Happy #1 – Review

By: Grant Morrison (writer), Darick Robertson (artist), Richard P. Clark (colors) & Simon Bowland (letters)

The Story: An ex-cop-turned-assassin runs into trouble with the mob.

The Review: 

1. Morrison being foul. – On page one, we have the follow words (along with the number of times they appear): prick (1), cunt (3), pussies (1), dicks (1), assholes (1), shit (1), balls (1) & fucked/fucking (2). Then, by page 3 we have some hooker giving a weird dude in a bug costume a blowjob.  It’s like Grant Morrison had all these filthy thoughts pent up in his brain from doing Superman comics for the last year or so….and just HAD to spew them forth onto the page.  The whole point of creator-owned comics is that the creators can say/draw whatever they want and it’s nice to see a creator of Morrison’s caliber being completely raw.  Of course, it isn’t just rawness for the shock value…..this is a story about a down-and-out hitman and his trouble with mob.  There should be foul language, sex and brutal violence.

2. Filthy art. – Much as page one features all that profanity, it also features a nasty visual: a bum vomiting on the sidewalk as a dog lifts his leg and pees on the bum.  Again….it sets the tone for the issue/series.  It’s like Robertson saying, “This book is going to be kinda foul.  Just get used to it now.” and by starting off with a nasty image…..the rest of the issue isn’t as shocking.  But, “filthy” could also describe the artwork in general.  It’s very rough around the edges and that helps it convey the griminess of the settings and characters.

3. Clever protagonist. – After just one issue, you’ll love protagonist Nick Sax.  The trap he springs in the opening scene of the book is very bad-ass and sets him up as the kinda guy you would definitely not want to mess with.  Having seen that, it is totally conceivable that he could go up against the mob and survive the really horrible situation he finds himself in by the end of the issue.

Incredible Hulks #635 – Review

Heart of the Monster by: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (art), Danny Miki (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors) & Simon Bowland (letters)

Conclusion by: Pak (writer), Tom Grummett (art), Cory Hamscher & Scott Hanna (inks), Jesus Aburtov (colors) & Bowland (letters)

Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Greg Pak wraps up the Heart of the Monster story AND his ~6 year run on Incredible Hulk.

What’s Good: Hulk is one of those characters that can be great in the hands of a writer who knows how to use him, but Hulk can also be really dismal with a mediocre writer.  So, let’s give Greg Pak an huge round of applause for 6 years of (mostly) really good Hulk stories AND a special gold star for giving us Planet Hulk which is the best Hulk story ever written (go read it if you haven’t).

This issue wraps up the really cool Heart of the Monster storyline.  The essence of this story is that a Wishing Well has been created and Hulk and Betty and all other sorts of characters have been making wishes that have led to things like Kirby-monsters stampeding in Vegas and the Hulk getting sent to Hell (although it is unclear who wished for this).  Sounds grim until you consider that for Hulk, hell is probably heaven: He has lots of things to fight and doesn’t have to worry about going too far and destroying the world by accident.  It’s serious Hulk smashing action at its best.

Naturally, there is great sentiment by the heroes to let Hulk stay there since he’s finally at peace (as he’s ripping demons apart) and not threatening Earth anymore, but what would that mean for Banner?  Does Banner die if Hulk is allowed to cut loose for an extended period of time?  And could there be anything back on Earth sufficient to justify dragging an enraged Hulk back to Earth?  Obviously there is, but the way that Pak takes us from point A to point B is really cool.

2000 AD Prog #1735 – Review

Judge Dread “How to get out of debt” by: Alan Grant (writer), Karl Richardson (art) & Annie Parkhouse (letters)

The Red Seas, Gods & Monsters, pt. 8 by: Ian Edginton (writer), Steve Yeowell (art) & Ellie De Ville (letters)

Cadet Anderson, Teenage Kxy by: Alan Grant (writer), Carlos & Hector Ezquerra (art) & De Ville (letters)

Absalom, Noblesse Oblige, pt. 4 by: Gordon Rennie (writer), Tiernen Trevallion (art) & Simon Bowland (letters)

Nikolai Dante, Bad Blood pt. 4 by: Robbie Morrison (writer), Simon Fraser (art), Gary Caldwell (colors) & Parkhouse (letters)

Review: A few months ago as I was filling out my pre-order materials, my eyes got caught on the 2000 AD “June Pack”.  Now, I’d never read 2000 AD and was intrigued by this pack of 4 comics from “across the pond”.  Of course, pre-ordering comics means that you’re waiting 2-3 months for them to actually show up and with 2000 AD, it is actually worse because “they” have to ship the comics across from England.

