Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Random Review Corner

Grendel was one of those comics I'd heard a buzz about before getting anywhere near it. Unless I dig a back issue out to correct myself, I don't think I really started reading it until the 30 odd issue run, when Hunter Rose was long gone.

Other titles like Mage and Whisper also seemed to have that start-stop-start approach to the story, as if fighting against the publishing axe.

I'm quite glad of that too, as it was much more polished by that point. The original story was something different, and showed good design and lots of other good points, but there was still room for improvement. I'll dig out a couple of issue when I'm off and post.

I only read, like, one issue of Grendel (way back in the day when it was shiny and new), and it didn't seem like my cup of tea.

Mage, on the other hand, was pretty amazing. At least the first run, dealing with the Styx casino and the creepy evil boss and his five creepy sons. Edsel was an amazingly fun character.

Around that time, IIRC (my memory of dates is all a jumble...), I was reading a lot of independent stuff, Comico (the Elementals, Justice Machine) and whoever did Southern Knights and Aircel (Warlock 5, Dragonring/Dragonforce). Such wild and weird stuff, not at all like the later Image formula of creating teams of not-really-Avengers (Youngblood, Stormwatch) and not-really-X-Men (WildCATs, Cyberforce) and solo characters that were not-really-Ghost-Rider (Spawn) and not-really-Punisher (Deathblow).

Capsule Comment Corner


Dark Horse Abe Sapien 16
While the Walking Dead has the twin horrors of humanity and the zombies, The Hellboy titles have all manner of threats. Abe encounters a few of these as he continues trying to find his connection to the terrible events that have overtaken the world. Working at a different level from the global disasters in BPRD, there's more time for character development here. This issue give Abe an idea of what may have transformed him, but serves mainly to introduce some supporting cast. The book has a Night of the Living dead/ Walking Dead tone in places. 3.5

Image Astro City 15
The story of a strong, human character who rises above hardship, obstacles and people in a world of super heroes and demented villains. Better yet, you can see that age and experience has changed her over the years, creating an excellent well rounded character. Astro City is often at it's best when the heroes are a backdrop to what goes on in the lives of the people they fight above. This is one of those issues. 4.5

Marvel Avengers 34.1
Adding some realism to Superman is something we've seen frequently down the years. As a result we get a variety of overmen or disasters. The Avengers Superman analogue, Hyperion, is the focus of this issue. He's not of this Earth. He's not of this Universe. He does indeed fail to connect with anything and everyone around him. But the difference here is you see why that is the case, by looking at the world through his eyes. Ultimately, does Hyperion escape one fate only to fall into another? 5.25

Boom! Black Market 3
As Astro City looks at the human side of DC, Black Market looks at a facet of the world of Powers. Here's it's a mart man out of his depth in a world of corruption and superpowers. It's a story with plenty of twists as plans are made and fail only to uncover a wider scope. A good read considering that I picked it up because of the Groge Perez ad on the back. 4

Image Copperhead 1
A western in space, that reminded me spots of DC's Twilight. As grim as Copperhead tries to be, it's quite optimistic by comparison. The opening scene plays off standard Western tropes nicely. There's also some police work in this sci fi Western setting and the cast is kept small enough to give everyone an interesting introduction. 3.5

Dark Horse Dark Ages 2 It's written by Dan Abnett. The art here doesn’t quite pull of what should be a particularly terrifying ordeal for the characters, although it's certainly gory in places. The cast are trapped and terrified, but there's no sense of claustrophobia to add to their tensions. As it's more of an action piece, the plot moves along steadily towards it's cliffhanger, without being inspiring. 3.25

Image East of West 15 A title with3 page chapter breaks in it that the readers pays for, and the shuffling of some archetypes. It must be a Hickman comic. Another telltale is a plot on an epic scale, with a touch of sci fi about it. There's a nice twist involving trust towards the end, that gives the book some interest. I get the feeling this is possibly better as a trade. 3.75

