This is most likely the end

Well, life has certainly got in the way with my updating the blog for the last few months and I'm pretty sure I've all but pulled the plug on the machine keeping this thing artifically alive. I'm a bit unwilling to drive a stake into the undead heart of this blog, but for all intents and purposes I think anyone still coming here can agree it's over and done with.

So, one last parting shot. Here's my summer reading list:

Proper Books:

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I've been meaning to read this book for a long time and I finally got around to it, with a couple of chapters left to get through. It's taken me a while to get through it and I do find it almost terrifying in its ability to perfectly capture the inherent evil of any bureaucratic system. Stark reality is found here in a book about the cyclical nature of our lives and the horror wrought because of a larger system guiding us that is beyond the control of an individual, and cannot address the needs of an individual. Yossarian is a true anti-hero in that he does everything completely opposite of a classic hero. He isn't the anti-hero in the sense of the hero who uses bad methods to get good ends, but he does everything humanly possible to not act like a hero - he uses bad methods for selfish ends, yet he's the hero for standing up to the completely batshit insane system he's thrown into.

Blood Sucking Fiends and You Suck by Christopher Moore. My wife bought me Blood Sucking Fiends for Christmas and I just haven't had a time to read it yet. Nothing like an undead romance for some beach reading.

Labyrinths of Knowledge by William Poundstone. Because I feel like blowing my mind sans chemicals for a little while this summer. Give the synapses a workout rather than make them surrender.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I just read Day of the Triffids this past year and really enjoyed it. I'm always a fan of apocalyptic type fiction and this also comes highly recommended from my wife. Plus, it's a short book which is perfect for the long hours and weekends of summer.

Comic Books

Right now I'm just about to start reading Mark Millar's Wanted because my wife wants to go see the movie. I was as shocked as anyone because I wasn't totally interested. Maybe I should see the movie first in case I need to rinse out my brain with the comic book version?

I'm apparently going to read a lot of Ed Brubaker this summer. And why not? On top of my pile are Sleeper and Criminal because I've heard nothing but good things. But to balance it out with good and proper superhero fisticuffs I've also got four volumes of Captain America ready to go - the Red Menace and Winter Soldier story arcs.

In between I'm still reading any Hellblazer trades I can get from the library. Nothing like demon stories involving a complete dick who fucks them over in the hazy humid summer days. Well, it might not seem right to you but I really like it.

I'm hoping to finally getting around to the fourth volume of Scott Pilgrim, and starting Wasteland which I've been meaning to read since it came out.

And finally, I'm planning on re-reading Watchmen before the movie hype starts and I run the risk of soul erosion and desolation.

Time to fire that chimp at the keyboard.

Well it has been quite a long time since I had a moment of free time to dedicate to the old blog here.  If there is anyone still out there remotely interested, here's the quick hits of what I have read over the last month or so along with a few initial thoughts.

 

The Essential Avengers, Volume 1.

I had this book for quite a long time and started reading it when I was home sick with the flu.  That long?  Really?  Wow, I'm almost embarrassed to say I never actually finished reading it.  I love to see the Jack Kirby art on it's own, well, inked I guess.  It just gives such a great view of how to lay out a panel, and a page for super action in a constrained time/format.  Then Don Heck takes over and suddenly the page layouts appear a lot more vertical.  Panels rise and stretch up as opposed to Kirby's much more horizontal spreads.  It's actually quite impressive that although Kirby's panels are generally smaller they seem to contain way more action.  He really is the master of having the panel frame the action to a point where the frame implies there is much more going on outside of it.  Don Heck's panels tend to completely contain all the action.  The weird part is, when I was younger and thinking of comics in my daydreams, I was probably thinking of Don Heck's art.  He just seems to be the image of what I remember Marvel Comics being.  Not so much these days, but still, he's good at being generic I guess.  That wasn't meant to be an insult, it's what I think any work for hire artist needs to work for – like the Hardy Boys authors or whatever.  It doesn't ruin the work, but they survive by being quick and consistent not rule breaking and bold.

 

Planetary Books 1-3 and Crossing Worlds

I really loved this collection.  Nothing like a bit of comics more or less about comics, in my opinion.  I'm a bit of a sucker about media examining itself and playing with the form and genre assumptions.  I like the relationships that are build and how the story is build around an espionage story but it's really about the relationship of comic books and pop culture.

 

30 Days of Night: 3 Tales and Spread the Disease.

They do a decent job of tying together some loose ends and random characters from the other stories.  Decent X-files type material with special agents and vampires.  Also, vampires in space is a great idea.

