The Fraclash

This was going to be a Review Rewind, but it started to get really long so I figured, seperate post.

I'm going back a few weeks to Uncanny X-Men #503 here. The more I think about this run, the more I'm disliking it, and the more I'm feeling a backlash against Fraction starting to set in. A few years ago, around the start of his Daredevil run, I loved Bendis. Thought he was awesome, brilliant writer, with a unique style & perspective - which he was. Problem is, he homogenized his style and all his comics started "feeling" the same, like they were a Bendis Book first, rather than whatever comic they are. He focused more on "snappy" dialogue and making characters sound like Bendis characters, and I quickyl got sick of his writing and avoided anything written by him. I dropped Dardevil around issue 60.

I'm starting to feel the Fraclash, and it's largely due to this book. It feels like Fraction writing on autopilot (and I'm going with the general thought that this storyline was written largely by him), writing characters as "Fracton" characters, especially Cyclops' flippant attitude and Emma basically being a nicer version of Zephyr Quinn. His use of Pixie in this issue is completely generic - the supposedly "weak" character bounces back at the end to provide a dramatic finish and prove herself in battle. I've read this before, and repeating such an old cliche without the vaguest hint of anything new being done with it is beneath Fraction.

Now, I realize I'm overdoing it by calling this a Fraction backlash already - Iron Man is still awesome. His Thor specials have rocked, hard, like a Manowar album in comic book form. But, I don't read Punisher War Journal because the few issues I did read were cool, but didn't suck me in. Iron Fist is done, as is the Order, and even that fizzled a bit. Is this maybe a case of too much, too soon, or did he stretch himself too thin? And if he did, on what? Far as I can tell, he's currently writing 2 monthlies - Iron Man, and Uncanny X-Men, which he's only writing for 4 months, every 4 months. Plus half of Punisher, which he's soon leaving - other writwers write far more than this without losing what makes them special.

Am I being too callous to bring up his apparently small workload? I don't think so, especially with such a clear dropoff in quality. I want Fraction to prove me wrong and start putting out brilliant, Casanova level work again - but I don't see this happening just yet. Maybe he needs adjustment time.

Wednesday 10/29/08

Wolverine: Origins #29: OK, enough already. I can see that this crossover is going to piss me off. The heroes have foggy motivations simply for the sake of the story, the villains are boring, and I don't care about the characters. Goddamn this story for derailing Legacy like this. Sucks.

No Hero #2: I just got & read Black Summer, and the two of these next to each other should be an interesting comparison. It's superhero deconstruction, yes, and we've seen it before - but Ellis manages to make this one feel different from other deconstructions we've seen. This is about what kind of person does it take to be a superhero, or at least that's what it seems like. The process of the FX-7 enhancile seems to be a narrative shortcut for a condensed form of a hero's journey & struggles towards being a hero, sort of. If that made sense at all. Hell, it did to me. Ellis has been back on form like crazy the past couple of years, man.

I like superhero comic books

This just occured to me over the past week, although really, this should have been obvious already. I only like superhero comics. Well, not only. I love Criminal, and one of my 3 favorite comics of all time is Preacher. But really, all I read is superhero comics, and I get bored with almost anything else very quickly. Come to think of it, this is probably why I don't care at all for Northlanders, Local, or any of Brian Wood's other work - its not remotely superhero-ey. Even Preacher kinda-sorta had a "team", villains, and a mission. Y: the last man has a similar setup, and Fables is full of colorful characters out of fiction. Is this indicative of me being some sort of simpleton?

The comic book format pretty clearly lends itself to superheroes more than anything else, for a variety of obvious reasons recounted at length elsewhere. Stories of all types obviously are tld (and told well) through comics, but there's a damn good reason why superheroes dominate the industry - it's the best medium for those stories, and their stories really are the best fit for the format. But why do I read so little outside of superheroes?

I could blame it on the fact that I never expect anything to last very long - most of the "good stuff" gets cancelled within 12 issues and you can see it coming a mile away, but that didn't stop me from buying The Order and it's not deterring me from reading Captain Britain.

I read books that are about other things, my favorite author of all time being Kurt Vonnegut, but I don't care to read comics about "other stuff". I read a bunch of "independent" comics recently - a coworker loaned me The Best American Comics 2007, several volumes of Love & Rockets, and some of Peter Bagge's stuff. I liked all of it - I'm not going to start dissing any of that stuff, ebcause there was a lot of cool stuff. But aside from Peter Bagge's stuff (which connected to me because I associated it with my experiences in the heavy metal community), none of it made me want to read more like it. But man, try to stop me from buying the next issue of Final Crisis.