I was a combination of nervous and excited when I read this issue.  I like some British things, but am not a huge fan of many of their TV shows.  Maybe their comics wouldn’t connect with me at all?  Maybe I would find jumping on at issue #1735 to be a little challenging?

Turns out it was a great experience and I really kinda wish that American comics would take some lessons from our friends on the island of Britain.  What you get with 2000 AD is a weekly collection of 5 short stories.  Each story is 5-6 pages long and the issue is printed at magazine size rather than our traditional American comic size.

Alpha Flight #1 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Sonia Oback (colors), Simon Bowland (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Alpha Flight is called into action to save Vancouver from one of the hammer-wielding “Worthy” of Fear Itself.

What’s Good: This is a title that had a LOT to live up to.  When I was a kid, everyone read Uncanny X-Men and while we all loved those stories, the “cool comic kids” read Alpha Flight.  I was lucky enough to catch the first 25 issues of John Byrne’s initial series and thought it was outstanding.  Then I missed all the later stuff that I know some people have derided, so I really hoped that this issue wouldn’t do anything to damage my memory of those first 25 issues from the early 80’s.

This isn’t a perfect comic (more on that below), but it’s pretty darn good and worthy of the Alpha Flight name.  The basic set up for the issue flings us right into the action as Attuma and his fancy FEAR ITSELF hammer storm ashore in Vancouver and start smashing stuff.  Alpha Flight joins the fight and in the matter of a few pages, the creative team has introduced us to the entire team by name and shown us how their powers work.  The whole issue is mostly a big, fast-paced fight scene that works really well and is enjoyable to read.

Dale Eaglesham is just a really solid superhero artist.  There’s a lot of different stuff for him to draw in this issue: muscular guys like Guardian, attractive women like Vindicator & Aurora, hairy & hulking characters like Sasquatch, and the whole pile of Attuma’s Atlantean forces.  Eaglesham nails them all.  The issue is also nicely inked and colored.  It is a very attractive superhero comic.

Fear Itself: Deadpool #1 – Review

By: Christopher Hastings (writer), Bong Dazo (pencils), Joe Pimentel (inks), Matt Milla (colors), Simon Bowland (letters), Jordan D. White (editor)

The Story: Mercenaries make money in any crisis, so why should Fear Itself be any different?  And what would happen if Deadpool were one of The Worthy?

The Review: Deadpool makes a great home for all those silly, tongue-in-cheek concepts that come boiling out of their creative summits that could never see the light of day in a “serious” Marvel comic book.  Nothing in a Deadpool comic book is every going to matter in the bigger scheme of things, but that’s okay because the reader knows that going in.

The Incredible Hulks #630 – Review

By: Greg Pak (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: The Hulk vs. Red She-Hulk love/hate affair continues, AIM gets involved and a wish fulfillment fountain erupts in Vegas.  Only in Vegas!

What’s Good: This is yet another month of Greg Pak telling us a fast paced Hulk story.  It’s really beyond me why anyone who likes superhero comics would fail to enjoy this.  It has big monsters, sexy ladies, things getting smashed and a sense of humor about it all.  I guess it isn’t very deep, but most of the time when I read a Hulk comic, I just want a fun romp and Pak is delivering month-after-month.

Although this is the beginning of a new arc and it is a decent “jumping on point”, we’re also building on a lot of stuff from the last few arcs too.  As I was saying in my review of X-Men Legacy #250, too many comics today tell stories in 6-issue arcs that are only mildly related to each other.  This story is spinning right out of the events of the recently ended arc that saw Red She Hulk (Betty) run off with Hulk’s old enemy Tyranus.  Also flowing from that story is the same obsession with ancient artifacts.  All in all, it’s nice to read a story that doesn’t instantly make an issue from 4 months ago feel like it never happened.

