Short Pants 3/03/08
What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.
This time out, Nick covers X-Men Legacy #208, Teen Titans #56, All Star Batman and Robin #9, Cable #1, and Logan #1.
Nick Budd Read and Thought:
X-Men Legacy #208
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Scott Eaton & John Romita Jr.
Company: Marvel Comics
Out of all of the X-Men “relaunches”, X-Men Legacy may in fact be the hardest one to approach. Why? Because the overall series goal is ill-defined. I’ve heard Legacy described as the wacky mind adventures of Professor Xavier, but there’s also the rumor that Rogue, Gambit and others will play a large part in the proceedings too. It seems like an odd move to take one of the core X-Men books and turn it into something so bizarre as a greatest hits title. The funny thing though, is that the book works despite the oddness. No, it’s not the balls to the wall action adventure book that X-Men is known for, it’s definitely more subdued and focused than that. There is a bit of a who’s who of 90’s X-Men characters going on in the pages of the book, but Carey still manages to deliver an opening issue that takes up right where “Messiah Complex” left off, lets readers see the fate of Charles Xavier after the sort of haphazard ending of said crossover, and gives readers who essentially only know Xavier as the bald headed leader of the X-Men, some great character history. Also, the notion that Xavier’s enemies, what is essentially left of the Marauders, still have a certain level of respect for him that don’t want to see him die is an enormously interesting concept. As for the art, Eaton does a fine job with the real world portions of the book, but Romita and Klaus Janson’s mindscape work is super swanky, as it always is, and the effect it has works so well for the story that it’s telling. All in all, this is a book that actually gives us something different from the norm. For an X-men book, a series that sometimes feels close to being played out, that’s worth the price of admission alone.
Teen Titans #56
Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Eddy Barrows
Company: DC Comics
When Sean McKeever took over the writing duties on Teen Titans, I thought that this was an extremely cool move on both his and DC’s part. McKeever writes the heck out of teenage characters, he gets the angst, the complicated relationships, and the honest humor that comes with them. Then his first few issues came out and they were the opposite of good. They were complicated and blah, so tied up in the current continuity of DC that I had to wonder if this was indeed the same writer who gave us the wondrous and thoroughly enjoyable Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. It seems that maybe he was just finding his feet, because these past two issues have been some decent stuff that feel a little closer to what I first imagined the book to be. This issue is almost a day in the life look at the character of Kid Devil. It’s simple and specific, and even though he’s a character that isn’t exactly the most interesting of the team, McKeever’s take on him as sort of the black sheep and resident screw-up of the Titans works well. He also intertwines that character one shot into the current “Terror Titans” storyline effortlessly. Eddy Barrows, one of the many guys who worked on 52, handles the art and it’s solid superhero work. There’s also some action sequences in the later part of the story that he really gets to shine. The book isn’t perfect by any means but it’s starting to come together, which is a good thing.
All Star Batman & Robin #9
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Jim Lee
Company: DC Comics
Every once in awhile, when the mood or the need for the pinnacle of absolute superhero absurdity hits me, I pick up and give the latest issue of All Star Batman and Robin a quick thumb through, mainly to count how many times “The goddamned Batman” is uttered or cackled. That said, I thought Frank Miller had gone as far as one can go with crazy, outlandish ideas for mainstay superheroes. Seems that isn’t the case, since this entire issue is devoted to basically beating the ever living snot out of Hal Jordan to within an inch of his life. Oh, and Batman isn’t the one to provide the beating either, the culprit on that front is instead his pint-sized teenage sidekick, Robin. Now, there is some ingenuity here and there, a few cool moments or ideas like painting an entire safe house (not to mention himself) yellow in order to out-think Green Lantern, but seeing Robin crush another superhero’s trachea and then kind of shrug his shoulders and say, “What?”, added to Miller’s already over the top dialogue, and the hilarity has all but disappeared and been replaced with utter, rank and file blah-ness. Jim Lee’s art is still entertaining enough. His action is eye-catching and his anatomy is as good as it’s always been. What stands out most though is the sheer amount of detail that he’s able to cram into each panel. All in all, the book definitely has a wow factor, it’s just not the good kind of wow.