So I guess I'm not really a comic book fan, so much as a Superhero fan. Anyone else feeling like this? Anyone else vaguely self-conscious about it? Anybody have the cure for it?

Wednesday 10/22/08

I just burned through 7 comics in under 2 hours, and several of them were pretty weighty reads, so these thoughts will be even more brief and abstract than usual. I'll definetly return to some of these later in the week.

Final Crisis: Submit: This was an OK little transitional issue, though not Morrison's best work ever. For some reason Matt Clark's artwork always appeals to me, but it seemed a little flat here in parts. No major problems with this issue, though it was a little unnecessary.

Final Crisis #4: Carlos Pacheco's art definetly changes the mood of the series: his pages feel more like a superhero epic, and less like the creepy invasion story Jones was drawing. I'm not knocking his art or anything, just pointing it out. A lot of this issue felt like it should have been in the Submit one-shot, actually - if this is a month later, why is Turpin still transforming to Darkseid? Surely Darkseid should be fully manifested by now? This doesn't really seem like its a month later - maybe a few days, tops. I trust Morrison, of course, but this felt like a slightly weaker issue than the rest thus far.

Fear Agent #24: Another really great issue, with yet more plot twists - some you see coming, some you don't. I can't wait to see where this is heading. But, this issue and the last were $2.99 each for 16 page - what gives, Remender? I want my other 6 pages, dammit. This is a fun comic.

X-Factor #36: And this used to be a fun comic, but it's struggling right now. Part of the blame lies in Stroman's art - people don't just look ugly, they look downright deformed. Like melted wax statues. To the point that I don't know what's part of the story and what's ugly artwork - I used to like his art, but he really needs to go. The book seems to be setting up for something as they're still in a transitional phase right now, while PAD rebuilds his team, but hopefully it'll be back on track shortly.

Criminal #6: This book can do no wrong. More perfect melding of pictures & words with believable characters and interesting twists. If you don't read this, you are a fool.

X-Men: Legacy #217: Man, I am bitchy today. I have a sinking feeling about this crossover - it seems very wolverine-centric, which tells me it's really just an "Origins" story that's hijacking this series. And I'm really not giving a shit about this Daken guy, and the new "Lady Sinister" actually seems kind of annoying, now. This book's beginning to flounder, perhaps. I liked the revelations about Logan's first meeting with Xavier and how scumbaggy Xavier really is, but that tok up about 4 pages of the issue. Get this thing back on track, people.

Thunderbolts #125: Gage hasn't really been able to sustain the mood of the Ellis run, though he's giving it an admirable effort. I'm kinda glad he's not the regular writer. The book ends with a pretty obvious clue as to one of the outcomes of Secret Invasion, though it may be a fakeout.

Wednesday 10/15/08 (plus a Rewind)

I should note that these Wednesday reviews are fairly quick, first impression reviews - unless noted otherwise, I've only read these once, and reserve the right to totally reverse my opinion at any point.

Uncanny X-Men #503: I still can't totally make up my mind about this run, but that may be because I don't want to admit that the Bru/Fraction duo is capable of wrongdoing. It "feels" fun, which I like about it - the energy is tangible. That said, this was a 2 part story stretched to 3, and it suffers for it. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with ths, although I'll probably impulse buy the next issue and then stay through the whole next story. Honestly, Cyclops' characterization as a horny but organized frat boy is just not working for me. I get that they want to portray him as more confident, more self-assured, and that his current relationship is healty for him. I get all that, and I'm supportive of it. Cyclops has always been one of my favorite comic book characters, and I'm glad to see him grow. But this just feels... off. It's too much of a departure, too fast. BTW, I don't mind Greg Land's art. I'm not wild for it, but it doesn't ruin anything for me. It tells the story well enough that it isn't distracting, so OK.

Captain Britain and MI-13 #6: More fun from Paul Cornell. I love Captain Midlans, let me just get that out of the way. And I love that, for all that he's a z-lister (sitting around sipping tea and planning with the neighborhood watch!), he's still an incorruptible hero. Even Captain Britain faltered at the end of the comic. Fun stuff. I've always had a mild aversion to Blade so I'm not crazy about him being here, but I'm willing to withhold judgement till I see some more of him. Go buy this comic so that it isn't cancelled by issue 12 like we all know it will be.