I’m a little sad to see Tom Grummet get replaced on art, but I’ll take the Pelletier/Miki combo any day.  Pelletier’s layout and storytelling are just fine and Miki really outdoes himself with the inking.  This issue is just packed with the fine-line shading that I love so much.  It’s just classic superhero goodness.

Chaos War #5 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Khoi Pham (pencils), Thomas Palmer & Bob McLeod (inks), Sunny Gho (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Time for the final throwdown battle between Herc and the Chaos King!

What’s Good: This Herc storyline wrapped up in a really nice and fun way.  As one would expect, the supporting cast gets relegated to… well… supporting roles to make way for Herc and his buddy Cho to save the day.  In the end, it is a combination of Cho’s genius and Herc taking a heroic turn that defeat the Chaos King.

Van Lente and Pak have come up with some neat ideas in their time as collaborators, but the resolution that Cho comes up with the beat the Chaos King is one of their best.  There is really no way to discuss it without SPOILING it, so you’ve been warned…  As the issue unfolds, things look pretty bleak for the heroes, but just as things look their darkest, Cho and Galactus collaborate to form a pocket universe into which the humans of Earth can be evacuated.  Only there isn’t going to be anywhere near enough time to get everyone out (since even a powered-up Herc is able to do little more than delay Chaos King).  Suddenly it dawns on Cho to just toss the Chaos King into the pocket universe.  There he can be happy with his entropy and life can return to normal in the Marvel U.  The end!  How cool is that?

This story also has some fallout.  Herc powered up greatly during the course of this story, but let’s just say that he is NOT the same at the end.  Oh, and a certain team of superheroes made famous by John Bryne seems to still be alive at the end of the issue.  Cool!

The art in this issue does a solid job with the story telling and that is what art really needs to do in a comic.  Good story telling is preferable to the occasional artistic flourish that sacrifices the story.  The layouts are impeccable and Pham does a great job of conveying the epic scale of a battle between Gods.

Chaos War: Thor #2 – Review

By: J.M. Dematteis (writer), Brian Ching (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Rob Schwager (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: An amnesiac Thor, in Donald Blake form, does battle with Glory while protecting a comely widow.

What’s Good: The art is pretty good in this tie-in to Chaos War.  Brian Ching is given lots of opportunities to draw Glory.  This isn’t the normal version of Glory, but a demonic looking thing that has fallen to Earth after being smote by Thor in Chaos War: Thor #1.  This demon looks very…well…demonic and Ching draws him really well.  The art tells the story very effectively and coloring is right on point too.  He even gets in a few very nice pages of Thor once Don Blake get’s his mojo back.

Chaos War #4 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writer), Khoi Pham (pencils), Thomas Palmer (inks), Sunny Gho (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Now that the Chaos King has given the beat-down to just about the entire Marvel U., how is anyone going to stand up to him?

What’s Good: This issue becomes much more of a Hercules story than a Marvel U. story.  If you’re a Herc fan, you’ll love it because all of the other Marvel characters who have played roles in Chaos War thus far kinda fade to the side.

The central problem is that Herc’s God Squad and all other forces standing against the Chaos King have been pretty thoroughly trounced and they’ll either have to flee (which leads to a neat Galactus/Cho moment) OR someone is going to have to seriously level-up.  I’ll let you guess what is probably going to happen as the issue ends on a note that makes me excited for issue #5.

Pham, Palmer and Gho continue to do a nice job on the art.  A special kudos needs to go to colorist Sunny Gho.  Colors are really important to making cosmic or godly events seem…well…cosmic and godly.  And he does a very nice job.  Also, I usually don’t care about cover art at all, but Dan Panosian’s cover is really nice.  Note, I’m giving the kudos based on the art being a pin-up and I’ll discuss the dictated content below.

Chaos War: Thor #1 – Review

By: J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Brian Ching (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Rob Schwager (colors), Simon Bowland (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: Thor engages in cosmic-level battle with Oblivion before falling to Earth as an amnesiac Donald Blake and being taken in by a beautiful widow.  Together they will find healing.