Image Invincible 114
The plot never stands still for long with this book. Difficult decisions on a large scale are regular occurrences but at the heart of it is the relationships between the central cast. Consistently towards the top of a pull list. 5.25

DC Justice League: Future's End 1
Poor Captain Atom. It seems no one can separate him form Doctor Manhattan anymore. I suppose we should be grateful that Wildfire hasn’t gone the same way. He and Dawny are reunited this issue. Aprat form Drake firing a few blasts and being dissipated by the villain he doesn't add much by his arrival. Dawny does as little as last issue, but gets fewer speech balloons this time round. It's a run of the mill conclusion, with J'Onzz adding some poignancy as well as a nod to the solution of an old JLI issue. 3.25

Image Lazarus 11
Lark's art is still really excellent and here he's drawing people in combat armour. I was concerned that the story would revolve too much around the central character. I can live without another invulnerable, immortal and writer's favourite super assassin. This stays far enough away from that to maintain interest. Having numerous competing factions vying for power certainly helps. The characters seem to have independent goals beyond those of their immediate family so there's a number of subplots going on too. 4.25

Image Morning Glories 40 The school scenes were decent enough, but it jarred when parents became teachers and it descended into an issue of New Scientist that had been read several times before. 3.25

Marvel: Icon Powers: The Bureau 11
I've missed a few of these, but the characters still seem unable to say "What" at the start of any sentence. Everything is still "The hell" and "Th f***" It's like being stuck on a particularly sad DC universe where everyone has not only the same voice, but the same speech impediment. Each character having the same personality full of witty put downs used to be bearable when the plot was good. Here, I'm seeing parallels with The Boys as the book goes through variations of other comic books. Walker is now a Green Lantern and the pair are investigating the deaths of the New Warriors. It's sad to see the book having declined so much. The cliff hanger ending is decent, though the book loses more points via a clichéd deathbed confession. 3.25

Dark Horse Prometheus: Fire and Stone 1
This mini series follows up on the events of Prometheus. As poor as the film turned out to be, it's still in the Aliens universe (sort of) and so there's always (Hadley's) hope. There are a number of links not only between Prometheus but to the Aliens film too. Any thoughts about the wider continuity become a complete mess, so it's best to take the book on it's own merits. We get a fairly large cast of some standard characters (all the more for the Aliens to chase presumably), with one or two personality quirks looking to explore what is celarly a pretty hostile looking environment. That they don't change tactics after the first sign of how hostile it is, will probably doom nearly all of them. 3

Image Walking Dead, The 131
A number of lovely, lighter moments but still adding in a couple of tense cliffhangers, a mystery and touching on last issue's revelation. Back towards its best. 5.5

Boom! Wild's End 1
The War of the World's visits the Wind in the Willows. An anthropomorphic cast receive their first warnings concerning something from another world. The characters are strong, without reliance on their animal appearance. The story is not slavish to the War of the Worlds, but takes a different route, which is to it's benefit. 4.5

Dark Horse B.P.R.D. 123
A sort of Godzilla theme to this issue that, in a comic world plagued by giant monsters every month, was only a matter of time. As usual in BPRD, there's a little more to it than just the monsters. But the issue did have a fill in sort of feel to it, if in a decent way. 3.5

Dark Horse Groo v Conan 2
One concern with Groo in recent years is that occasionally the moral of the tale is a bit to prominent. Here, they've done it differently with cartoon Sergio & Mark involved in a parallel plot to the one facing Groo and Conan. Groo characters are drawn in Groo's style, while the Conan cast have their own artwork, and it meshes surprisingly very well. But did the witness to the titular fight really see what he though he saw? 4.5

Annihilator #1 (From Legendary)-- Morrison and Fraser Irving craft an interesting tale about a screen writer trying to get a sophomore effort out and prove his debut was no fluke. The Annihilator of the title refers to the Blank Hole at the centre of the galaxy that destroys everything pulled into it (including time, light, etc.). The main character of the screenplay is imprisoned in a haunted space station orbiting the Annihilator. To facilitate writing it, the author moves into a haunted L.A. mansion. The parallel stories quickly unravel. Is the script mimicking the screenwriter's life or is it the other way around? Is the house haunted? Is the screenplay? As the stories continue, the barriers between the screenplay and reality breakdown, leading to interesting questions and developments.