 

Corto Maltese: Encore un peu plus loin

This collection shows how Hugo Pratt really shines in the short tale.  I enjoyed this collection of short Corto Maltese stories a million times more than the book length adventure I had read previously (which is still exceptionally good).  A few of the characters from Tango are introduced in this collection, and the art being in black and white means there is just that much more wonderful linework to take in.  It's simply breathtaking.  There are a bunch of small morality tales and the double-triple-cross taste of your own medicine adventure yarn.  But really, what other collection of comics will have a surly amnesic sailor regain his memory by taking magic mushrooms, a zombie-priest led island uprising revolution, and a WWI British soldier relive a battle through his dying delusions?  There is a lot to enjoy here, but mostly Pratt's love of the Caribbean and South America.

 

Now, I've read a bunch more of the Ultimate Spider-man trades as well and I'm trying to figure out how to say "I liked it and it's good comics, but it won't really challenge your assumption of the medium or anything, which is really the point I guess anyway, so while inessential in the long run, still enjoyable when you read the story" in more than one way.  I do have to say that I really don't know how I would feel about the stories if I was reading them in the monthly format.  I think it would completely remove the level of enjoyment I get out of the stories.

 

The Decompression Project without Orange and Purple Armour

I've managed to read the Ultimate Spider-man collection starring Silver Sable.  I have to say I'm kind of disappointed with the update.  I thought she was a fine enough character and all but where was the ridiculous hair and the purple and orange jumpsuited Wild Pack?  Really, without the gaudy armor it's not The Wild Pack.  Otherwise this was more or less a decent story that didn't try to be something more than just a random encounter in Peter Parker's life as Spider-man.

 

There's some fun dialogue with the bumbling Wild Pack, a bit of mistaken identity as Peter gets tracked to his school and a great issue that allowed the creative team to do something a bit different when summing up the lives of the triumvirate at the centre of the story.  The little break was well executed and appreciated even if it didn't completely flow with the story – the Ultimate Spider-man epic to this point has more or less followed a similar pattern so anything slightly different is extremely noticeable.  That's not a bad or good thing really, just noticeable in and of itself.

 

So this was a neat story of how difficult it would be to track down an anonymous superhero.  It won't change your life or explain the world in a new way, but you'll be engaged from start to end and really, there are much worse things in the world.

 

*sent via e-mail

That was Unfortunate

Last night the Ottawa Senators lost for the third straight time in the NHL playoffs and while that has very little to do with comics there was this odd connection. It was the home opener of the playoff series last night and if you don't know anything about hockey or this team in particular you should know that their logo is this Roman Centurion.

Skip ahead to last night and the opening ceremonies for the home run was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. It was one of those moments where me and my wife watching at home both got embarrassed watching this thing. There was this video of the hockey players watching this centurion guy walking out and then there's this guy in a 300 Halloween costume with a wonky microphone trying to yell something. It didn't really sound like any language I've heard and well, I felt bad enough for the actor. I'm guessing he was probably some local wrestling entertainer but he really looked like he was trying out for the porno version of 300. It was ridiculous to the point of insulting Frank Miller.

I guess if this happened last year, or whenever the movie came out, it would have helped a bit by being slightly more current but I don't think that idiocy could have been saved no matter what. And he was still better than the performance put on by the team.

Comics and Hockey

Sorry for the crappy html hyperlink text, but this was on CBC and I found it incredibly poignant for my two current interests.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/instigator/index.html

 

I really hope Ottawa wins tonight but I won't be holding my breath.  I've always liked Pigpen.

 

*Sent via e-mail.

The Decompression Project: Warriors

Oh right.  I also managed to read the Ultimate Spider-man version of professional wrestling's Royal Rumble - "Warriors."

 

This collection is just a huge bust up as Hammerhead decides to move in on Kingpin's turf.  Add Spider-man, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Shang Chi, Elektra, Moon Knight and the Kingpin's three thugs I can never remember the name of.  It'll come to me after I e-mail in this post I'm sure.

 

Well, it's a fun little story arc full of over the top fisticuffs.  And in the end, I should have seen it coming, there is a reveal that removes the one single good thing I was seeing develop in Peter Parker's life.  Other than Black Cat, and there is some great developments in that relationship as well.

 

My only real complaint is that even though heroes and villains get stabbed – one even in the back of the skull – they all end up in comas, which just feels like a huge cheat.  Yes, I know it's a superhero comic.

 

I'll also get to the Avengers collection at some point.  I seem to have been reading that thing forever.

Corto Maltese: Tango

I've been sitting on this book for quite some time for quite a few reasons.  Well, three really: New job, the book is in French and I had the flu.  Add to that, other outside time commitments and the Ottawa Senators sucking in the lead up to the NHL playoffs my mind wasn't exactly in a frame to read something in my second language.  