Cable #1
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Company: Marvel Comics
Two parts time travel extravaganza, one part post apocalyptic suspense, all action. That broken down is what Duane Swierczynski (Moon Knight Annual) brings to the table with Cable and truthfully, it’s a heck of a lot better than expected. The story, for those unfamiliar with how things played out in “Messiah Complex”, centers around Cable and his mission to keep a baby girl who’s meant to save the world, alive and kicking. To do that, he flings himself into the timestream, trying desperately to keep one step ahead from whoever is following him. And someone is following him. Really, what’s most surprising about Cable is that Swierczynski makes the character someone who you want to read about. Most of the time in Cable/Deadpool, Cable was the boring one, the one who you hoped would die in some grotesque and inhumane way. Here though, he gets the cool moments. He’s the hardened soldier, kicking ass and taking names. It really works in favor of the book. What doesn’t work so well is the art, which is a little too posed at times and seems entirely too slick. There’s almost a video game like appearance to it too. I think Olivetti is a good artist but the painted style that he’s been using both here and in Punisher War Journal isn’t nearly as polished as some of his earlier work. Still, this is one of those times where story trumps art. Check this one out.
Logan #1 of 3
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Company: Marvel Comics
Okay, yet another comic starring the omnipresent, god-like mutant, Wolverine. Insert yawn HERE. Wait a second…Brian Vaughan and Eduardo Risso? On a Wolverine book? Could this be something that is actually worth reading? Hands down, yes, this is a book that kicks you swiftly in the gut and reminds you why Wolverine was and still is one of the most interesting characters in comics. In many ways it reminds me of when Chris Claremont and Frank Miller were working on the character, because back then he wasn’t just this one dimensional killing machine like he’s sometimes played up as these days, he was actually a character that had other things going for him. He was layered and utterly cool. Vaughan seems to have captured that notion and put it back into practice as he forms a two pronged story that takes readers on a trip into Wolverine’s past that leads to not only present day Japan, but the Japan of yesterday, circa World War 2. Another big draw for this book is Risso’s artwork. He regularly kicks it up like nobody’s business in the cult favorite 100 Bullets and a host of other books, but with Logan, there is some truly outstanding work to be found. His backgrounds, especially the snow covered surroundings of Japan, are all drop dead gorgeous and immersive, but he also gives each person that he draws a real sense of character and feel too. This was a surprising book, one any Wolverine fan should snag.
Cable #1 & Logan #1 are advance reviews. Both issues hit comic stands Wednesday 3/5/08.
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The best part about ASBAR #9 is that after painting the safehouse yellow, he goes to the trouble to make Lemonade just because he can. It’s not a weapon or necessary in any way, he just wants to taunt him.
03 Mar 2008 at 5:29 am
QuoteNever knew that Miller wrote Wolverine. Are those issues traded? Would love to check those out
03 Mar 2008 at 7:28 am
QuoteActually, he didn’t write Wolverine. He and Chris Claremont worked on the four part mini that was collected by Marvel within the past year or so, but for some reason when writing that sentence, my brain omitted Claremont’s involvement entirely. Not sure how that happened but I’m glad you pointed it out.
03 Mar 2008 at 7:44 am
QuoteAh, damnit. I was looking forward to finding some early Miller work I hadn’t read before too!
I know the Claremont/Miller series well, in fact, now that you mention it, I think I’ll seek out out my trade and read it now
03 Mar 2008 at 8:37 am
QuoteWhy is it surprising that a BKV/Risso Wolverine would be good? I’d think that anything those two put together would have a reasonably decent shot at being good.
03 Mar 2008 at 9:51 am
QuoteI’ve been looking forward to “Logan” since it was first announced what seems like eons ago. Vaughn + Risso + Wolverine warrants at least a look, and the preview art I’ve seen is beautiful. Is it true that Marvel is releasing two versions of this book — one in color, and one in black and white? I actually prefer Risso’s work in black and white, but I’d buy both versions in a heartbeat.