Irving's art is awesome, and particularly suited for the story. Morrison is on his game here and plays with both narratives superbly, setting up what should be an interesting encounter next issue.

Thoth, I totally love your multi review! It's awesome to see a snapshot of what you're reading and get some insight on each one.

You crystallized something I've been feeling for awhile: I think I need to read Eaat of West in trades. I like it, and I love the art. But on a monthly basis, I'm losing myself issue to issue and it's causing me to miss a littl something. I think I may have to shift.

Also, dead on about Powers. I abandoned ship ultimately. I just had lost all enjoyment of a series I used to look forward to so much.

Please review as much as you can! Your tastes as diverse and brings something very fresh to Gym'lls!

thoth, what's your rating scale? I thought __ out of 5, but some of yours go above 5 so....?

Otherwise, keep it up! Looks like you buy lots of comics--an increasing rarity for any poster here!

Thanks. It's just a quick gut reaction (complete with spelling errors) just after the last page is turned.



It's something I see more and more of. For comics that are written in such clearly defined arcs, particularly those with a reasonable amount of detail, I think they're better off as trades.

A parallel would be a number of European comics. With the odd exception I read these in trades and the experience is better for it. You get a complete story and world where you can immerse yourself in the detail. There's not that monthly disconnect as you start/stop to get back into the work.

Then there are the comics that have an eye on being films. Since they're not written as Republic series, would you go to the movies once a month for 10 minutes of a film? I don't see much of that.

An issue is that without the support of floppy sales, what would the trade market look like?

In Hickman's case, the only way I'm paying for blank pages around a chapter is in a trade. That's just taking the ***** It was even more annoying in the Avengers.



Such a disappointment.



A decent, average "Well, that was okay" comic will come in at 3.5. It's not out of five, but the majority will fall between 3-6.



Ta. That was me dealing with comic withdrawal symptoms. I haven't bought many new ones in ages, so I was catching up on months and months of reads. I still have a small pile to go through. But it's the other posts here that have pushed me out into trying a few titles again, so thanks very much for that.

Borrowing a bit from Thoth's recent post, and especially since I can't post in the Mice Templar thread since I checked and the last 3 were from me (dammit Pov!)...

Mice Templar continues to be superb and a beacon of excellence in comics. It's marching towards a conclusion now and the creators are not letting us down--tons of action, big heroic moments, and the huge cast all having little moments. Issue #12 got a lot of press because it had a unique format depicting the evolution of a battlefield in the middle of war and it was really brilliant--very stunning from start to finish. I believe the series wraps at #16? Or at least the main plot, as there is so much groundwork laid that there could be dozens of smaller stories hereafter.

I'm enjoying Kirkman's Outcast quite a bit. He has really honed his craft over the years, and he and artist Paul Azceveta, along with colorist Bettie Brettweiser, are doing a fantastic job in how they're telling the story--making it moody and dark, with a slow burning uneasiness. Kirkman talks about the usage of inset panels in the letters page of the most recent issue, and he's right that it does a good job at capturing the little emotional moments.

I'm enjoying the craziness of Stray Bullets as well, as I long ago accepted the odd genius of David Lapham, and all the weirdness that comes with it. Since the series restarted, each issue has been off the wall and enjoyable on its own though the larger tapestry is still at play. I really have to get all the trades of the first series, as I've only ever read the first several. The series just feels dangerous, and I mean that in a good way while also in a nerve-wracking way.