Grant Morrison's Dr. Who #1 : I guess they had to use that title, since it probably got them a lot more sales. This is a collection of 3 8-page Dr. Who stories from, I think, the late 80's that Morrison wrote. I should note I've never seen a single episode of Dr. Who, know nothing of the character or the show or the mythos, and am only buying this and reading this as a Morrison fanboy. The first two (a two-parter about an alien shapeshifter), is pretty dull stuff. I mean, it's fine, but whatever. It's just there. It has nice artwork from John Ridgeway. The final story (with unrecognizable early Brian Hitch art), is a little more interesting. I like the premise, and it shows Morrison playing with some of themes that would go on to be his main themes for a long time (insect like features to denote evil; hive minds; worlds-within-worlds; a consciousness surrendering itself to a greater existence). Probably for Morrison completists only (and, presumably, Dr. Who completists).

REVIEW REWIND! Secret Six #2: I bought this last week and wasn't crazy for it. I since re-read it, and it is cool. The interplay between the characters, as with the previous series, makes this work, and I don't know how I missed it last time. But it's fun stuff, refreshingly not mired in DC continuity mazes. It would probably benefit from knowing some of the characters, but I get along fine. The villains speech at the end is great, sadistic fun, similar to something Warren Ellis might write for Norman Osborn. Fun stuff.

I also re-read Action Comics #870, and it was still god awful.

The Goddamn Batman sucks in bed

Check out this page from The Goddamn Batman #7 (my apologies for the shitty scan, but it's not like I'm getting paid for this). Batman and Black Canary, right after beating the crap out of some criminals, lay down for some lovin'. They keep their masks on, because it's better that way (by the way, surprisingly little is made of the fact that this is a clear reference to Watchmen, when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre do the same thing). Originally, I took the Lightning Bolt as a simple, all purpose metaphor for sex. Than it occured to me - for several pages leading up to this, Canary's all over Batman's jock. Telling him how hot he is, fauning over him like a lovestruck damsel. IMMEDIATELY after the sex, she's treating him like a total chump.

That lightning bolt isn't just a metaphor for sex, it was the LENGTH of the sex. Dude was done in seconds. Look how proud he is of himself in that last panel, and look how let down & vaguely disgusted Canary is (don't tell me Jim Lee is incapable of subtlety). It's clear as day - The Goddamn Batman is overcompensating for his lack of prowess. It fits in nicely with Miller's mockery of the tough guy Batman that he himself heped create (remember Gordon's annoyance with Batman's self-conscious "grim and gritty" style in issue 10).

This is such a great comic.

[EDIT: Note also that he immediately goes to bragging about his car, possibly the most stereotypical male compensation for penis size and lack of sexual prowess. Then note how pissy he gets when she mocks his "car" and calls it queer. I say again, this is such a great comic.]

My Favorite Monthlies, Part 3: X-Men: Legacy

The Uncanny X-Men was the first comic I ever bought regularly, and the first I ever scoured back issue bins for. My first comic book I ever bought was Iron Man #206, and I'd been reading my brother's Incredible Hulk comics for a while, but the X-Men was my gateway drug to being a collector. I stuck with them for a year or two after Claremont left, and I've come back periodically here and there. All-in-all, I've been reading X-Men off and on my entire 24 years of comic book reading, even when I don't know why the hell I'm reading them.

So a book like this, designed to mine the continuity minutiae of the X-Men's history and exploring the dubious morality of Professor X? I'm EXACTLY the target audience for this. In particular, it takes all those various mid-90's threads, the "dark years" of questionable editorial mandates and dropped plot threads you could knit a quilt with, and ties them together and attempts to make sense of them. Writer Mike Carey (whose X-Men work I've loved, and even before this series embraced past continuity) makes all the mid-90's crap seem like it always had a plan in mind, as if this was always the intention. And he makes it look effortless.

As I mentioned, this book also explores the questionable morality of Prof. X. I'm a fan of this version of Xavier, who lives in grey areas. I realize some folks don't, but for me, he works better like this. Magneto has long been show in a moral grey area as well, leaning towards the darker side. Xavier works better for me as a counterpoint to Magneto if he occupies the same grey area, at the other end - and Carey makes great use of that here. Issue 209 stands out as a high point for me - with Xavier and Magneto discussing their legacies from the standpoint of current continuity, with a depowered Magneto shunned by his former followers as being a mockery of himself (for being human), and a traumatized Xavier shunned by his own students for his his failings. It perfectly captures and draws to a close, to me, both character's respective legacies to theX-Men universe (of course, it will never end - we all know they'll both be back), while setting them up for a new status quo. It's a brilliant piece of writing, to sum up the two characters 40 year history thematically in only a few pages.

Like I say, this book isn't going to be to everyone's tastes - if you don't care about the backwaters of X-Men continuity, or dislike this portrayal of Xavier, or both - but for me, it hits all the right notes. It's awesome.

