Wednesday Number Ones 5/9/07
Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.
This week we will cover Countdown #51, Sollitaria #1, India Authentic Ganesha #1, Marvel Zombies Dead Days One Shot, and Hack Slash Series #1. Due to a shipping error, we didn’t get Salvador #1 or Cover Girl #1, we will cover these books in a later feature.
Nick Budd Read and Thought:
Countdown #51
Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Company: DC Comics
Holy cup of awesome, Batman, Darkseid’s back! And it’s not lame Darkseid either, it’s maniacal/uber-ruthless Darkseid who wants to rule the entire universe and remake it in his own image. With that appearance alone, which shows up on the second page, I’m certainly intrigued by what Paul Dini and the rest of the Countdown crew has to offer with this second weekly comic book, which on the whole seems like an interesting take on the new Multiverse and some character driven subplots. Add to that a few nice moments that involve some of the Flash’s rogues, a Mary Marvel appearance, a righteous yet evil Monitor and some striking artwork by Jesus Saiz and this could be a perfectly good replacement to supplement people’s “52 Fever”. Actually, the only drawback is the inclusion of the Red Hood, who in my opinion really shouldn’t exist, but if you can get past that, Countdown is a compelling, creative and entertaining read.
Dave Farabee Read and Thought:
Hack/Slash: The Series #1
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Emily Stone
Company: Devil’s Due Publishing
I can honestly say I’m not surprised at all that Hack/Slash, the series of entertaining action/horror one-shots, translates seamlessly into Hack/Slash, the entertaining ongoing. Credit longtime writer, Tim Seeley, who clearly loves the horror genre and also loves turning it on its ear. In this first issue he eases new readers right into the world of the ass-kicking Cassandra Hack (think Faith from Buffy) by pitting her against a killer whose “gimmick” is psychological torture. It’s as good an excuse as any for Cassie to flash back through the high points of her life and cue the reader in on how she came to hunt killers in the vein of Jason, Freddy, and Chucky. If the story stumbles a bit, it’s in holding out on the specifics of Cassie’s transition from scared little girl to tough-as-nails fighter, but in the end it’s still a good, gory done-in-one. Horror buffs of most stripes are likely to dig it, and longtime readers will enjoy Seeley’s trademark mixture of horror, smartassery, and (surprisingly for the slasher genre) empathy for the leads.
Dan Grendell Read and Thought:
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days one-shot
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Sean Phillips
Company: Marvel Comics
Somewhat surprisingly, I wasn’t too into this one-shot. I expected to be, as I loved the original mini-series and I’m enjoying the Marvel Zombies crossover with Army of Darkness. There’s certainly plenty of zombie goodness here in that same vein, but I had two issues with it. First is an expectations problem- I believed that this was going to reveal the origin of the zombie plague, and deal with that. And it does, sort of- for one page, with no real details. I suppose that holds true to the zombie genre, where the origins are usually hazy, but here it feels like a letdown. My other problem was Kirkman’s take on Reed Richards. I just don’t buy it. Once again, Reed as obsessive scientist is used as his entire character, but it feels especially off in this issue. Overall, this was a decent story, but it just felt off.
Randy Lander Read and Thought:
Sollitaria #1
Writers: Marco Antonio Baron & Fabiana Apocalypse
Artist: Michael Smith
Company: Praxis Comics
Sollitaria, an anthology of stories set in a city with a magic realism tone, sounded potentially interesting. Unfortunately, like all too many potentially interesting ideas, the execution is flawed, and as a result, the book is kind of a mess. The first story reads like a Vertigo twist on Collateral, with an unlucky cabbie ferrying around an agent of death and the second is your average ghost story. Neither one really rises above its decent but over-familiar premise, and neither is helped by the over-colored, over-abstract artwork of Michael Smith, which has an attractive enough surface gloss but fails more often than not in terms of storytelling. There are solid underpinnings here in a familiar but still reasonable premise and decent if unremarkable dialogue, but nothing about the book marks it as special, and the artwork is notably not up to snuff.
D3 (David Martindale) Read and Thought:
India Authentic #1 - Ganesha
Writer: Saurav Mohapatra
Artist: Satish Tayade
Company: Virgin Comics
Not a bad read at all. The book tells the origin of a Hindu god. I can’t personally attest to its authenticity, but having a title that includes the word “authentic” at least leads me to believe that it’s claiming some level of authenticity. The painty art fits in very well with the classic feel of this Indian fable, and the writer gives the characters convincingly divine voices. It lacks a bit in excitement and feels a bit slow at times, but overall, this done in one issue is worth a read especially if you have any interest in the Hindu pantheon. I’m looking forward to issue two, but I fear that the concept of retelling classic Indian tales in an authentic tone may keep the audience’s interest for more than a few issues.
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Actually, the only drawback is the inclusion of the Red Hood, who in my opinion really shouldn’t exist
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but didn’t the Monitor sorta suggest the same thing? That Jason is an “anomaly”?
Pretty great kick-off - not quite a home run, but honestly more exciting than I was expecting, with a good balance of character-driven stuff and tantalizing hints at things to come. It seemed a bit less manic than 52, which is good - much as I liked the last issue of that series, it was pretty convoluted. If they can keep up the pacing of this issue through the rest of the run (and here’s hoping Dini applies some of his TV-writing experience to that end), then Countdown has the potential to be one of DC’s best superhero books.
