Wednesday Number Ones 1/30/08
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 Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1, Captain America #34, Narcopolis #1, Project Superpowers #0, Salem #0 of 4, Spider-man With Great Power #1, Violet Rose #1 and Wormwood Calamari Rising #1.
Nick Budd Read and Thought:
Captain America #34
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Company: Marvel Comics
Three years, give or take a couple of months. Three years of continuous, interconnected plots that boiled down to their essence has had Captain America and his band of heroes on one side of the battlefield and Red Skull and his evil minions of destruction on the other. Of course there’s more to it than that: Many facets and side stories, shocking deaths and a whole bevy of twists and turns that remind us just how much fun reading comics can be. No comic can survive without these kinds of things. But really, three years? That’s a long time for a single story to run without it becoming boring or blah, or at the very least slightly tedious. That hasn’t happened though. The reason? Ed Brubaker. His scripts invite people into one heck of a story. They entertain. Sure, they’re a bit darker than they sometimes feel they should be or feel slightly different from the superhero stuff that we’re used to, but he gives people action, adventure, great characters and extremely well scripted out stories that make you want to come back to find out what happens next. That’s the case with this issue, which for some is billed as the unveiling of the new Captain America. That’s really just one of those side things that I mentioned earlier. If you’ve read the book at all over the past three years, you already know who will put on the mask and carry the shield. What is the focus of this issue is that the main story, the Red Skull versus the world story, amps up yet another notch. In that regard, Brubaker succeeds very well with a few nice surprises, and Epting does a slam bang job of creating images to go with those words. Seriously folks, if you’re not reading Captain America, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning and work your way to this point. That said, a great issue.
Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1
Writer: Keith Champagne
Artist: Tom Nguyen
Company: Dynamite Entertainment
To be completely honest, before today, I’d never even heard of Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters. Like the name suggests, the very idea of this property is a direct parody of the extremely popular TMNT franchise which oddly enough was also a parody also. The problem with ARBBH’s idea of a parody is that this book just isn’t funny, no matter how hard it tries to be. Keith Champagne’s action adventure story feels trite as its main characters, the hamsters themselves, happen to be anthropomorphic versions of famous action stars (think Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal and the like), each one spouting off their “famous” one-liners as they battle the forces of a reborn Genghis Khan. In a sense, there’s nothing memorable or original that’s brought to the table with ARBBH. The one saving grace however is Nguyen’s art, which is very nice but also feels a bit wasted. All in all, someone might find a screening of the new movie Meet the Spartans more enjoyable, which can’t be a good thing, right?
Dave Farabee Read and Thought:
Project Superpowers #0
Writer: Jim Krueger with Alex Ross
Artist: Doug Klauba & Stephen Sadowski
Company: Dynamite Entertainment
I don’t think it’s possible for creators to revisit Golden Age superheroes anymore without lensing them through a haze of gloom. Certainly, Project Superheroes doesn’t. I suspect it’ll go over well with fans of Ross and Krueger’s other projects, though, like Earth X and Justice. It’s got that same weighty, portentous approach Ross and Krueger love as it serves up a tale of an aged, patriotic-themed hero whose past sins have come back to haunt him in modern times. As usual, the pair serve up some interesting ideas, but as usual I have trouble connecting with their characters. This is also a very heavily captioned book, so it feels less like a story and more like a history lesson or a collection of writers notes. The art is quite nice, though, which is no surprise given that half the team is the talented realist, Stephen Sadowski, a veteran artist on JSA. The coloring has a certain overly-shiny gaudiness, but the net effect is still quite nice. If you’re a hardcore Golden Age geek or you like past projects from Ross and Krueger, I figure the series might be worth a gander. If not, pass on it. It’s nothing special, just one more quasi-realistic take on superheroes.