03 Mar 2008 at 9:54 am
QuoteI think what Nick was getting at is that he was surprised to be enjoying a Wolverine story, let face it, he was a great character once but he’s been overexposed, played out and “kewlified” to the point of being a caricature of the character he once was. Apparently Vaughan and Risso have risen to occasion and shown that the runt still has plenty of play left in him.
I for one would have passed on this but after reading the review I’ll be looking to pick it up. Is it out yet?
03 Mar 2008 at 10:24 am
QuoteWith this book and the upcoming Wolverine: First Class, it seems apparent that many at Marvel feel that Wolverine in current continuity has been hopelessly assed up and the only way to write an appealing story about him is to set it in the past (and not in the way that the unreadable Wolverine:Origins does it).
Honestly, it’s Wolverine who needs a “Brand New Day” reboot, not Spider-Man. Marvel, please bring back the real Logan, or at least continue to employ creators that know how to write him to work on mini-series, one shots and such.
They screwed up big time when they decided to remove the mystery aspect to the character. I don’t know about anyone else, but aside from the occasional story set in the past, I have no interest in knowing every single little piece of trivia about every second of his life.
I think the next storyline of Wolverine: Origins reveals never-before-seen details regarding Logan’s earliest bowel movements. And it’s going to take 6 issues to tell that.
Actually, now that I think about it, Steve Dillon’s rendition of Logan with constipation might be pretty funny.
03 Mar 2008 at 10:27 am
QuoteMy biggest gripe with Wolverine isn’t the lack of mystery, but the decision to finally say, “Yep. He’s immortal.”
03 Mar 2008 at 10:45 am
QuoteWolver-who? Oh yeah, that guy. I still have my original run of the Claremont/Miller Wolverine series and it still reads quite nicely. I think folks think it is Miller writing it because it reads a LOT like Miller’s work with Daredevil just prior to it (and of course the look is exactly the same, as well). It was a great pairing. I am looking forward to the Logan series. Glad it was reviewed well on here but BKV is pretty much a guaranteed impulse buy if I see his name on something. Sadly, I used to do the same thing with fellow Cleveland-native Bendis but it is kind of the opposite now. I hope BKV stays cool but not so cool that Marvel throws every big book his way.
I do agree that Wolverine needs a Brand New Day style reboot but that can be simply done by everyone agreeing to start writing him well. For all the bloat and bluster of the Whedon run on Astonishing X-Men, he did his best job capturing the fun of Wolverine while not overusing him. More of that type of interpretation would be great.
03 Mar 2008 at 12:23 pm
QuoteWolverine works best when he’s used sparingly, and doesn’t appear in a dozen books per month.
And Daniel Way’s Wolverine Origins is tedious, decompressed, boring rubbish. Steve Dillon deserves work on a better series.
03 Mar 2008 at 12:55 pm
QuoteI REALLY like Wolverine and have the following thougts
1. He worked BETTER as the only killer good guy
2, He says he’s a loner let him BE A loner. Always remember Wolverine may have good intentions but by his nature he’s unpleasent and Anti-socal. Much more so than Punisher. Punisher as a marine would have bonded with other Marines. Wolverine was called “WEAPON X” they more than likely kept him in a crate and said “kill 10 nazis and you get a cigar.”
3. Baring the above in mind getting rid of the mystery angle works for me. Just becuse Logan has a bad memory does’nt mean nobody rembers him. Yep Way’s bad but a series about Wolverine’s past GOOD. Still waiting on the Wolverine TERROR INC bACKSTORY
03 Mar 2008 at 2:11 pm
QuoteI’m a big Wolverine fan also. Of course, he’s not overrated or overexposed if you occasionally read his solo title, pick up Astonishing X-Men when it comes out every 6 months, and those are the only books you buy that feature him.
03 Mar 2008 at 8:18 pm
Quotethe only Astounding X-men I ever bought had a long fight between Cyclops and Wolverine Cyclops did not kick Wolverine off the team, Wolverine did kill Cycolps. So I felt like it was just there. Turn me off
03 Mar 2008 at 8:39 pm
QuoteI’m not reading ASBAR. I picked up the first two issues and was shaking my head and then issue seven and it was crap. Obviously not the Batman I wanna read and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I’m just curious about this. Do any of you feel that you’ll always remember Frank Miller for ASBAR(since I feel most on here hate or dislike it more opposed to those who do) or for Year One/DKR(two obvious Batman classics)?
