- First of all, I want to focus, almost exclusively, on my 'to read' pile. Therefore, apart from the remnants of my pull list, I don't intend to buy anything new (although that thinking rarely works ill grant you).
- However, when I do buy (hopefully when my 'to read' list is down to zero), what I do buy will majority digital in order to reduce the clutter in my house.
- Of course, if a comic does deserve to be physically represented on my shelf, I'll buy it as a trade, instead of floppies. This is because I've realised the difficulty I re-reading single issues as a bulk. Therefore, only FF and Lazarus will be bought in single issues (at least until they end).
- I'd also like to begin re-reading my current collection. The reason for this would be to streamline it reducing its size by disposing what I don't like, and keeping what I do. This way, my shelves would (hopefully) be left with only the very best.
- I'd like to get back into a habit of producing one pipedream comics review a week, something I felt I struggled to maintain on a consistent basis last year.
- Utilise the reviews to improve my descriptive writing better, as it is something I often feel I struggle with.
- Become a better critic, while maintaining positivity, by working on my analysis of comics.
- In order to fit all of the above, remember that I don't have to blog if I don't have time to. This is because, while I always enjoy writing here, I don't always have the content and my other responsibilities are a little more important (after all, this is just a personal thing).
- Attempt to develop a more positive outlook in general towards comics and the community at large. While I never attempt to act negatively towards anyone, I do feel I need to either avoid the negativity I see or not let it affect me. Either way, I want to give out an air of positivity.
- I want to work to get a comic of my own out. For years now, I've been writing scripts and ideas and I've now reached a point where I've been thinking about making them into something. I've got the logistical plans in my head and really now I only have to find the confidence to put what's in my head into action.
Thursday, 30 December 2021
#431 - ... and with that "I wonder where 10 years went?"
Monday, 27 December 2021
#430 - Gideon Falls Deluxe Edition Vol. 1
Friday, 24 December 2021
#429 - Star Wars: Blood Ties - Boba Fett is Dead (just in time for Christmas)
Friday, 17 December 2021
#428 - The Good Asian vol. 1
Thursday, 9 December 2021
#427 - the Modern Frankenstein #1-5
While Christmas continues to speed towards us (or are we speeding towards it?), the most important week of this addict's life has just come to an end.
It's been a busy old week as, over the weekend just gone, I hit another Birthday. It wasn't a landmark one or anything, but it was a good old time with my wife and kids which saw me gifted a whole heap of comic goodness. This goodness included volume one trades of White Ash and the Good Asian, a Superman Bust, a Man of Steel (Film connected) watch, some Eaglemoss trades in the form of JLA: Tower of Babel, JLA: Act of God and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, a bunch of funky t-shirts and, to top it off, a hardcover volume one collected edition of Gideon Falls.
So, all in all, a good haul.
However, while the week started off with some big additions to my comic library, none of these were the main focus of my reading week.
You see, this week's main read was the Modern Frankenstein #1-5, which I've been sitting on the single issues of for a couple of months since its release. Created by Paul Cornell, Emma Vieceli, Pippa Bowland and Simon Bowland and published by Heavy Metal/Magma Comix, this series follows the story of Dr Elizabeth Cleeve, a promising young doctor studying under the tutelage of the brilliant but mysterious Dr James Frankenstein. However, when Frankenstein seemingly cures Elizabeth's mother from a seemingly incurable condition, the student finds herself drawn deeper under her teacher's thrall (in more ways than one) when he invites her to see his true work: Experimenting on people in order to find cures for all conditions of the mind in order to make people 'better.'
Leading into this series, I had high hopes for it to really work for me given it's creative team. With the story being written by the legend that is Paul Cornell (Captain Britain & MI13 and I Walk with Monsters) and drawn by the fantastic Emma Vieceli (Breaks), two of my favourite creators going, the Modern Frankenstein seemed like a sure fire win. However, while it was a good read, I'm not sure if it was the absolute hit I was expecting.
When I originally read the first issue some months ago for review purposes, I thought that the issue had something of a slow burn as it started a truly cerebral thriller. This continued to be the case here as, reading the story in it's entirety, I realised that the Modern Frankenstein continue to move at a slow pace throughout the first three issues at minimum, even feeling like it had slowed down more so after the opening instalment. Of course, I'm making it sound like a bad comic read and nothing is further from the truth as, despite its slowness, I found myself truly sucked in and eager to know how this story was going to end, for all of the players if nothing else. I found the characters to be ... well, not very likable but then, given their actions through the series, maybe that's the point. Nonetheless, both Frankenstein and Elizabeth were very intriguing characters as will was intrigued by their actions and how both dealt with the emotional repercussions of them. This helped keep me invested as the story reached the final act and their views and objectives seemingly diverged. As such, the twist toward the end was a little unsettling, despite it being a nice payoff from an earlier set up, and helped ramp up the horror aspect while also improving my concern for the fate of one of the leads while disliking the other in equal measure.
