Let's Compare

This, here, from The Marvels Project #3, is a fantastic piece of comics artwork. Namor is pissed. You can tell because he's shouting "RRRAAAAA" (which is exactly what I would shout, were I both pissed and also the prince of Atlantis). Anyway, the form of the picture is excellent. Steve Epting's figure work is among my favorite in comics and, although its not consistently mindblowing, his art is fantastic.

This, to your right, is another picture of angry Namor (this has potential as a feature. Keep your eyes peeled for ANGRY NAMOR TUESDAY)- but there's a difference. Everything that's right about the picture above is wrong with this picture right here- his muscles are too exaggerated, he lacks majesty, and, most concerningly, he looks like he's going to pop out of the page and eat me. What is he even doing here? I mean, I understand that the text says that he's "lost in rage", which sounds like Namor, but just because he's raging doesn't mean he's a lunatic- and that's how he's drawn.

I know I've dissed Reborn's art in the past, but reading the newest issue of the Marvels Project made it clear to me just how much Brubaker's story is suffering because Bryan Hitch (who's art I've really, really enjoyed in the past) can't seem to get his act together. Like I said yesterday, the writing in Reborn is pretty good- it's not Brubaker's best, but I suspect that despite all of the talk about "this being his plan from the beginning" that he may not have been quite ready to tell that story yet- but I don't think the story is being presented very well. This is vastly unfortunate- while Spider-Man is the publisher's flagship, Captain America is Marvel's most important character and, in many ways, Reborn is the beginning of his second act.

The Death of Captain America arc was a masterstroke- in a career of brilliant comics, I would argue that in many ways the story is Brubaker's crowning jewel- more than any other "event" in the past decade of Marvel continuity, I think it rocked the Marvel universe the most. While there have been plenty of game changers in that time, I think the effects of Cap's death are going to be felt for a long, long time- Bucky's continued presence in the MarvelU being only the least of those changes.

Siege, I think, is going to undo most of what these big events have done- I mean, look at the promo art. Marvel's Big Three are back together on the Avengers for the first time in almost five years. It's the end of Bendis's macro-arc and, like I said yesterday, I have faith it will be pretty good. At it's core, though, its going to be fundamentally about bringing many things back to the way things were- but Cap will never be the same. What I had thought to be clues that Steve was going to have a similair deathspan as Barry Allen, I think are actually clues that Steve's role is going to be different in this new universe.

That, however, is mostly an aside. The point is that I'm enjoying the Marvels Project vastly more than I'm enjoying Reborn, and it has nothing to do with Brubaker. Steve Epting's art, as always, is a joy; Bryan Hitch's is, surprisingly, not.

Siege

I've kept my mouth shut about Siege for a little while and, while its been hard, I kind of wanted to see what the solicits looked like before I said anything and...

Well, I don't know.

I mean, it could be very good. It could be. It could be the culmination to the Bendis macro-story we've been dealing with since what feels like forever and it could end it and could be done and we could move on.

It could be all of those things. It probably won't be, but it could be. And for the moment, I'm going to continue to have hope.

I'm less interested in Siege, though, than I am in the repercussions Reborn is going to have for the event. I've made no secret of the fact that I think that Steve should have stayed dead. There was a lot to go on with Bucky, a lot of new territory to cover and a lot of new things to do- in many ways, Steve's death was the most authentic and original thing to happen in mainstream comics in a very long time. There was a lot of interesting things going on in the book and I'll be sad to see that period of experimentation end.

Still, it is Brubaker we're talking about here. Reborn (so far) might have been something of a misstep (the story isn't perfect, but it's really the art that makes it painful) but I still have faith; the man had to be due for an imperfect story at some point, right? I'm think he's too smart to undo everything that he's done, and it's unclear to me that Steve is going to be the same Steve- he'll be the same figure, sure, but will he be the same sort of hero? More interestingly, what's going to happen with Buck? The solicits make it clear that he isn't going away and, again, Brubaker is too smart to turn him into Steve's sidekick- will they both be "wielding the shield"? It's not as if he can put on the Nomad uniform, and making him the second "Captain" would be, well, dumb.

Furthermore, what role is he going to play in Siege? Where does Bucky fit in the downfall of Norman Osborn?

I'm going to buy Siege- I don't always dig Bendis, but I generally dig Copiel- mostly because I want to see how Marvel is going to put the band back together, so to speak. I've become interested in Thor as well as Cap, and I'm going to buy a couple of issues of Iron Man starting next month, just to see if my dislike for the character might be misguided (looking back on the way that Brubaker wrote him in Captain America, I think I've been a little mean-spirited in the past; I suspect he's just a tough character to write, so, unlike, say, the X-Men who are often compelling on their own merits, the writer needs to be top notch to make it work. I think Fraction just might be that guy), and this appears to be the culmination of the stories about all three- so I'm interested to see where this leads.

