The Shade #7 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Javier Pulido (artist), Hilary Sycamore (colorist)

The Story: Just your usual father-daughter demon-slaying outing in Spain.

The Review: Of all of Robinson’s international creations thus far, La Sangre has quickly become the most fully developed and compelling one yet—yes, even despite the fact she’s a vampire in a DCU that’s quickly being overrun with vampires.  Part of what makes her feel so substantial compared to the other guests on this mini is her enmity with the Inquisitor.  Their acidic relationship has as much history and passion as even veteran hero-villain dynamics.

Too bad Robinson doesn’t have the luxury to explore this relationship at a more suspenseful pace.  Instead, he’s forced to squeeze the decades of contempt between the Inquisitor and La Sangre into three pages.  Even then you only feel the heat of their mutual hatred around the edges of their massive blocks of text.

Make no mistake: this is an incredibly talky issue, and much of the talk has either to do with the Inquisitor’s rather complicated plan to steal all the souls in Barcelona, or with his and La Sangre’s opposing viewpoints on faith and morality.  While most of this material feels heavy and abstract, it does reveal the Inquisitor’s true motives.  Maybe he originally desired Sangre’s banishment because of her seemingly demonic nature, but now it’s an obsession with bringing her down to his level, to make it clear that even when both are damned, he has the higher ground.

Much more successful is the Shade’s monologue regarding his past, in particular his long late wife.  Strange circumstances for such reminiscing, considering he’s fighting a demon embodied with the might of Hell itself, but that makes his reverie no less touching and beautiful: “My wife made a mutton stew like no other.  My wife loved the gray-green color of a pigeon’s breast.  She was always first to the door, delighted, upon hearing carolers outside at Yuletide.  She loved bread and dripping with a hot cup of tea.”  Even though she’s obviously a product of her time, Robinson’s choice of words (no imagery, mind you—we never actually get to see her) allow us to understand why she resonates so deeply with this ostensibly soulless man.

The Shade #6 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Javier Pulido (artist), Hilary Sycamore (colorist)

The Story: There seems to be some bad blood between you two…

The Review: Every now and then I’m reminded with a start just how many British writers there are in the comics business.  It’s not something you think of often, since they spend all their time writing American characters in American settings with an American audience in mind anyway.  Ultimately, too, the distinction is somewhat irrelevant as the variety of writing styles among the Brits and Yankees is so broad that you can’t really tell them apart by text alone.

I say all this because The Shade may be one of those rare exceptions, a title that reads with an inescapably British flavor.  Yes, yes, the title character is of English origin, and his proud Victorian foppery gives him away long before he even begins to speak, but that’s not it—not entirely.

Compare with Paul Cornell’s Knight and Squire; in that series, the pride of British culture was on full display, but a very modern, sarcastic, bombastic type of culture, where even as the characters engage in that famous understatement, they reveal the heat of their feelings nonetheless.  Not so here.  Shade comes from an earlier, much more reserved period, so no matter what the situation, his voice rings with a light, even airy timbre that is at once amusing, perceptive, and intelligent, never clearly showing emotion.  For example, to the raging Inquisitor, he remarks, “How very uncivil, sir.  How very rude.  Why, I’ll have you know…some of my best friends are sodomites.”  Only timing and context hint at the threat veiled within the joke.

Another quality that reveals the Britishness of the writing is how easy and enjoyable it is to read even the exposition.  At my grad school commencement, we had a very petite London lady deliver a speech, and I remember the entire audience was held spellbound by her rich choice of vocabulary, her sparkling accent, her class, and most of all, the even rhythm of her dialogue.  You can feel that same effect in the script here.  Robinson manages to fill whole pages of nothing but talking heads and still make it gripping, largely because of the almost poetical turn of his writing: “Commissioner Cervantes’ father.  Tough, tight-fisted detective.  ‘Quixote’ was the nickname everyone called him.  He fought crime from the 1940s through the next couple of decades.  Devastating right hook.  Died of cancer in ’68.”  In a few sentences, Robinson gives a compelling impression of a man whom you never see, yet gets you interested in him anyway.

Dark Wolverine #79 – Review

By Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia (artist), Jay Leisten & Cam Smith (inkers), Marte Garcia (colorist)

The Story: Emmy Doolin!  Cutthroat!  The Inquisitor!  Moses Magnum!  Marvel’s latest fantastic foursome is on the run from Norman Osborn, but they won’t go down without a fight.  Hiding out in an abandoned warehouse, the team devises a cunning plan to barter for their freedom with the same man who wants to apprehend them.  Wait, this is a Wolverine comic!?  Uh oh…

The Good: To his credit, Segovia has turned in some impressive art for what was surely a lackluster script.  Although I’m still not his biggest fan on this book, Segovia deserves credit nonetheless for stepping up his game and delivering art that attempts to engage the reader.  His opening scene and battle between Daken and the D-Listers was a refreshing change of pace and made me wish I could see more of that kind and quality of action in this comic more often.

The Not So Good: I’m really concerned to see that it actually takes two writers to churn out such increasingly uninteresting stories.  The sole strength of this title thus far lies in its ability to portray Daken manipulating his way through Norm Osborn’s evil empire.  It’s a great angle to take, but only succeeds when the writer can deliver it.  I did not get that from this issue, and I think the reason why is that Way and Liu are clearly pacing their plot for its inevitable graphic novel release.  As far as I can tell, they are either wholly ignorant of or knowingly disregarding the fact that for you and me, the people paying three bucks a month to read their stories, the experience of reading a monthly comic is vastly different from that of a six-issue graphic novel.  The single monthly comic used to be (and to an extent should still be, I would argue) a complete and dynamic experience unto itself.  This issue by contrast felt like a very unspectacular chapter in a larger story.  Daken only showed up for half of his own comic this month, and when his presence is the only thing keeping this comic alive, that’s really not a good thing, graphic novel release be damned.

Conclusion: Dark Wolverine is a comic that’s going nowhere fast.  While its labyrinthine plots might make sense after they’ve been collected in trade, they fail to entertain as monthly comics.  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be collecting this.

Grade:  D

-Tony Rakittke