 

Well, I've persevered and I'm always glad I did whenever I read some Bandes Designes.  I'm such a genre whore when it comes to comic books that whenever I read something non-North American it feels like a revelation because it isn't about superheroes.  Not that that's all I read, but it's a fairly substantial amount.  Heck these days it's mostly just Ultimate Spiderman trades at that.  Anyway, having a straight up adventure serial to read is gloriously refreshing from the over-exuberance of superheroics.  This is like the cultured European cousin that just inherently has more style, knows it, and is quietly confident in what s/he is.  There is a bigger size format to the thing which sort of announces to the world what you are reading, but it's artistic enough content wise that you don't look like you're reading about super-boobies.  

 

Ever since my first random Corto Maltese purchase during my lean years living in South London I've felt that Hugo Pratt has created the comic book equivalent of the Indiana Jones movies.  He's a scruffily handsome man that can take care of himself and moves around the world with a swagger and confidence that verges on cockiness but is never so blatant that people are put off by him.  Yes, the major differences are that Corto is a sailor and Indy is a treasure hunting archeologist but the core characteristics are quite similar.

 

I guess the two sentence movie pitch is that Corto Maltese is Tintin as an adult (without the dog and with Cpt. Haddock's job).  He's entirely more laconic than Tintin but just as able to give and take a punch when the need arises.  Also, Hugo Pratt was Italian so there are lots of lovely women characters as well.  In that respect I'm reminded a bit of Eisner's Spirit work with lots of strong, sexy women who aren't all the same character in different costumes.

 

As for this volume in particular, I kind of just picked it up at random because I was at the library one day and the idea of reading more Corto Maltese books popped into my head and well, there was this one and another one I'm now reading.  I really should have read them in the opposite order because Tango is one of the last collections.  Heck, some of the characters that Corto visits in this book are introduced for the first time in the collection I'm reading at the moment, so that's slightly annoying when trying to make sense of what's what.  Also, the French doesn't help.

 

What drew me in initially was the massive text introductions.  They're all about the history of prostitution in Argentina, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  As for the story itself, I was mostly lost I'll admit, because shockingly it's not just super hero comics that require a slight continuity obsession to keep everything straight.  The story here is about Corto trying to find a long lost friend who was kidnapped (I believe) by a prostitution ring.  In his searches for her he runs into a bunch of characters from his older adventures which you don't really need to have read to understand this story but it did feel confusing.  Almost like you were invited out with someone you knew from work who proceeds to only make in-jokes with his or her friends all night long.  Universal themes will come through but you'll be lost on the details.

 

And I think it's the timing of when this book was created that speaks a lot towards how I felt towards most aspects.  It was later in Pratt's career and it felt a bit like he was taking a few things for granted, almost cutting corners.  The art is, for the most part beautiful as I've come to expect, but the action in the panels is not as dynamic as other Corto Maltese stories.  There are only a few poses and expressions used, and while there may be some unbelievable artwork when he's drawing a car chase sequence the inking process seems to be a bit thick, almost as if an edged marker was used in places (mostly on noses too, which is just odd looking).  It all makes the action seem somewhat less dynamic than it should be, and with a story that isn't exactly action packed that is somewhat unfortunate.

 

I still think Pratt's style is one of the best but in comparison to his other work this one just isn't as good, in my opinion.  There is a lot of research text prefacing this book, and a lot of potential (and while I'm sure I missed a lot because of my language barrier) so it was disappointing to have the story and art let me down.

 

This is a story of corruption on multiple levels in a location that I know next to nothing about and really, if I can stay engaged in a story written in a foreign language I can mostly read then it's doing something right.  It was an unfortunate choice of texts to get back into Corto Maltese with, but it's out of the way and I'm reading an earlier volume that is making up all the ground this book let down on.

 

 

I've not abandonned the blog just yet

I'm just exceptionally busy at my new job and suffering from some kind of evil virus which makes me not really want to think because it hurts my sinuses.

I will say that reading the first volume of Essential Avengers while not feeling the best is a real treat. I'm shocked at how bad I feel for Hank Pym for being married to Jan and her very obvious lust for pretty much every other man. I know it was a different time and I'm probably seeing it totally out of context but holy moly talk about your troubled marriage. I don't think it's bad for her to be open about her sexuality or desires but right next to your husband?

And then there's the way they chair their meetings and pass motions that only serve to put words to what is going on anyway. Like when Iron Man is missing and they can't reach him at all they vote to give him a leave of absence. Coming from my history with the Green Party, I have to say that The Avengers, even in their absurd manner, manage to conduct board meetings better than that political party.

And finally I noticed that the major shift between Kirby and Heck on art is that Don Heck seems to lay out his pages in a much more vertical aspect.

The Decompression Project - Teenage Wasteland

Okay I guess I got a little bit confused between collections I was reading in yesterday's post.  It seems that the scene with Spider-man and the police officer was in the Hobgoblin collection and not the Superstars collection.  My comments still stand, that I think it is a solid bit of development and it's a refreshing change to see Peter being reluctant to accept a mentor, and more so that there is what appears to be a decent mentor figure being developed for him.  They're not quite colleagues but they certainly are aiming for the same goals and with somewhat similar attitudes although she is able to better express herself.