As for the art, I really liked Vieceli's art style that is used here, with it having a clean look which, when coupled with Pippa Bowland's colours, has this look which makes me think of how classical it comes across as, sort of like Curia Regis in that it is attempting to reflect the original Frankenstein's era but in a more modern setting. I also thought that the art really had an unsettling look to it in some way, which certainly helped later when the story seemed to push towards the more horror side. In fact, my only complaint had to be that while the colours really suited the pencils, I do wonder if they were too light for the more horror tinged final act of the story.
By the end, I have found myself struggling to find a theme for this series (or maybe it had too many). Is it about the dangers of needing total Control? How obsession can be dangerous? How Love can make you blind until it is too late? Should you disregard the rules for the greater good? Maybe it's a little of all of them. Still the Modern Frankenstein was a good and engrossing read and, having finished, I'm glad that I gave it the time to check it out.
So, with Modern Frankenstein done, I moved onto White Ash Season 2 #1, which I read for the purpose of reviewing for Pipedream Comics. This issue, which picked up a couple of months after the first volume and resulted in its characters hunting down another villainous Brood, felt like a continuation of that first season both in terms of story telling and its overall presentation and quality. The art still looked terrific here, and continued to make me think of work done by Darwyn Cooke and my buddy Robert Ahmad.
Meanwhile, I really thought that the characters had begun to get more interesting, with a couple more who had previously been in the background looking like they were being pushed up to a more 'main cast' type of role (or would be if this was a TV show). Suffice to say, this series continues to get it monstrous hooks into me good and proper and I really do look forward to what more is to come during the rest of this second season (and hopefully beyond).
I then moved onto Fantastic Four #38, which I picked up early this week after being unable to get it from my LCS on New Comic Book Day last Wednesday. This issue started a (presumably) two part story where the Wizard arrives at the newly rebuilt Baxter Building in order to retrieve his 'son', Bentley-23. However, rather than do battle with the First Family, Bentley Whitman produces a weapon that the FF were not expecting; a legal summons. Now, with the help of the MU's super lawyer She-Hulk, the Richards clan must do battle with their enemy in a battlefield they are not used to; the courtroom.
For me, FF has been having a good run of late of consistently good issues but I did feel that this one was where the ball was dropped a bit. I can't lie that I really liked the concept on display here, but the execution left something to be desired in my eyes. Almost the entire issue felt like a slog and I really struggled to feel all that invested in its progression. It wasn't helped by the fact that the main three family members (minimal Johnny this week) seemed to act really out of sorts for much of the issue (don't get me started on Sue pushing for a fight). I also wasn't overly impressed with the depiction of the Judge, who really felt like she was a caricature of the type of cliched judge you seen in a TV show.
On the other hand though, I really loved the art. This issue's art is, as usual, phenomenal thanks to Francesco Manna. This does make me ponder 'Where do Marvel keep getting these artists?' as, after Isaakze, Medina, Silva and now Manna, they have placed a terrific selection of creators whose styles not only mesh together in terms of consistency but also look absolutely fantastic (pun very much intended). To cap it off (or get the ball rolling I guess) was a truly beautiful cover by the Dodson's which will always make things better in my opinion. However, despite the great art, this issue was only an ok for me. I'm hoping that it's let down is solely due to a lack of an ending and I really want to believe that the next issue will bring its stock up and make it all one of those 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts' deal, but I guess we'll have to wait until next month to see.
And that's been the books I've read this week. In truth, I did start one other, but given that I didn't finish it while I wrote this, that comic will fold over I next week.
Not that it'll take me long to finish the Good Asian.
Friday, 3 December 2021
#426 - Snow Angels Season 1
What I loved about this series was that I felt Jeff Lemire had crafted a deeply captivating and, above all, engrossing story. It really felt like, for every new page and new set piece, Lemire just added yet more mystery to this world, leaving me with more and more questions about what is going on (though not in confused way). As for the characters, I'm a little in two minds about the leads, Milliken and Mae Mae. I did find the characters a little irritating in their constant 'needling' of one another (being a dad of 2 myself, I sure get 'Pa's' exasperation). However, as the story progressed, both felt like they grew up quickly (as circumstances would no doubt require) and, by the end, I found myself a little torn up for them as they had to say goodbye.
As for the art, Jock's work is getting a lot of action with me and, while his work here and on Green Arrow Year One is years apart, he once again knocked it out of the park with me for very similar reasons. This is because I thought that Jock's work again showed a real brutality to the environment, with the sparseness and roughness of the lines really giving the world that necessary harsh and cold feel. He also nailed the characters in my opinion, with the the family giving such Resonant looks of sadness and fear while the snowman, the villain of the piece, look seriously menacing while also making me wonder who or what it is.
If there is one thing that frustrates me about Snow Angels it is that despite it drawing me in more and more as it progressed, it finished on a cliffhanger that now makes me crave season two. Fortunately, this is a very simple first world problem to have. I really enjoyed reading this series and am glad I included it with my 'secret' project I'm currently working on elsewhere (more about that later). I just have to hope that I can get the second season sooner rather than later.
Thursday, 25 November 2021
#425 - Re-reading Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja - part 2
So this week ended up starting much like last week finished.
With Hawkeye!