Personally as much as I dislike ASBAR I think you have to remember him for Year One/DKR because he made Batman who he is today. Would just love to hear some input. Especially if you feel you’ll remember him for ASBAR(or even DK2 for that matter).
03 Mar 2008 at 11:38 pm
QuoteI’ll remember Miller for Daredevil and Dark Knight Returns and early Sin more than stuff like DK2, which I actually kinda liked the first issue of, before I was left scratching my head by the rest, or All Star Batman. Don’t mean I won’t bitch about the latter two though.
04 Mar 2008 at 12:08 am
QuoteFirst and foremost, I’ll always remember Miller’s Daredevil before anything. There were so many firsts in that run, so many places we hadn’t really seen in comics before, and more importantly, the stories he came up with were damn cool. Also, his art was just hardcore there too.
But yeah, I’ll agree with Gray that Year One and Dark Knight and Sin City (The Hard Goodbye, for me personally) and 300 will certainly be what he’s remembered for in the long run. Those are all near perfect things, and when you write the BEST Batman story (Year One), you’ve sort of solidified your standing in comicdom.
04 Mar 2008 at 12:41 am
QuoteMiller will always be remembered for his classics. As Nick and GP said, I really can’t say more about those books than what has already been said before.
I have heard a really intersting take on ASB&R. It’s been said that Miller is writing a parody of himself. An extreme take on the style he invented as a way of showing how his style has been ran into the ground by writers half as good as him. I am not sure if this is true (as DK2 was wank) but if it is, it would surely be at the most, pretentious and humorous and at the least, arrogant and wasteful.
I do have to say, for some strange reason, ASB&R is one of the first books I read on my pull list the week it comes out. I guess it’s my guilty pleasure. I don’t know what it is, probably because it’s so absurd. It’s so bad its good.
My only real gripe with the book is that Miller’s writing is almost like a big F-You to the DC universe. Like he personally holds contempt for all the characters he’s writing. If this is the way he feels, he should turn to Hollywood and not look back and leave comics alone.
04 Mar 2008 at 3:17 am
QuoteI Loved Darkight.
You know what though? I think Bulseye vs electktra was more intreresting for what pepole said ABOUT it than what was IN the story. People always write about like the whole story bulit to a big fight. That’s not what’s IN the story. Bullseye basicly stumbles on to her.
Now MILLER’s hulk Story in DD THAT’S INTESTING. Why the Hell would Bruce BANNER drink coffee before getting on a crosstown bus? Did he WANT to Hulk out?
04 Mar 2008 at 3:08 pm
QuoteHas Miller ever done any solo Punisher stories? If he has I can’t remember them. For some reason I think he would write a great Punisher. Though I’m not sure what the odds are of him working for Marvel again.
04 Mar 2008 at 3:42 pm
QuoteJust to let you know, Frank Miller won another term in the race for Cuyahoga County Coroner today in Ohio.
http://coroner.cuyahogacounty.us/bio/bio.htm
Just thought you needed to know that.
Speaking of Wolverine and why I won’t read Bendis any more (okay, one of many reasons) but why did Wolverine join the Avengers? Other than the cynical cash value to Marvel, of course.
04 Mar 2008 at 9:23 pm
QuoteI don’t think it’s as clean as that. I mean, I’ll always remember that Miller breathed life into Daredevil, DKR and Year One. But I’ll also remember that around about 300 or just after, he started slowly turning into self-parody until everything he wrote was just awful trash.
It’s the same thing that happened to Chris Claremont, or Roger Stern, or any of the other greats of the ’80s who were my favorites. They went from “These guys defined comics to me” to “Oh my God, why are they giving these guys another book now?”
It’s a shame that the comics industry doesn’t provide a good retirement package, because I’d generally rather not see guys whose work I adored turning in shitty, hackneyed work as their careers extend, causing me to look back at their previous work and see the flaws that are magnified in their current work already beginning to show through in their past work.