 

Now, I know the Harry Osborn story and most people had exposure to a version of it in Spiderman 3.  This Ultimate version is done exceptionally well.  Whenever Peter fought Norman it was completely one sided, in that one figure was superior in all regards but was constantly defeated because of his pride in his science.  Peter's strength isn't from his person or even from his belief in himself but his ability to consider others no matter the cost.  That is what helps him win the day, along with a few well timed kicks and webbings.

 

With Harry, things are different because Peter is being forced into a situation that isn't just personal but also one of equals.  Both Peter and Harry are victims of circumstance and end up clashing because of outside influences.  Neither of them want to do it, which makes the situation entirely tragic.  They are characters without the freedom to avoid this clash.  It is tragic because it is simply unavoidable no matter how hard both try to avoid the situation.

 

And there is major heartbreak here too as Peter starts to actually react to the death and violence that has occurred simply because he exists.  Yes, his actions ultimately led to Uncle Ben's death but it was his existence that led to Gwens, and really, in both cases he was never directly responsible.  Here we see a teenager begin to grieve by simply not being able to process his role or accept that he was entirely helpless.  He's terrified for his loved ones and the art and dialogue capture that sentiment note perfectly here.

 

Now the Harry Osborn story is also captured quite well in that it is never quite clear what is real and what isn't.  Yes there were hypnotherapy sessions, but what is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s role in all of this?  Did Harry bring it on himself or was he programmed by his father?  Was he exposed accidentally to be latently activated or did he experiment upon himself?  There are no answers here and while it helps enforce how scary dealing with mental illness can be it also makes Harry a sympathetic character as well.  He is dealing with demons just like Peter is, but this is the result of having (letting or being programmed to) the demons win.  It moves him to embody rage and destruction of anything connected to him, which is what Peter is feeling but he manages to embody the sadness and grief that is required to process these situations.

 

This collection ends with a MJ centric issue that manages to hit all the notes that the Aunt May issue flubbed.  She is given believable situations to react to, rather than talking to a therapist about seemingly random fears that have no bearing on her day to day existence.  It's about MJ and why she loves Peter and in the end it is a solid issue offering a fly on the wall point-of-view for a day in the life of a superhero's girlfriend.  Suddenly, I feel like MJ has a bit more depth, which is what I needed from the series quite a while ago so it was nice to see it here.

 

*sent via e-mail

The Decompression Project Cuts Loose and Has a Bit of Fun

This volume is all about the guest stars.  There is Wolverine, The Human Torch, Dr. Strange and The Ultimates.  And, you know what?  It's a solid volume nonetheless.  I think it's because the stories managed to change their pace a bit and while some were relatively forgettable you actually get to read a fun little caper involving Marvel's two guest stars – Spidey and Wolverine.

 

Yes, it is very easy to be cynical about these two characters.  They're completely over used and exploited to the point of ridiculousness but Bendis manages to create a story that is very much in the spirit of yesteryear Marvel hijinx.  You get a story that Bendis introduces as himself with a rather wry sense of humor, and he goes on to poke fun at his own creations during the intro to the second part that even he couldn't force three issues out of this story.  And, well, the story is that Wolverine and Spider-man swap minds.  That's pretty much it.  There is no explanation, they just wake up and deal with each other's reality.  It's hackneyed, it's been done to death, but it hasn't been done since probably the early seventies with any sense of humour about the whole thing and it's just a fun little break from the bleak seriousness.

 

The Human Torch story is slightly forgettable but it's a decent riff on the friendship between the two characters of relatively the same age that has been in comics for quite some time.  And the Ultimate Dr. Strange was a decent enough, trapped in your own nightmare scenario that seems kind of like Peter is just going through the physical psychokinetic nightmare version of a recap of his comic up to now.  It's kind of like a visually interesting take on what he discusses anyway, so decent but somewhat unnecessary except for the intro of the good doctor and another interesting step towards a budding relationship with a police officer.  Not romantic but I do like how it is developing as it's a nice change of pace from his normal interactions.  Kind of a mentor relationship is being put forth, which I have to say is something I can't really remember from Spider-man 616 but I'm no authority on the matter.  I know he had Dr. Curt Connors and some people at the Bugle that were decent colleagues but nobody he really had as any sort of mentor role, and I guess I'll see how it all goes down.  With my luck it all happens in the Ultimate Team-Up book or something.

 

And that would be my only complaint about this collection.  That while I could certainly read the stories on their own and follow the action there was enough of a sense of being lost because I don't read all the Ultimate titles to be distracting from what is here in these stories.  I could sort of get a feel for what is happening in the FF book but I had no idea how many times Peter met Logan other than that one time he went to Westchester in his own book, and whether Wolverine was even there.  Still it was a very slight story and very upfront about it, which is very welcome in my book.  Yes, it's a cheat in the end but it wouldn't have been as good if it wasn't.