What’s Good: If you feel like Thor is too strong to be on Earth because he would break things if he really unloaded with his full might, you’ll probably enjoy the first part of this issue.  Here we see Thor as his cosmic best, doing battle with Oblivion, a cosmic entity who is in league with the Chaos King.  This portion of the issue is really good cosmic action.  It has BIG scenes, bright colors and Thor standing alone against a real heavy hitter.  It also allows the art team to shine, especially the colors from Schwagner.  Cosmic action is all about the colors.  Just think how nice these comics will look digitally instead of printed on cheap paper!

The best thing about this issue is the art.  It is really nice.  It is just a shame that the story isn’t better.

Chaos War #3 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak (writers), Khoi Pham (art), Sunny Gho (colors) & Simon Bowland (letters)

The Story: The Chaos King ramps up his attack on the godly realms.

What’s Good: If you were not a religious Hercules reader (and perhaps even if you were), Chaos War #1 was pretty uneven.  After reading it, you couldn’t help but think that Marvel had screwed the pooch by having FOURTEEN tie-in issues (one-shots & minis) associated with this event.  “Those aren’t going to sell at ALL”, thought this reviewer.  But then Chaos War #2 was quite good and now Chaos War #3 is seriously excellent.  Those tie-ins are looking very purchasable right now!

This comic is everything you could want in a big event comic: the stakes feel very large and it has big action.  And I mean BIG action…..like Zeus punching Galactus in the face!

Catching up on the story, the Chaos King, in the form of Amatsu-Mikaboshi (Wiki it if you’re confused) has laid waste to the planes of Hell and now is turning his attention on the various realms of “heaven” leaving nothing but Herc and his God Squad to save the universe.  It is very good and has lots of big, “hell yeah” or “Oh no!” scenes as well has some trademark Van Lente humor (Amadeus and Thor getting a little friendly when Venus sings a love song).

This was Pham’s strongest issue of the series thus far and there are a few really spectacular splash pages (i.e. you don’t feel ripped off that you sacrificed an entire page of story for that).  He and Palmer give this comic an almost throw-backy feel with all the cross-hatching as contrasted with the heavy shadow we see in so many Marvel books these days. But, it is throw-back with modern sensibilities in terms of panel construction, perspective and coloring.  It is very nice.

Chaos War #2 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Khoi Pham (pencils), Thomas Palmer (inks), Sunny Gho (colors) & Simon Bowland (letters)

The Story: The Chaos King continues his assault, taking on underworld as Herc tries to raise a squad of immortals to defend the universe.

What’s Good: There was just something wrong with Chaos War #1.  If you were not following the overall Hercules story for the last couple of years, you felt a little like being at a cocktail party where you don’t know anyone and no one is really making an effort to include you in the conversation.  BUT, after reading through this issue #2, you feel like you know everyone and that this is a party that you won’t mind hanging out at too much.

It was just a lot of fun seeing Herc trying to raise a team of gods to do battle with the Chaos King.  Of course, he’s going to get Thor and that’s kinda fun because neither of them is the sharpest tool in the shed (moreso Herc).  And there is a fun little scene of Venus trying to revive the fallen mortals by singing Bob Marley (“Get up, stand up…” it must be a LOT of fun to pick these slightly inappropriate songs for Venus).  But from there the fun really begins as Herc starts using his new supergod powers to summon a raft of big-time powerful folks to help in his battle against the Chaos King and they’ll need it because the Chaos King has some serious firepower on his side too (as if he needs it).  This issue just clicked in a way that the first one did not, so if you were really down on the first issue understand that you might want to give it another chance.

Chaos War #1 – Review

By: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente (writers), Khoi Pham (penciller), Tom Palmer (inker), Simon Bowland (letterer)

The Story: Hercules returns from a death that never really happened, gets made fun of by the heroes of the Marvel U, fights with them needlessly and then uses his apparent semi-omnipotence to bring them along to fight generic monsters.

What’s Good: Pham and Palmer put some pretty attractive art onto the page. Pham’s got the creativity to make the alien come alive and I’ve always thought that Palmer makes any artist’s work look more fluid. They both create some nice textured effects, especially in the opening scene with the weird backgrounds of Nightmare’s realm. King Chaos’s appearance is very dynamic and Nightmare’s emotive face is almost all we need to tell the story. I’ve never had strong feelings about letterers before, but I really feel this issue would have worked better if Bowland had used invisible ink for this issue; that would have kept the writing from sinking this battleship.