SIRENS by George Perez, published by BOOM!

Considering how many Perez fans are on this site, I'm more than a bit surprised at the complete lack of buzz for his new writer/artist project, Sirens. I'll admit that my own Perez fandom peaked a long time ago, but he's talented enough and nice enough as a person that I decided to give the first issue a fair chance.

What we seem to have here is a mish-mash of space opera and fantasy, starring an all-female team.

First, the art: Perez, like so many artists who made their name with tons of precise detail, no longer has the precision that he used to. I think it would be better if he found someone else to ink his pencils.

Now, the story -- Perez seems to have been inspired by Grant Morrison's recent work, not necessarily a bad thing, but his script just barely manages to avoid the pitfalls of emulating Morrison. Coherent, it is not. As near as I can figure out, the Sirens were disbanded years ago and sent to different eras of time with their memories wiped out. They are reunited in order to battle an alien menace determined to destroy Earth. In the last panel, the villains appear to succeed. Good cliffhanger, I've gotta give Perez that. Good enough to get me to check out the next issue, due in two months.

I came close to buying--actually had it in my hands--but held off until I read some reviews and heard from people what they thought. I love Perez...but do I love his recent work enough to try completely blind? Apparently not.

I'm still not sure but am thankful for the review Fanfie. I'll see what your thoughts are on the 2nd issue and that might help me decide. The idea of Perez doing something more like Morrison is not something I find thrilling, since a lot of the time Morrison being Morrison feels a bit flat.

You're very welcome, Cobie.

I think issue #2 is going to be a make or break.

I should have also said you hit the nail on the head: Perez could use a top notch inker. Just like Byrne and a lot of others. There's no shame in it, and all the great used them including themselves in their younger years.

Thanks, Cobie.

I'd love to see Perez inked by, say, Joe Prado or Oclair Albert. Unless, of course, they're DC exclusive.

Capsule Comic Comments:

Dark Horse Aliens: Fire & Stone 1
Following the Aliens movie, there have been lots of scenarios to get handfuls of survivors away from Hadley's Hope. While some were similar to this issue, it does have the benefit of adding in the ideas from Prometheus too.

There's no sense of dread or claustrophobia reading about our chosen central characters escaping. There's no suspense in the appearance of the aliens. They appear fully formed, hunting in packs. The survivors are in decent shape at the exodus too before they are overrun.

There's an immersion breaking dumb decision by one of the characters that puts everyone at further risk. Dark Horse look to be trying to build a cohesive Alien/Prometheus universe. Let's hope it works out better than last time, where they renamed characters in the later trades. 3

Image: Chew 43
While I'm not a great fan of overpowered characters, you know that Olive may be getting set up for a fall. Beyond that, there's a fair amount of fun from most of the panels. Extra points for not having to use the dreaded cybernetic chicken in the cake bust. 5.25

Image: C.O.W.L. 5
Somewhere after WWII superheroes got unionised. Perhaps it was to throw off the tag of "vigilante" to law enforcement agencies. Perhaps it was related to the '50 communist with hunts. Beats me. I haven’t read issues 1-4. Here we are in the early 1960s. The superhero union COWL has gone on strike, and the story relates to COWL's positioning following an event at the end of the last issue.

Every character in the book is not only morally grey, but practically compromised. Trust is nowhere to be seen between the main characters as allegiances become more apparent. 3.75

Boom!: Sirens 1
Having George Perez art, this was always getting bought. But the art shouldn’t distract from the well directed scene shifts across much of the issue, each building something of the background to the titular group.

We delve into the lives of each of the main characters. There's swords, sorcery, westerns, domestic drama and sci-fi all here.

From the transitions between single characters, the scope of the book suddenly expands across all time and space. In an industry where a simple story can take several issues, there's almost too much going on here. But I quite like not knowing how everything quite fits in.