After writing up my thoughts on Hawkeye Volume 1, I decided that there was little point even pausing for breath (because I was totally into the story at that point) and continued on with my re-read. Of course it certainly helps that I had already broken into the second instalment before last week ended. Anyway, I finally got omnibus number two read and decided that I'd get my thoughts down for this week.
(And I finished it just in time for the Disney+ series to come out)
So, Hawkeye Collected Edition Vol. 2 continues where the first volume left off with Kate Bishop setting off with Lucky to be a West Coast Avenger, leaving Clint Barton alone to face the tracksuit draculas. Fortunately, Clint isn't alone for long as big brother Barney Barton shows up on his doorstep and double both the number of Bartons as well as the amount of chaos they bring. Meanwhile, the younger Hawkeye sets herself up in L.A. but finds her recent past has followed her out there, leaving her in just as much trouble as her mentor back home. These two simultaneous journeys will see the Hawkeyes taking wounds and facing betrayals as they find out who they really are to themselves.
For the second time in two weeks, I absolutely loved reading this book, although I felt that maybe it was not as good as the first volume. What I did love about it though was the inclusion of Barney Barton. I know very little about 'Trickshot', beyond that he was a part of Norman Osborn's 'Revengers' once upon a time. However, i found myself completely engrossed by his and Clint's shared journey as the brothers Barton almost staggered their way, beaten and bloody, through this story, with Barney always propping Clint up in a very emotional sense. This made me think a lot about my own relationship with my siblings and how, in a similar manner, we almost often mock each other and annoy each other but when the chips are down we will always back each other up (although not with a bow and arrow ... yet). This was what I loved about the relationship between Clint and Barney because, while they maybe have even less reason to like each other than most (Barney is a 'supervillain' and Clint stole all of his money. You know, I really wanna read THAT story), still Barney supports Clint and makes him see sense, even when Clint reaches his lowest ebb.
Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about the other Hawkeye plot running through this book as I found myself really struggling to get invested with Kate's journey out to L.A. The problem here is that I'm not entirely sure why, although I suspect it is the character's depiction which I had trouble with because it felt like a really long way away from the character I was first introduced to in Heinberg and Cheung's Young Avengers (I really need to re-read that by the way). I remember having a conversation with Emma Vieceli at a True Believers some years ago, whereby she explained me that the original Kate Bishop was steeped in a tragic origin and that the Gillen/McKelvie Bishop (who was a lot more like this one) effectively did away with that origin and it's impact on her personality. For me though, ignoring it has always been a struggle and so I believe its caused me here to struggle to get invested, at least to begin with. I will admit, however, that as her story progressed, my enjoyment of her journey increased as the charm which Fraction wrote her seemed to finally crack through my preconcieved notions (hopefully my next read will improve it further). As a result of this, I felt it helped get the book (and the series) to a finale which I found to be as addictive as anything as every bow wielding (not a) superperson came together to take out the Tracksuit vampires once and for all (I assume)!
As for the art, we'll the breakdown for my views on the visuals marries up in a similar way to the writing. David Aja's artwork continues to rule for me, with many of the same reasons from volume 1 being relevant here. I just love the design of the pages and Matt Hollingsworth's use of colours. The same goes with Javier Pulido and Francesco Francavilla's inputs, which maintain a European and horror esque flair respectively (the latter's, I think' working really well in showing us the Barton brother's traumatic upbringing). However, it was Annie Wu's work on the the Kate Bishop centric issues where I struggled. Not to say that the work was bad, because it wasn't, but I just had problems getting to grips with the more chaotic style, although this too grew on me as the series progressed.
Now that I've finished Hawkeye (far quicker than I expected to) I have to say that both volumes were read which I really liked (though the first was a high while the second was most likely a low). However, u do believe that this series of Hawkeye in its entirety is one of those rare examples of when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I now have so many questions about the end and I find myself more than a little tempted to pick up Jeff Lemire's follow up series.
However, even if I didn't then it wouldn't matter as Fraction, Aja and the gang certainly a nice ending which could happily close the story despite open endedness, allowing it to work well as a contained story.
And it's that full, contained story which takes two 'really likes' and makes it a phenomenal story, one which I'm glad I have on my shelf.
Certainly a far cry from my thoughts back when I first read it.
And that's been my week (shockingly). I wont lie, I had expected to read more, including a load comics in need of review as well as a read of a whole lot of stuff that I missed throughout 2021 and some things which need focus for a certain 'project' I'm involved in. However, time got away from me and real life got in the way. I guess that'll all be next week's job.
In the meantime though, I'll just bask in the greatness of what Hawkeye turned out to be for just a for days longer.
Friday, 19 November 2021
#424 - Re-Reading Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja - part 1
Friday, 12 November 2021
#423 - A Quiet Week.
In the end though, while issue 1 left me with a degree of uncertainty towards this series, issue 2 has me sold. I now look forward to the final instalment and discovering how everything ends and who is the Imposter.
And that was my week. Unfortunately, I had hoped to get another review comic read before this was written but it seems this week was something of an off week for me, with little else getting done. Hopefully though, next week will a little more positive and a little bit more productive.