 

Now, in the end, I think where the story is going with the internal struggle Peter is facing is a very good setup for some good melodrama.  Spider-man is a character tuned into the proper "life gone awry and I don't know how to handle it" vibe.  The character is just as well suited for that as the silver-aged flavoured silliness here.  I think the continued fall out from Gwen, uncle Ben and the rest of it is spot on.  Peter is a character full of pathos and he reacts like a freaked out teenager would act in the final story here.  If there is one thing I consistently enjoy in these books, it's that Peter is constantly fighting with the control of himself and his emotions.  He wants to lose control but he won't let himself, and it's handled in these books extremely well.  He has highs and lows and they all bring him back to the character he is – responsible and surrounded by tragedy.  He is heroic because of his actual deeds but more so because of his inability to stop despite what happens that is out of his control.  It is taking it's toll on the kid and it was nice to have some stories that let Peter just be the goofy version of Spider-man because I see the return of Harry Osborn is coming in the next collection, so that should be a full on matching of psychological misery matched with physical violence.

 

*send in via e-mail.

Bloody Cold Nights

30 Days of Night

by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith

 

When the movie came out I remembered that I had been meaning to read 30 Days of Night for a while now.  I finally got around to it after not going to watch the movie.

 

In many ways I feel this is a dark coffee table art book with some words attached.  I really like Templesmith's artwork and it really does fit the genre.  It's always dark, it's unclear at points but it's frightening on a core level.  The somewhat unfinished, unpolished look helps it terrify the reader.  I'm using unpolished here to mean that there isn't a lot of tight linework with colouring precisely defined by those lines.  Nope, here colours, textures and art materials are used to bleed into one another making things beautifully muddled.  The bones are loose but the colour is tight.  I really love what he manages with such a limited palette of colour.

 

Sadly, I found that it was the art to be partly problematic to the actual plot.  While the art is so bloody cool the plotting and characterization needs to be next to perfect.  With the art being kinetic and emotional I found that jumps in story and characterization to be slightly confusing.  In fact I got lost a few times.  It starts out strong but by the time the plot is halfway through there seems to be one too many massive jumps in plot that were kind of frustrating to read while remaining artistically strong.

 

It starts strong, the idea is sound, the art suits it perfectly, the pacing and narrative sort of falls off.  I guess that's the sum up.

 

I hate criticizing works that I actually enjoy, for the most part.  I think I'm getting slightly more curmudgeonly as the snow continues to pile up here in Ottawa and I'm suffering from sleep deprivation because of the stupid hour change being moved.  Reading about a bunch of vicious beasts on a murderous winter rampage is a little too close to home as people are starting to crack because their sidewalks aren't cleared and pedestrians are forced to fight traffic in the streets.  Winter madness is setting in with the approach of Spring and 30 Days of Night captures the feeling of it a bit too precisely in that respect.

 

sent in via e-mail

Comics Just Aren't HD

No comics reading since I picked up a new TV and my friend left his X-Box 360 at my place.  Too much time has been spent trying to kill the Locust in Gears of War, Nazis in Call of Duty 3 and awesome drum fills in Rock Band - all in glorious High Definition.

 

Now if I could only figure out how to CBC HD from Rogers Digital Cable I'd be set.  Man, if you want a lesson in a website design that shows your customers how much you loathe and despise them then head over to theirs.  That thing is full of something that has the appearance of information but is next to incomprehensible and is generally useless.  I have no idea how to find out if I already have one channel included in my current package, and if not which package is it actually included in.  Thankfully it is in my wife's name so she gets to call them about this today.  The last time I called, they tried to blame me for a pay-per-view hockey game losing its feed.  Seriously.  It was batshit insane, not simply bad customer service.

The Decompression Project - Oh the Carnage!

I should seriously consider just changing the name of this blog to Jon's Once a Week Thoughts on the Ultimate Spider-man Trade Collections.  But I'm not totally into the whole, overly descriptive thing.  If you've read any of my posts, you'll most likely agree.  Anyway, I do have some Corto Maltese comics at home but reading in French takes a lot more effort than I'm able to give these days (new job, started yesterday) and I've been slowly enjoying the first Essential Avengers collection – more marvelous marvel machinations soon!  Ugh, too much Stan Lee in my brain.

 

So, on with The Decompression Project.  You know, I have to say that for the most part I've been enjoying my time spent with Ultimate Spider-man.  I think this is a great interpretation on both Spider-man and Peter Parker.  It works well with him as a high-school student although it would be nice to have him a bit more science geeky and just once I'd like him to remain confident and non-emo for one entire story arc.  Okay that's probably not ever going to happen, since that is the core of the character.  Bad things happen, he feels bad and perseveres simply because it is the right thing to do no matter how much he tries to dress it up with recurring inspirational quotes.  He almost can't help himself and that point is brought home in this story where we have the Ultimate version of Spider-man No More for about a half issue or so.