One question: Wasn’t Giffen supposed to be doing layouts for this? Honestly, I actually kinda liked that he didn’t - while Giffen did a fantastic job providing artistic cohesion on 52, Saez’s layouts gave Countdown a different feel, which was nice.
09 May 2007 at 12:49 pm
QuoteRe MZ: Kirkman said in the intro to ZombieWorld Vol. 2: Winter’s Dregs and Other Stories that he doesn’t feel zombie setups should have an origin. So I guess this makes sense, but it was… I dunno, it wasn’t as good as the original mini or the Layman book. They shouldn’t have sold it as a prelude if they weren’t even going to show the Zombie Sentry decimating the Avengers. I was looking forward to that!
Countdown I just thought was dull. Which is a shame, because conceptually I find it more interesting than 52. But we’ll see.
Hack/Slash was pretty good. Also worth reading: Thunderbolts, Nova, Immortal Iron Fist. Big disappointment: Salvador.
09 May 2007 at 1:02 pm
QuoteI actually don’t think you’re reading too much into it, since Jason Todd is anomaly…which is really what I should have said. I have no problem with the Red Hood as a character, my beef is that it’s Jason Todd. If it was anyone else, I’d be fine with it.
But like I said, I really enjoyed the issue. It was a good hook for a story that has many avenues to travel and I’ll say it again, it’s got Darkseid. That’s all I really need to know at this point.
09 May 2007 at 1:33 pm
QuoteRE: Marvel Zombies :
**SPOILERS**
Magneto mentions him and the Acolytes made a “deal” with whatever caused the plague, Tony says it came from another dimension, Doom says Latveria is “immune” to it, and Reed says it’s “evolution”. But NO ONE ever says what it actually is. ARRGGHHH! I found this a little frustrating too.
** END SPOILERS **
And It’s not just Kirkman. Reed Richards has done something psycho or completely out of character in almost all of his appearances as of late. When was the last time anyone even referred to him as “Mr. Fantastic” in a comic. I miss when Reed used to be a HERO.
All in all I have to say I enjoyed it though, especially Sean Phillip’s Art, and the tons of cameos. That 2 page panel in the middle with 50+ heroes ranging from Sleepwalker to Scarlet Spider was a real hoot!
09 May 2007 at 5:27 pm
QuoteWhile I enjoyed Marvel Zombies “Dead Days” as a way to fill in the gaps, it was almost too meta for me. A one-shot prelude to a spin off mini that acts as a one-off side story to a current spin-off crossover prequel. Gah! My head asplode!
That said, it was cool to see all the bits hinted at in both mini series but it seems like the ad in the front told more about why this was made…as a lead-in to a crossover with the “real” Marvel Universe. Which almost kinda defeats the “there will never be a crossover between Ultimate and Mainline Marvel U” mantra, almost. Yeesh.
I know it isn’t a #1, but I think NOVA was the book to beat this week. Sadly, it didn’t quite meet the promise of the cover (oh, we can only hope but I think Hulk will have that honor) but Richard/Nova does more to boil down the ridiculous situation of the Civil War in two pages than any amount of fan griping or, well, a million Civil War spin offs. The dialogue between Tony and Richard, in an effort to “recruit” him, was actually cool. This new Nova series is turning out to spin nicely out of the promise set by Annihilation. His scenes at home reminded me of the original Jean Grey’s visit home after becoming Phoenix. A nice touch.
Oooh…and bonus free comics, too. As predicted, he had laid out a bunch of leftovers. Sadly, the Peanuts comic wasn’t among them (I totally missed it in the FCBD piles!!).
09 May 2007 at 8:00 pm
QuoteKirkman wrote Reed very strangely in Fantastic Four: Foes as well, which has some swanky Cliff Rathburn art. Everybody needs a little Rathburn in their lives.
09 May 2007 at 8:38 pm
QuoteThe only reason Reed’s characterization didn’t bother me is because the Marvel Zombies universe has been established as being different from the 616 universe. “Colonel America” is an obvious example, but it also takes place — as we can deduce from the Runaways, Next Wave, the Scarlet Spider, and the X-Men in their Cockrum uniforms all appearing at once — in a sort of garbled timeline. Clearly things have shaken down differently in that universe, and Reed being somewhat maniacally evil might have something to do with that.
I didn’t find Countdown offensively bad, as Graeme over at Savage Critics did, but I did find it pretty damn boring.
10 May 2007 at 12:14 am
QuoteDavid,
Thanks for your kind words about INDIA AUTHENTIC #1 / GANESHA. I am the writer of the series and please do check out INDIA AUTHENTIC #2 / KALI which is a lot more action-oriented than the Ganesha story.
My goal in the Ganesha story was to tell a tale of a benevolent God and how he came to be. I hope I have succeeded in that.
Thanks again.
regards
Saurav Mohapatra
http://www.mohaps.com
10 May 2007 at 8:26 pm
QuoteI was kind of bothered by Reed’s behavior in Marvel Zombies too, but what I chalked it up to was insanity brought on by PTSD due to the loss of his children Franklin and Valeria. They were already dead by the time we first saw the FF, and I think the loss of his children created a psychotic break which led him to taking the astonishing steps he does.
14 May 2007 at 3:05 pm
Quote