The books hangs on by it's fingernails from the pace of the change, before settling back down for the issue's climactic confrontation. The group's leader seems to have endured an utterly horrible time, and there are other uncomfortable situations lived in by the main cast. But there are strong lead characters in there and Perez has gone to some length to make each have depth. It's satisfying when at least some of the bad guys get their comeuppance.

While the art isn't Perez at his peak, possibly due to recent events, it's still lovely and full of detail. 5


Dark Horse: Grendel vs The Shadow 1
A clunky narrative introduces us to a macguffin. We get a reminder of how corrupt Hunter Rose is and then he's transported to the world of the Shadow. He celebrates this by jumping off a roof in the way that Image artists would draw.

As Rose presumably calls for an ambulance for his broken legs, we see Lamont Cranston explain his alias to Margo Lane who must get sick of having something she already knows explained so simply to her all the time. The book picks up from there as the two anti heroes make their presence known to each other through a series of brutal encounters with 5 mafia families, all looking to be top parasites in the city.

We end with the two central characters meeting, for some further fights/team ups. Wagner's art is nice, but on this showing time has overtaken it's flare. 3.5

Abstract Studio: Rachel Rising 28
There's a moment of doubt on the first page. Is this going to be a slightly ponderous issue. But no, that first section becomes part of a solid framing sequence. In between we get a mix of horror hand in glove with humour. Warm, often understated, humour has been a strong undercurrent in so many of Moore's books and helps make his characters human.

Mixed with the matter of fact death seen in this issue makes the contrast very interesting. In terms of plot, it's a slow burn but the revelation towards the end should certainly get one of the characters planning ahead. 5.5


Image: Savage Dragon 198
This is a title that I've picked up far more off than on, and never more than a couple of issues at a time. But the longer it goes on, the more of it develops it's world and characters. As it also wears its love for old comics on its sleeve, it's also an easy title to drop into. We see a little unconvincing pre high school dialogue before a flash forward to Dragon's crime fighting son tackling a plethora (I'm sure it was a plethora) of underworld creatures. If all of the creatures from Marvel monster comics live in the same world, this would be it. And it gets worse for Malcolm from there. There's also a fun parent/dating subplot. 3.5


El Capitan: Stray Bullets: Killers 7
Well, that escalated quickly. I read Stray Bullets out of sequence, so being away for a few months from Killers feels almost normal. A building relationship, a conversation and a quick visit to an old friend becomes something else entirely and a lot changes before the end of the issue. A number of other things only looked to have changed, but underneath they're always there. 6

Dark Horse: Witchfinder: Mysteries of Unland 4
You know you've taken the wrong cab when you're driver has horrid eels for intestines. The Witchfinder has some Innsmouth overtones in this issue. The local dialect, used throughout, and the strong characters add texture to a traditional story of cults and retribution. There's also a harrowing flashback with tragic consequences for all involved. 4.25

Miracleman 10 is also out there, which is well worth getting.

In my opinion, there is definitely too much going on. And I didn't enjoy that. Then, too, I've never felt Perez to be as good a writer as he is an artist (I find his Wonder Woman run very overrated. I far prefer Phil Jimenez's run.)



I find the linework too cobwebby for my taste.

What recent events are you referring to, Thoth? I know he's had a lot of health problems over the years, but have they gotten more severe recently?

He's had eye problems related to diabetic retinopathy and recently had surgery for it.

I don't think I lasted terribly long on Wonder Woman when Perez stepped back into writing duties. But I enjoyed the first couple of years. I did pick up around the start of the Jimenez run, but lasted a lot less on that one.



Not terribly recent, but in 2013 he underwent surgery for diabetic retinopathy (why yes, I did look the term up )

And while I looked the term up... sniped. Ironically from someone whose avatar has an eyepatch

Thanks, guys.

Yeah, losing his pencils really seemed to take the life out of the series because I was really loving it before George stepped down from art. I don't know if that's an indictment of George's art covering up his writing flaws or if George just lost interest when he cut back on his duties. But I honestly felt the story was first-rate at the beginning. I'll just have to re-read it one of these days and reassess.