Narcopolis #1
Writer: Jamie Delano
Artist: Jeremy Rock
Company: Avatar Press
Science fiction has a long history of challenging societal norms, but too often sci-fi creators are afraid to truly challenge themselves. They just use the exaggerative possibilities of the genre to reiterate tame philosophies and common worldviews. That’s the case with Narcopolis, a very “Warren Ellis” read from Jamie Delano, the writer who launched Hellblazer. No doubt preaching to the converted, Delano spins a tale of a future city representing all the excesses of modern day America taken to sci-fi extremes. Everyone’s constantly doing drugs and encouraged to spend wildly as they bomb the world around them. The hero’s an Ellis-esque terrorist who dares to read books (gasp!) and keeps a bird named “Shithead” (presumably the answer to Spider Jerusalem’s two-headed cat). Delano’s created his own take on George Orwell’s Newspeak, but sexed it up so that all the figures of speech are porn-centric. And honestly, it’s just ridiculously tiresome. It reads as a self-congratulatory regurgitation of groundbreaking writers like Orwell and Huxley, but lacks their sophistication and humanity. I think I got more out of the Mike Judge movie Idiocracy, and Idiocracy kind of sucked.
Dan Grendell Read and Thought:
Violet Rose #1
Writer: Emma Davis
Artist: Brian Hess
Company: Bluewater Comics
I dig a good mystery. Always have, even as a kid. Back then, I was all about Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown. Violet Rose stacks up pretty favorably to my memories of them, giving me a fun main character in Violet, the girl detective with the ability to talk to objects and interesting friends, like the ghost of her grandfather and the spirit of a Renoir. Her enemies are just as funky, in the form of an ancient witch and her daughter looking to do undefined badness. This is an all-ages book, so things don’t get too dark, and the mystery isn’t too tough (honestly, I hope they get more complicated in the future, as kids are pretty smart), but it doesn’t talk down to the reader, either. Hess has a great cartooning style that just makes the art enjoyable to look at, and major credit goes to him as the colorist as well- the colors pop off the page and are simple, but brilliant. Very eye-catching. I dug the book, and if you have kids, you may consider reading it with them.
Randy Lander Read and Thought:
Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse Calamari Rising #1 of 4
Writer/Artist: Ben Templesmith
Company: IDW
Other than the one-shot released a few weeks back, I’ve never actually read Ben Templesmith’s Wormwood in single issues, just in trade. It is a little bit unsatisfying to make the transition, honestly, because while the ideas are still strong and intriguing (the moon landing opening is pretty much worth the price of admission), I now know that I’m going to have to wait a bit on the payoff. Which is a little frustrating when I’m used to the instant gratification of the whole story in one go, but the setup here is still pretty good. Templesmith dials down the humor and snark a bit and instead dials up the tension and bad omens as Wormwood, who has seen and done it all, watches someone trying to open a portal into our dimension, and, well, essentially shits his pants. Which leaves us, the reader, thinking that whatever’s going on must be really, really scary and we should probably come back for the next issue to see what it is. Not as laugh out loud or crazy as the Wormwood I’ve read previously, but interesting setup, nice bit of horror/humor tone and terrific artwork.
Salem: Queen of Thorns #0 of 5
Writers: Chris Morgan & Kevin Walsh
Artist: Wilfredo Torres
Company: Boom! Studios
Given the controversy involving Salem and it’s “witch hunter vs. real witches” pitch line, I was expecting something a little edgier. Salem: Queen of Thorns is a solid read, presenting a stoic independent adventurer with enemies amongst the fanatical witch-burning crowd and the actual demonic supernatural forces alike, but it’s also a touch predictable. The encounters with an old enemy, the religious villain whose true purposes are personal and greedy, the spirited girl sidekick, the milquetoast but well-meaning other sidekick, these are familiar players, and while the setting is new, the story hits mostly familiar beats. The artwork is a strange combination of stylistic elements of Steve Dillon and Charlie Adlard, and hits the same general level as the writing. Which is to say, Salem is well-crafted, but it’s a forgettable read, lacking any ideas, characters or even action moments to raise it to the level of something truly memorable.