 

I do find this a weird series though because while on the one hand it is very slow on the other hand it is guilty of skimming the surface of the conflict.  Yes, I like the character moments but there needs to be further examination into the conflict as well as the personal.  The formula appears to be spend a lot of time with Peter and MJ (as well as the rest of Peter's personal life cast) then the same amount of pages only with big splash fight panels for the villain of the week.  I have no problems whatsoever with the villain of the week approach, in fact I quite like it.  No, I just find that each issue feels like wasted opportunity to really delve into the differences, themes and metaphors presented by each conflict as Spider-man.

 

This book is obviously about Carnage.  Now, I'm lucky in that I managed to never read a Carnage comic.  I mean, Venom I can handle but giving the suit to a maniac, okay more maniacal maniac, was just a bit too much.  It always felt like, hey kids, Carnage, the new Spidey villain is like Venom only more extreme, to the max!  And in that regard I do like what they did with the Ultimate Carnage.  Simply removing any humanity from the character helps make it actually somewhat terrifying and moves it into Dr. Frankenstein territory for Dr. Connors.  That is not such a terrible move.

 

Having Curt Connors as a sympathetic character was a decent break from the Ultimate villains as actual scary threats.  It allows Spider-man to not only have a scary brainless thug to beat on, in the doctor's monstrous creation, but a victim of circumstance for Peter to interact with.  It's never a bad thing to add a bit of humanity to your villains when you are exploring potential for conflict.  The good doctor is trying his hardest but is fated to fail because he cannot see beyond himself and his own beliefs in what he is doing, in his own reasons for acting.

 

And then we have the death of Gwen, which cheapens the whole thing for me.  Okay, I don't need total rehash of the original story, but why the heck was Carnage the villain to do the deed?  I guess it should work because it is a creation of Peter in a certain sense.  That Peter's life has a direct effect on those around him is probably what the driving idea was but it just felt like the book was required to set Carnage up as a major threat and since everyone knew Gwen was fated to die anyway….. So it goes.

 

It's too bad because I think it should have all been handled a bit better, and could have been within the story.  There were some great aspects that simply weren't connected as well as they should have been – Peter giving birth to a perverted image of himself and his father, Dr. Connors in the role of Dr. Frankenstein, and well just evil genetic stuff.  There was some very strong stuff to work with but in the end it rang hollow to me.  I won't presume to be able to do a better job or anything but while the connections are there under the surface of the story, I may just be seeing things that were never intended and that's where my criticism comes in.

The Boys Need Pegg

So with Garth Ennis's The Boys being picked up for Hollywood, how long before the internet campaign to get Simon Pegg attached starts? Oh wait, I think it just did!

The Rebirth of Superman

Supreme – The Return

Having read and loved Alan Moore’s Supreme: The Story of the Year collection it was a No-Brainer Supreme for me to pick up this follow up collection. You know how I really like Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman? Well, Alan Moore did something rather similar with Superman a few years ago, only he didn’t exactly have Superman so he called his character Supreme. Everything is the same but different in the mythos, but talk about your love of silver-age goofyness. It permeates these stories to the point where the goofy stories are actually the driving conflicts of the plots here.

Supreme and the supporting cast jump through time to old Supreme adventures that visually manifest themselves as if they were old comic books. Why try to erase the goofy past of comics rather than accept and celebrate them, seems to be the message here. Goofy stories do not preclude bad stories or take away from the kewlness of the nineties, or anything else for that matter. So rather than reinvent bits of Supreme from square one for a new generation of readers, Moore is basically showing how you can restart a character by accepting all iterations before the current one. These are comics, have fun with them for a change.

The Decompression Project - Hmm, do you think we could place MORE products in that shot?

Ultimate Spider-Man: Hollywood

I swear I am reading comics other than Ultimate Spider-man (okay, not really), but I’ve been managing to get these all in a row so the project continues. This is the collection that shamelessly plugs the Spider-man movie. A lot. It feels a bit too much like Avi Arad’s Spider-man Unlimited compared to the Spider-man cartoon that preceded it. And guess who is one of the guest stars? I can just imagine what fandom was like when this was just hitting the shelves. Heck, it annoyed me a bit, I can only imagine the mouth frothing that occurred during the actual release of the comic.

I guess in some ways this is the Ultimatization of Marvel’s tradition of shameless hucksterism. Only rather than Stan Lee show up or an editor’s note telling you about something related to another series, it’s a plug for their Spider-man movie. It’s all a bit distracting when the real world crosses over into the fictional one in ways that don’t particularly contribute to the story. This is the dark side of Grant Morrison talking to Animal Man, in that it doesn’t really do anything but plug the movie. Sure there is a connection to the plot but it’s a real MacGuffin in that regard. The movie could be anything to get Dr. Octopus and Spider-man to showdown and get Gwen involved in Peter’s secret life.