To give a specific example, Claremont’s dialogue these days is painful and awful. Reading it, though, I started to realize that some of his annoying catchphrase-speak was present even in those classic issues with Byrne, and so I suddenly saw a flaw in comics I had seen as damn near perfect. Same thing happened with Miller and Sin City/DK2/ASBAR. I started to see that his hard-boiled dialogue had always bordered on parody, but it was new and fresh and so it didn’t bug me.
Similar thing happened with Bendis and Millar, actually. The fresh elements I liked in their work suddenly became their only tricks, and the flaws, like bad pacing (in Bendis’s case) or shock value over decent character development or plots that made sense (in Millar’s case), were always there.
Was that a weird tangent? Felt kinda like a weird tangent.
Anyway, Cable was surprisingly good, and I say this as someone who has never been a huge Cable fan. I also think Olivetti’s over-the-top cartoony art was a huge mistake, and given Swierchynisk… Swerrcynsk… Swiercet… aw, hell, Duane’s more hard-boiled script, someone in a more realistic, gritty vein would have been better. Hell, if you’d had Igor Kordey on this book, I would have been in heaven. But that last page (and it’s freakishly gonzo looking bionic arm) was laugh-worthy, not really the cliffhanger vibe they were going for, and it’s all down to the art.
05 Mar 2008 at 12:55 am
QuoteGlad to hear ‘Logan’ got good raps. As long as Risso is scheduled to finish 100 Bullets I haven’t minded seeing him elsewhere. The Spirit #13 short story was just OK for me and I shared the general feeling of this site that perhaps Risso would be wasted on this book. Glad that doesn’t seem the case and I’m down for the issues now.
Also, Nick, along with your recent shout-outs in favour of Ex Machina, reading the Masquerade Special with Jean Paul Leon’s artwork got me to pick it back up. I had stopped with #31, the first of the meeting the Pope issues. Looking forward to completing the series now, with whatever issues remain, and particularly with YTLM gone.
05 Mar 2008 at 2:34 am
QuoteRandy, that wasn’t a tangent but a great segue into a podcast about fallen writers. I feel the same way about all the folks you noted, in particular Claremont and Bendis (both who a) defined comics at a time I got into or, in the case of Bendis, got back into it and b) had the biggest drop in quality over time). At least with Claremont it happened over many years whereas with Bendis it is clearly meteoric rise and nearly as quick fall. I hope HOPE that BKV avoids that trap.
For every hackneyed old writer, though, some still “have it.” Keith Giffen had a career high turning out the Annihilation comics last year and continues to write fun or at worst solid comics. Ostrander still has it most of the time (I hear his Star Wars books are hit or miss but I love the Suicide Squad’s return). Waid hasn’t been around forever but long enough to have gone through a fall and return to grace plenty of times. Busiek’s an older hand and still makes compelling books like his run on Conan or his own Astro City.
Still, I think you have a good podcast topic with this one.
05 Mar 2008 at 6:48 am
Quotefil -
Busiek’s run on Conan was just about flawless, really. Truman’s not doing so bad, either.
05 Mar 2008 at 3:59 pm
QuoteWow! Solid reviews for Cable, Logan, and X-Men Legacy. It really is a good time to be an X-Fan again.
05 Mar 2008 at 8:26 pm
QuoteAgreed about Busiek’s run. I haven’t read Truman, yet. A friend of mine collects this so I wait a while and he gives me a stack of them. I don’t think I even finished the Busiek run but what I did was one of the best combinations of great writing and art. In fact I know I am not finished because I didn’t even get to the short Mignola run (which I also hear was fun).
06 Mar 2008 at 8:14 am
QuoteDid anyone happen to read the latest Uncanny X-Men? Two flaws jumped out at me. One of them was a minor thing - Cyclops didn’t seem to know what a Celestial was. And how is that, exactly? Hasn’t he encountered them *multiple* times in the Walt Simonson days of X-Factor??
And due to the constant delays of ‘Astonishing X-Men’, there was an entire conversation in Uncanny that unloaded MAJOR spoilers before the events have even happened in Astonishing!
06 Mar 2008 at 10:35 am
Quote