David Martindale Read and Thought:
Spider-Man: With Great Power
Writer: David Lapham
Artist: Tony Harris
So… which Peter Parker do you prefer? Uber-loser Parker or jack-ass Parker? Those are your only two choices here. Seriously, the book alternates in rapid fire succession between Peter Parker being a complete ass-hat to everybody he encounters and Peter getting public wedgies and taking it. It’s really not interesting in any way. The art on the other hand is nice. Tony Harris turns in work that is on par with his recent work on Ex Machina. The extent of photo referencing might be a bit much for most, but either way, it’s pretty.
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RE: “Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1?
Thanks for reviewing the new Dynamite ARBBH book in your blog, even if you didn’t give it a rave review.
I’d love to hear more comments with constructive criticism. I hope you’ll give issue #2 a read and let me know what you think…if you like it or might be curious as to what the original source material was, maybe the old B&W ones from Eclipse Comics that I wrote might be worth a second look. You can download many of the older ARBBH issues for free on Wowio.com, too.
http://www.wowio.com/users/searchresults.asp?nGroupId=135
Sincerely,
Don Chin
Creator, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters
30 Jan 2008 at 9:23 pm
Quotedidn’t come up during my 9-5 work day to kill some time but up on wednesday nonetheless.
ooh i’m excited for new cap. don’t wanna judge the costume too much until i read it, but being completely caught up it fits bucky.
“So… which Peter Parker do you prefer? Uber-loser Parker or jack-ass Parker? Those are your only two choices here.”
that made me lol.
This probably belongs in the goldpants awards thread but oh well. I’m kinda bummed that you guys fell off y towards the end. I can agree that there were arcs that weren’t too strong around the end, but at the end I thought BK Vaughn was hitting all kinds of high notes. I’m really excited for the final ish hitting now.
30 Jan 2008 at 10:20 pm
QuoteYeah, sorry about the delay, it was a busy day today and I was the last one to get reviews in.
The final issue is all kinds of awesome, and put me right back on board the series for the end. Full review should be going up in minutes.
30 Jan 2008 at 10:55 pm
Quote“So… which Peter Parker do you prefer? Uber-loser Parker or jack-ass Parker? Those are your only two choices here.”
Nice. I’m not defending the issue (didn’t read it), but in going back and reading the first few volumes of Marvel Masterworks: Spidey, it’s interesting to note that he started off as jack-ass Parker. Was it me, or was he just completely unlikeable in the early Ditko/Lee days?
31 Jan 2008 at 9:03 am
Quote“Delano’s created his own take on George Orwell’s Newspeak, but sexed it up so that all the figures of speech are porn-centric. And honestly, it’s just ridiculously tiresome. It reads as a self-congratulatory regurgitation of groundbreaking writers like Orwell and Huxley, but lacks their sophistication and humanity.”
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve read a review that so pointedly captured my own reaction to a book. WELL DONE!
31 Jan 2008 at 12:07 pm
QuoteJust finished Cap #34 and I must say, what a fantastic book. I’m no expert on all things Captain America by any means but Brubaker’s run will go down as one of the definitive runs in the history of the book.
31 Jan 2008 at 12:48 pm
QuoteI rather enjoyed ADRBBH #1; unlike Countdown Arena, Champagne’s weirdness worked here. The characters weren’t properly introduced, but considering what happened that may be the point. In any case, I laughed quite a bit.
31 Jan 2008 at 2:21 pm
Quote34 issues all interconnected and its still going strong. Like you said, if you haven’t read Captain America from the start, go back and pick it up from #1. Its been amazing. This issue continued that excellence.
As for ARBBH, a friend of mine owned the originals (and I read them) back in the big TMNT days, so I’ll have to let him know this is out, and maybe I’ll take a look to see how it compares to the old ones.
31 Jan 2008 at 2:26 pm
QuoteEverything Marvel does to Spider-man lately seems like a mistake they could have avioded by reading more DC tHE whole “Were not restarting histroy just changing a big chunk strikes me as “Superman was never in the JLA AND wonder Woman was really Black CANERY.
On top of that a mini focased on the jerky subtext of the very first Spider-man feels like Hal JORDAN
31 Jan 2008 at 2:45 pm
QuoteMonths before Marvel Civil War, I was getting closer and closer to start picking up the Captain America trades. I easily dumped that idea when the event ramped up. So, in your opinion(s), would a reader dig the book all the way through MCW? Could I skip that trade?