I do have to say though, for shameless plugs it is slightly charming. I like this version of Peter Parker quite a lot and having him generally annoy the filming but be taken in by big bad Hollywood is perfect for this universe. Then there is the new Dr. Octopus. I do quite like his connection to the arms and having them act as two separate characters. It moves him out of any possible sympathy or goofy villain of the week syndromes he suffered from previously. Yes, he’s still the chubby goofball that gets beaten up but when he’s in full moustache twirling mode I like the Ultimate Dr. Octopus quite a bit.

He’s more of the brilliant doctor that is unable to deal with everyday things like combing hair or using manners, but he’s also a much scarier and formidable threat with his consciousness split between his human and robotic side. He’s part symbiotic, part Two-Face, part mad scientist and just perfect for slightly undercooked plans of destruction. All in all, he’s just inhuman enough here to really remain someone you don’t feel sympathy for in any regard. He’s creepy, he’s violent, and while he’s really a sad case you really want Spidey to hit him a few more times for good measure because he’s the underhanded small man.

And, while all this is a decent little bust up between Spider-man and Dr. Octopus the real crux of the story was getting Gwen to put the pieces together to move her from outsider to insider in Peter’s secret life. I do like Gwen in this series because to me this character is much better set up than Mary Jane to be the girl with problems but is working them out partly because of the naivety of youth and partly because she is simply put into a tough spot and has the strength to simply continue. Whereas the conflicts in Mary Jane’s backstory seem somewhat tacked on to give her some more depth, Gwen’s were created to serve a story. This, to me, is what helps her fit into the Ultimate Spider-man milieu better than MJ. Yes, MJ is now integral to Spider-man (although the current run of reportedly good stories after the impish annulment would point to this not being completely true), so she had to be involved but Gwen feels more like a creation than an addition if that makes any sense.

Her confidence feels slightly more real, her independence is more understandable and her blame laying is also something that works within the universe as it has been created as opposed to Aunt May suddenly expounding about how she’s freaked out yet obsessed with Spider-man. Gwen’s life was directly affected by Spider-man and it was inevitable that she would piece it all together. I think her personality is a good counterpoint to Peter’s and their relationship together is one that feels better than the Peter and MJ duality that feels more reflective than anything else. And at the same time I find it completely ridiculous that Gwen is living with the Parkers. It’s like they needed her to be in Peter’s life somehow so voila, she’s been taken it. Then again, that’s probably why I like it so much – because it is simply the most comic-booky of all relationships.

So this is a lot of reflection upon a decent villain vs. Spider-man story that leads to Gwen’s somewhat rushed entry into Peter’s private life that is distracted by the fact Marvel was making a Spider-man movie in the real world (and they really wanted you to know that Avi Arand was important). In the end I’m glad they’ve gotten Gwen involved but because it felt rushed I feel myself being slightly suspicious of her behavior. I do think the revelation works and fits both characters but I can’t help but feel this would have worked better if it was the first time Peter’s identity was revealed to anyone (whether it was MJ or Gwen). I can’t help but think that a bigger build up would have helped set up the Ultimate world a bit more. Then again, the way things have been up to know I think that going against expectations for that type of thing has worked out quite well.

Batman Beyond

I never watched this cartoon when it originally aired and it's next in line of the Bruce Timm animation collection, so I popped it in and was pleasantly surprised. I've only watched disk one of the first season but I'm thoroughly impressed so far. I guess when you don't hold onto any expectations it is much easier to be impressed or let down, but still, it's good stuff.

It works for me because they keep the core that made the animated Batman and Superman stories so good. They focus on simple capers and well told stories rather than recreate point for point the comic books. Whereas the Batman and Superman cartoons would plunder the characters' deep histories for stories to retell, that gets left behind so far in this series. It's sort of freeing in that way I suppose in that telling Batman of the future stories you don't have the mythos to rely on and the writers get to stretch their own minds for a bit. There are still some homages for the long time fans such as Bruce Wayne's dog Ace, and the Oracle face showing up in advertisements, which are fun to spot but not occuring often enough to be distracting.

The villains tend to be riffs on Batman's rogue gallery but not too sexed up as to feel hacked out. I think the aesthetics of the Bruce Timm style go a long way to help that. There's Inque who is kind of like Clayface mixed with the Shadow Thief and that Bic pen mascot, as well as some classic Bat-foes like Mr. Freeze and the Royal Flush Gang. The classic villains, even if appearing for the first time, are all managed in a way that makes sense. Plus, there is crusty old Bruce Wayne who is a great character idea and would be better used if he did more than tell the new Batman to "get out of there!"