Wednesday 10/8/08

X-Men: Original Sin - This was pretty decent, although missable if you've read any of the interviews about this crossover. I only got this because I read X-Men: Legacy. The first half of the issue is by the Origins creative team (Way & Deodato), the second by Legacy's (Carey & Eaton). The first has the better art but worse story. Actually, way's half isn't bad, but again, there's nothing really new in it. Wolverine's kid is amnesiac, he's worried about him, he's mad at Cyclops. The second half is an improvement, although the art's a bit sloppier than Eaton's usual. It moves things along a bit and brings back one of the dangling plots from earlier in Carey's story (the Hellfire club & the new Miss Sinister), so that's cool. Decent start to the story.

Secret Six #2: Eh. Not sure if I'm going to stick with this. I've loved all of Simone's previous SS stories so I'm a ready made audience for this, but two issues in it isn't really grabbing me. Half the issue is wasted on a gratuitous fight with Batman that goes nowhere and isn't even particularly exciting. I'll probably stay with this through the first arc; jury's out after that.

The End League #5: Big improvement. I almost didn't buy this - as an auxilary to my recent obsessive purchasing of Fear Agent, I also got the first 4 issues of this series sight unseen, and wasn't really blown away. I like the cynical air of it - most people are greedy scumbags, after all. But the wordy, overblown dialogue was killing me. Also, the sloppy, generic artwork annyed the hell out of me - like a prettified, airbrushed amateur, this book wanted to look like a happy, bubblegum sooooophero comic, but that wasn't the story. New artist Eric Canete is a huge improvement, with his distorted figures and detailed backgrounds looking like some sort of waking nightmare, a much better atmosphere for this book. The story is more focused now, too, focusing on fewer characters at a time and cutting the hysteria from the dialogue. Thank god that obnoxious Wonder Woman analogue is nowhere to be found. I like the new take on Cap's (or his analogue) background, too - a nice little twist on the origin. Nice little scene between "Black" and "The Smiling Man", too - doesn't add anything new to the Batman/Joker dynamic (really, how much more is there to add?), but it works.

I do have to wonder, though..in the long run, where is this book going? Rememnder says he has this plotted to something like 30 issues. 5 issues in, the constant doom and gloom is already wearying. How much more can they push this? Remender's a strong writer, and if Fear Agent is any indication, he's good at long plots that take their time about paying off. So I have hope - and I'm willing to bet there's clues here noone's going to catch until they DO pay off, like Fear Agent.

Invincible Iron Man #6: Another great issue. Maybe a slight letdown as an ending, but, really... every issue has been note-perfect so far, so I'll cut them some slack. Surely, Matt Fraction is the future of comics. I can't wait for Stane to show up again, and I really like the position Stark is in now, morally - should be interesting to see how the post-SI stories play out, if the rumors are true.

Action Comics 870: I only bought this because I got the variant cover, and I wanted to sell it on eBay. There, I said it. This issue sucked, by the way. I think I read the whole thing in about 2 minutes, and Grant Morrison already did this story - and much, much better - in All-Star Superman #6. And I have zero interest in reading about a world full of Kryptonians, unless it's that Priest/Bright Elseworlds annual from like 12 years ago. That was awesome. This comic was the opposite of awesome.

My Favorite Monthlies, Part 2: Criminal

This one's a bit obvious, I suppose, but damn, this is a great comic. Oddly enough, whenever I try to cut down my monthly comic book reading, this is always one I tell myself to drop - because of the $3.50 price tag - but when a new issue comes out, I just can't resist. Every issue is virtually perfect - the mood is right, the characters feel real, the artwork... god, the artwork.

This is Sean Phillips' masterpiece, surely. As great as Bru's writing is on this series (and it's note-perfect), Phillips just knocks every issue out of the park. Atmospheric as hell, but still clear & expressive. And he doesn't get enough credit for how many styles he throws in there - watercolors for a dream sequence in the first arc, cartoony artwork in the current storyline (with Jacob hallucinating his cartoon strip character) which doesn't conflict at all with the mood. And the little things, like the blacked out panels in issue 2 to indicate Teeg Lawless' alcoholic blackouts. Notice how the blacked out panels are various sizes, giving a sense of how long the blackouts are. And I'm a sucker for artists with a solid sense of facial expressions and body language, because there's just so few of them in the industry, sadly. Sean Phillips is right at the top of the list (with Frank Quitely and Gary Frank). One of the few series that can genuinely get away with minimal narration and dialogue during key character points, because the artwork is strong enough to carry it.

Actually, I'm surprised by how much I talked about the art, rather than the story. I like this stream-of-consciousness babbling about my favorite stuff.