31 Jan 2008 at 3:12 pm
QuoteI thought Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1 was absolutely hilarious in it’s innocent stupidity. I laughed out loud many many times throughout the issue.
I can’t wait for issue 2.
31 Jan 2008 at 3:27 pm
QuoteTim: I, personally, think the Winter Soldier story moves a little too slow for my tastes, but once the title hits the Red Menace storyline it hits all four cylinders and really starts getting great. Pick up th Civil War trade too.
31 Jan 2008 at 4:29 pm
QuoteI agree it is amazing that Cap has gone on this long with basically one story. Comic-book writers traditionally like rotating a hero’s rogue’s gallery with every single book. Brubaker and his artists have had basically one villain this entire time and it’s been consistently engaging.
That said, the Red Skull HAS to be going down pretty soon, right?
31 Jan 2008 at 5:16 pm
QuoteBrubaker’s Cap was the best CW-tied book coming out. It’s well worth reading. It’s the only CW trade I own.
31 Jan 2008 at 6:40 pm
QuoteAlthough very different tonally, I still have a soft spot for the Mark Gruenwald run in the 80s. That said, Brubaber’s run has indeed been remarkable, and I think in the future it’ll be looked back on as a classic in the vein of Frank Miller’s Daredevil or Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.
Brubaker has taken a character that no one seemed to know what to do with, and reinvigorated him and his supporting characters. The latest incarnation of Captain America has been more of an action/thriller than a superhero series, and I think it’s a great fit for the character.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how the “New Captain America” storyline plays out.
On an unrelated note, I enjoyed McDuffie’s last issue of the Fantastic Four this week, and will miss his writing on the series.
31 Jan 2008 at 8:40 pm
QuotePeter was a bit of a whiny baby in the first few issues, but he shaped up pretty quick. And you had to cut the guy some slack… his uncle was dead, the jocks picked on him like it was their second favorite sport and his aunt kept forcing wheatcakes down his throat.
Like Dan said, Brubaker’s Cap issues during Civil War were as good as the rest of the book. If you want to see how good Civil War *could* have been, reading the Cap issues is a good way to get that.
We have scary similar tastes, and this is another example. Gruenwald’s Cap is the one that is definitive for me, and pretty much always will be, but Brubaker’s is definitely a modern classic. That said…
It is, but I don’t know that he should get quite so many plaudits for reinvigorating the character. After all, his general take was to make him moody and then kill him off. No denying it’s a great book, but I’m unconvinced it’s a great *Captain America* book.
01 Feb 2008 at 12:30 am
QuoteIt is, but I don’t know that he should get quite so many plaudits for reinvigorating the character. After all, his general take was to make him moody and then kill him off. No denying it’s a great book, but I’m unconvinced it’s a great *Captain America* book.
Which begs the question: “What is a great *Captain America* book?” I don’t have the answer (maybe make him more explicitly political?), but after the dreck of several Captain America reboots in the late 90s/early 00s (and the recent “Chosen” miniseries) I’m much more enthusiatic about the current incarnation and its direction under Brubaker.
How well Bucky fairs as Cap will be very interesting; in a darker, more dangerous world (both real and fictional) the more pragmatic, complex “Bucky Cap” is probably more necessary than an idealist like Steve Rogers, a man of the 30s and 40s both psychologically and morally.
And as far as Cap being moody, well, I think he had pretty good reasons to be.
01 Feb 2008 at 1:50 am
QuoteHey everyone! Thanks for the encouraging words on the new ARBBH series from Dynamite. I’ll be sure to pass your comments onto the series writer, Keith Champagne.
In case you’re interested, here is a link to the official Hamsters forum for all the latest news and artwork on Dynamite Entertainment’s website:
http://www.dynamiteentertainment.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=23
Hamster Trails!
Don Chin
Hamsters Creator
donchincb@yahoo.com
05 Feb 2008 at 11:17 pm
Quote