peter Parker or any number of young heroes/heroines in Gotham City (Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, etc.).  What follows is a pretty big punch in the gut.  I’m just going to SPOIL it and say that……….. her Dad dies as a result of Red Hulk’s rampage.  To say that I was really surprised would be an understatement and I’m very intrigued to see what impact this has on young Anya and her desire to be a superhero.  For starters, where will she even live?

I also thought that Tobin did a good job handling the central conflict between Red Hulk and Spider-Girl.  Red Hulk’s obviously demented and not in his right mind and while it is unclear what he is after, it has something to do with Spider-Girl.  Tobin handles this nicely because she needs to show some spunk (because even unpowered heroes cannot squeal, spoil their pants and run when chased by a Hulk), but you can’t have Spider-Girl taking down Red Hulk in issue #2.  There is a story-arc for these sorts of heroes and they don’t get to take out Hulk-class opponents until around issue 20-30.

Detective Comics Annual #12 – Review

Lead Story By: David Hine (writer), Agustin Padilla (artist), Tony Aviña (colorist)
Back Up Story By: Kyle Higgins (writer), Trevor McCarthy (artist), Andre Szymanowicz (colors)

The Lead Story: Batman hits Paris, with the tentative blessing of the French authorities, as a series of riots and weird murders baffle police. Batman Incorporated grows.

The Back Up Story: The Question wears a Mark of Cain and heads far, far away to deal with it.

What’s Good: The Batman story was pretty cool. The creative team wasted no time in diving into the action with Batman duking it out with a mystery figure on the rooftops of Paris. The writing was brisk and the action was clear. I wanted to know who the figure was and who was wearing the Batman cowl. I was surprised (in a good way) by the answer. The action then cranked back in time, a week ago, four days ago, twenty minutes ago, to fill in the blanks. The timing shifts drove up the tension and were mostly effective.

Artwise, Padilla and Aviña had fun with the action across dark rooftops, in police offices, and in the catacombs beneath Paris. The art was dynamic and fluid, and the fight scene with mystery man evocative.

Despite my close following of the Batman Incorporated arc, I was almost more intrigued by the Question story. I haven’t seen much of her, but the whole Mark of Cain thing and the eastern influence was pretty cool. Remember when Frank Miller radically expanded the Daredevil mythos by introducing his teacher (Stick) and the Hand? I felt that something like that was going on here; not in such depth, but it was a pretty fascinating start. Crisp dialogue and emotional tension made the back up story work.

Thor #617 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Pasqual Ferry (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and John Workman (letters)

The Story: Thor awakens the resurrected Loki and Dr. Eric Solvang finally finds someone to listen to him as Uthana Thoth continues to expand his dominion.

What’s Good: In all honesty, if you’ve liked Matt Fraction’s first two issues of Thor, you’re going to like this one for pretty much all of the same reasons as the quality remains utterly consistent.  It’s still the epic, quirky mix of fantasy and old school sci-fi that’s had me raving over the last couple of months.

Beyond that though, this issue introduces an elephant into the room: a resurrected Loki.  I’ll admit, while I was curious, I was also a bit miffed; Loki’s death was a big event at the end of Siege and was examined nicely by Kieron Gillen, and he’s already being brought back from the dead?  It seemed hasty.

Well, I was wrong to doubt Matt Fraction, as this is far from simply bringing Loki back.  The Loki Fraction introduces is essentially a new character to the series.  I won’t spoil the surprise, but what Fraction does here is utterly ingenious, essentially making an old character completely new and fresh both in personality and what he stands for.  There’s huge potential here.  Furthermore, Loki’s human alter-ego, a child street hustler in Paris, is an absolute delight to read in all his carnie goodness.

I also was surprised by how well Tony Stark functioned in this book.  It’s a character Fraction knows very well, but one that also works very well as a middle-man between the quantum cosmologist Eric Solvang and the Asgardians.  He’s basically a big name Marvel Universe figure who serves as a bridge between these two very disparate genres who both occupy that same universe.  It’s well-done by Fraction.

Art-wise, Pasqual Ferry and Matt Hollingsworth deliver another knockout, even in an issue that’s a bit more restrained, focusing more on everyday environments.  The work is still brimming with character, both comic booky and incredibly polished.  Art-wise, there’s nothing not to like here and I really loved Ferry’s goblins, who made the last page funnier than it should have been.