Army of Darkness: Home Sweet Hell #12 – Review

By James Kuhoric, Mike Raicht, (writers) Pere Perez, (finished art) Ivan Nunes, (colors) Simon Bowland, (letters) Fabiano Neves, and Stjepan Sejic (covers)

Issue #11 for me was in many ways a dud. Whatever ailment Ash was going through that made him a sissy took away the entire appeal of the book. So why would I read #12? Curiosity I suppose, and as we all know, that killed the cat.

The good news is Ash starts to feel more like himself and embraces his role as the chosen one. The bad news is – well, everything else. Ash fighting something other than Deadites is fine, but what follows should be more than Hellraiser fan-fiction with bad jokes. Wrath asks, “How many souls can we tear apart tonight?” It comes across WAY too much like “We’ll tear your soul apart,” which is one of the most famous lines from Hellraiser. The line also loses all its punch coming from Wrath who looks and acts like a whiny little boy. It’s not threatening and not original. What’s worse is the dialogue between Ash and The Necronomicon. The Book of the Dead talks to, taunts, and cures Ash of his mental ailment. I can see what they were going for, but none of it really works.

For all of my harping on the writing, it’s still a very pretty book. Pere Perez’s style really fits the world of Army of Darkness. The origin of Pride, Envy, Greed, and Wrath are highlights in particular. With anywhere between two and four panels we get the life story of those four sins. The choice to give the book red eyes is another good move. I’m against the book having a consciousness and becoming Ash’s side-kick, but if it has to be done it might as well be able to emote and look menacing.

As an Evil Dead fan it’s hard to recommend this book. From a writing standpoint, it never feels Evil Dead-ish. It may look like it sometimes, use some of the same phrases, but it just isn’t. I doubt many fans will get into this book. There are just too many changes are made and none of them for the better. (Grade D-)

– Ben Berger

Army of Darkness: Home Sweet Hell #11 – Review

By James Kuhoric, Mike Raicht, (writers) Fernando Blanco, (layouts) Pere Perez, (finished art) Ivan Nunes, (colors) Simon Bowland, (letters) Fabiano Neves, and Stjepan Sejic (covers)

The chances of an Evil Dead 4 happening are comparable to winning the lottery. If it was going to happen it would have a long time ago. Moving the series away from film into games and comics is the next logical step to give fans their Ash fix. The question is, can there be an Evil Dead without Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi?

As a fan, this series falls flat for me. Army of Darkness is Bruce Campbell in many ways. It’s hard to convey his reactions and delivery through text, but it’s harder to do that without Ash in the story. Ash isn’t driving the action, which works occasionally, but here it misses the mark. James Kuhoric and Mike Raicht make the choice to pull Ash away from Deadites. The Necronomicon is part of the story, but the larger threat seems to be the seven deadly sins. The sins want to make Ash the new Sloth (for some reason). I’m also not sure why the Government is involved. It makes sense that they’d be aware of Deadites by now, but it feels too similar to Joss Whedon’s current run on Buffy.

The artwork isn’t bad, but it’s not really great either. My biggest complaint is the look of the sins. With the exception of Wrath, they’re total knockoffs of The Cenobites from Hellraiser. It’s not bad source material, but if you can look at Gluttony and not think of Butterball you’re kidding yourself. Blanco and Perez do an admirable job with the art other than that. The backgrounds (in the Hell House especially) are extremely rich and detailed. In fact, it reminds me of the mansion from the Gamecube version of Resident Evil.

I won’t say that this issue’s a total miss, but the humor, horror, and action all seem off. It doesn’t feel Evil Dead to me. I’m not asking for a remake, but there should be a larger connection to the source material than the title. None of the off-shoots of this series has made a slam dunk – look at the Evil Dead games. I liked them, but that was mostly Bruce’s delivery of the dialogue. It’s possible that Evil Dead can’t be great without Campbell and Raimi, but the potential is there. I think that’s why it’s such a bummer to see it miss. (Grade D+)

– Ben Berger