I can state unequivocally, though, that I was off his Nu52 Action Comics run after 2 or 3 issues. George didn't stay around long at all, saying the editorial control was too oppressive and inconsistent. As we've had many instances since then, I tend to believe him.

So, to me, the jury's out. We need to see him write and not draw something he's passionate about with little or no editorial constraint to see if he's really got writing talent, I guess!

The main thing I didn't like about Perez's WW run was the portrayal of Diana as an earnest, unworldly innocent. It just didn't feel right to me. I also didn't like were-cat Cheetah, that was too creepy for me. Not everything that I disliked can be blamed on Perez, though. The fiasco that was the War of the Gods event had more to do with editorial incompetence (take a bow, Tom Peyer) than with Perez over-committing himself to too many projects at once.

Hey, I just had a brainstorm. Jerry Ordway could ink Perez! He's done it before, and always beautifully. And after all, Ordway hasn't minced words over the lack of work coming his way.

STAR WARS: A LONG TIME AGO, VOLUME 7

(Collecting Star Wars v.1 #96-107, originally published 1985-1986)

As I said in another thread, it may seem strange of me to start reading the original Star Wars comic in reverse. But I feel I have a good reason, or rather, three of them: most of these issues are written by Jo Duffy, penciled by Cynthia Martin, and edited by Ann Nocenti. For a mainstream comic book to have had that much Girl Power behind it almost 30 years ago was unprecedented.

I've long been a fan of Jo Duffy, particularly her late 70s/early 80s run on Power Man & Iron Fist. Cynthia Martin was, along with Colleen Doran, among the first female comic book artists who excelled at both characterization and action, paving the way for the modern likes of Nicola Scott and Emanuela Luppachino. Martin had a crisp, economical style reminiscent of Paul Smith, yet entirely her own. And Ann Nocenti was both a fine editor (she edited my favorite Marvel Mutant comic of all time, New Mutants Annual #2) and a fine writer.

This volume gets off to a spectacular start with a silent battle between Luke and the deadly female warrior Lumiya, does a nice side trip with a Han-centric fill-in by the team supreme of Archie Goodwin & Al Williamson, and peaks with the astonishing issue #100, an all-out battle on more than one front, worthy of its own movie.

The next six issues are not quite as strong, as they mostly seem to mark time before Duffy wraps everything up with a strong final issue.

I would recommend this collection to any Star Wars fan. The Marvel Star Wars was not as complex or sophisticated as the Dark Horse Star Wars, but it holds up better than expected.

As a blossoming comic book reader, Marvel's Star Wars comic was one of the medium's earliest attractions for me. It was definitely a gateway drug for me, if you will. I had two versions of the collected movie (New Hope) adaptation, and read them so much that both pretty much crumbled into nothing.

I picked up the ongoing off and on thru the Return of the Jedi adaptation and probably slightly beyond, but I never bought any of the issues in the trade you reviewed. I remember seeing house ads for Duffy and Martin's era and later opening up and looking thru the final issue. I remember Martin's Chewie and that he didn't seem to look quite right.

I'm sure at some point, I'll probably get to the point in my current obsession with rediscovering the comics of my childhood where I'm gonna have to buy those Marvel Star Wars collections. I remember a lot of those stories fondly. Even if they were often a little off in tone, continuity and character to the property, there's no denying it was inventive and fun. I mean, as kid a frickin' LOVED that oft-referenced and made-fun-of direct New Hope follow-up featuring Han's version of the Magnificent Seven--complete with the gigantic green rabbit!

A long time ago, in a country far, far away (in the Faraway Lands)...

I was getting Star Wars Weekly bought for me. I was moving away from things like Star Wars. However, before it went I do remember Cynthia Martin's art and it was impressive stuff, even then.