At first I thought the music and the sort of now outdated computer animation would be distracting but they lend a certain charm to the place. Whereas the original animated series was sort of like Batman crossed with Chinatown, this is like Batman crossed with Blade Runner. The original series felt more retro-sci-fi-noir, this series is very much futureshock-sci-fi-noir. The simplification of the colours and the experimental use of shadows and colour on the characters really help move this series into something familiar but different territory. The visual cues remind you of the setting that needs to be foriegn to the viewers but with enough visual pop as to keep you engaged. I think it works, if not only for the advances in the animation itself that help give the characters more fluid and quick movement onscreen.

Like the other series, it can stumble into goofball territory, but in the end I like the freedom of the series. It shouldn't work because of the changes they made but in the end it works precisely because those changes are really just minor tweaks. There is a hook and point of familiarity for the audience but the rest is more or less all new. And really, how many dystopian sci-fi cartoons are there?

Daredevil and The Flash

You know what? I don't think I have ever read a single Daredevil comic. Ever.

I mean, I'm sure I did at some point because I know the score on the character but I can't recall any single comic that I read. Perhaps I only read guest appearances.

Also, I can't recall ever reading a Flash comic. I think I've only ever read him in team books.

Weird.

My Secret Invasion

With Marvel gearing up for The Secret Invasion of the Skrulls and with their push to get Marvel characters closer to their roots, I'm hoping they decide to go full bore here. I of course mean that the Marvel heroes, in particular The Fantastic Four, defeat the Skrulls using comic books.

The Decompression Project - The Ultimate Five, sorry, Six

What to say about the Ultimate Six? There were really on five of them? Sure, I know what they were going for with the Spider-man connection but really, there should be six villains if you’re trying to make the Ultimate Marvel version of the Sinister Six. I guess they didn’t create Ultimate Chameleon or establish Black Cat as more of a villain or something. And I guess Mysterio and Vulture just didn’t want to be involved, although I can’t recall seeing Ultimate Mysterio – doesn’t mean I haven’t read a very obvious story in one of the first trades, but I honestly don’t recall him appearing in the Ultimate Spider-man stories at the moment.

Again, this is a story with a lot of good bones and decent structure but lacks any sense of urgency when being told, or simply lacks any urgency to be told at all. I guess I’m hitting the point where I’m no longer seeing a re-imagining of Spider-man so much as rehashing the Spider-man shared mythology with minor changes. The Sinister Six was a fairly neat idea that allowed itself to have a rotating cast of Spidey villains, so why they couldn’t come up with a sixth member here seems slightly wonky to me.

I do applaud the attempt at connecting the creation of the genetic anomalies from the villains to Peter Parker. I get that they are two sides to the same coin and how minor differences can create major diversions in outcome. This aspect felt slightly glossed over to me and could have been a much stronger element of the story. The story is set up as a villain showpiece and a decent caper revenge heist type of plot, with a much better handling of Civil War type activities thrown in for flavour, only to kind of lead to a confrontation that felt more like a bunch of adult villains lecturing Peter Parker about how he’s from the same formula that created them, and some vaguely motivated attack on the White House. Once again, great set up, great potential and not so great ending. It didn’t leave me wanting more, it just sort of left me.

The story is set apart from the rest of the Ultimate Spider-man trades by the art as much as the focus. It was a bit odd to suddenly not be seeing Bagley’s art, and to have the youthful vibrancy of his art not present meant the tone of the presentation changed with it. This is stiffer, darker stuff that seems to help root this story into the bigger Ultimate universe. There is more SHIELD and the Ultimates here than normally found in Spidey’s solo Ultimate adventures. I think the art change helps reflect that change in focus but I’m not sure if it’s a benefit to the Ultimate Spider-man stories on the whole. I think that the tenuous connections work best and I believe this was originally a miniseries outside the main book so that would work for me, but in trade format it feels like a bit of a departure. It feels like the flow gets interrupted in order to follow up with a few villains and remind Spider-man fans that there is more to the Ultimate Marvel Universe – which I suppose the X-women showing up would have managed previously. Whereas their appearance felt like guest star showing up, this story seems to focus more on the interconnected Ultimate setting more than on Spidey himself, and that’s sort of missing the reason people will buy Spider-man books.

But did I enjoy it? Yeah, I actually did. I don’t think it’s groundbreaking or does anything to profoundly update any of the ideas found in the characters and the reasons for bonding into a villainous group, but it’s a decent caper and goes a long way to reminding me why I first found Dr. Octopus so threatening or Electro so uniquely terrifying. Kraven is the character I am least familiar with and I think making him some rage induced werewolf was kind of nifty. So the villain showcase aspect worked well, and the story worked best when focused on them. When the story strayed away from them, it started to fall apart at the seams.