Say what you will about the editorial choices at Marvel in the last few years, but let's put it in perspective- last week, in my Planetary review, I talked about Warren Ellis warning against stale comics and Marvel has done everything they can to move themselves forward, really since Disassembled. It's made for some really good comics, and I'm curious to see what happens. I've got faith.

I guess thats what makes me keep coming back.

"Frankencastle". WTF.

Rick Remender is promoting his new arc of "Punisher" here and it looks to be a doozy.

It appears that during Dark Reign Frank Castle is so physically fucked-up by Norman Osborn and so psychically fucked-up by The Hood, that to continue his war on crime, he has no choice but to become a half-cyborg, half-reanimated corpse, hence "Frankencastle".

(The solicited cover of "Punisher" #12)

This is (I'm going to admit it first) clever. The character of The Punisher has grown pretty stale as all he ever was, and still is, is a crazy guy with guns. He was a franchise all his own only because the late 8os and early 9os happened to have a film and comic-book fad for that stuff, which has thankfully passed. The only place he's remained interesting (indeed, occasionally excellent) is in his Marvel MAX title usually written by Garth Ennis. Furthermore, Marvel has a large roster of great monster/horror characters from the 70s that have been almost entirely overlooked for years and will now apparently be integrated into "Punisher", albeit temporarily.

So Marvel says: "TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE!!"
And Gorga says: "Why THIS way?"

Why not bring a new writer on to "Punisher" and create a new title written by Remender to spotlight the old Marvel Monsters? Instead of this awkward shoe-horn method of reintroducing them in a series they REALLY don't belong. Better yet, have them appear as guests in the new "Doctor Voodoo" title already being written by Remender (or anywhere else magic and horror could fit better than in a crime comic) and gauge audience reaction that way.

Corporations mystify me.

A Belated Already Tired of Tuesday...


I'm only picking up one book this week.

I know, right? This is really weird, particularly last week I only picked up four. I might use the opportunity to look around and see what catches my fancy, but barring a surprise purchase the only book I'm buying this week is.....

Thunderbolts #137.

What makes this week so weird is that I don't even usually pick up Thunderbolts- but the story is a bigger than usual tale featuring the Heroes For Hire- and, after being disappointed by the Immortal Weapons one-shots, my life is sorely lacking in Danny Rand these days.

Check back in a few days, and I'll tell you how it is; I've got a Criminal review in the works too.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 10/21/2oo9

Another blessedly light week. Although I have just been accepted for employment at one of NYC's most prestigious bakeries and hopefully that will work out for a few months and allow me to concentrate on this blog and my comic-writing!

I'm picking up:
"Ex Machina" #46
The final arc marches on.

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #609
The Clone Saga's spiritual return marches on equally.


The take-a-peeks:
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #1
This was supposed to be out last week and got pushed back and I still want to see if it's as good as it sounds!
also:
A damn slew of possible Spider-Man appearances.
"Dark Avengers" #10
and
"Mighty Avengers" #30
I am in love with the idea at play in the first two pages of the preview you can check out: here.
and
"Spider-Woman" #2
Spider-Man guest-stars... for real this time?

This just looks cool:
"Superman/Batman" #65
A Halloween special of sorts.

UPDATE: 10/21/2oo9
I love how easy it is to find the wonderful Jim Hanley's Universe comic-book store in Manhattan. You just go to 34th street and look for the Empire State Building because Jim Hanley's is right off its south side! For someone as green a New Yorker as I still am, that's awesome! I took this photo as I walked down 34th from the East side.












UPDATE: 10/22/2oo9
Me bookies! The new "Amazing" and new "Ex Machina". And with the low number of books this week, I picked up the "Punisher" Annual from a few weeks ago that I kept forgetting to pick up.

Spider-Man, as it turned out, did not appear as a guest in any of the three titles he could have been in, including the one he was solicited to be in!

Here There Be Spoilers...

If this is true, then it's big news indeed.

I can't decide how I feel about it- hopefully the execution will sway me in the positive direction.

Who Uses CDs Anymore?

Prometheus, apparently.
The solicit: Agent Brand, Beast, Sydren, Beta Ray Bill, Marvel Boy, Jazinda, Karolina and all the other aliens on Earth have been captured by Henry Gyrich and his “NO MORE ALIENS” agenda. Only one person can free them and save the world: Lockheed.

Yea, I don't really have anything else to say about this one.

"It's A Strange World, Drums. Did You Think For a Minute That I Wasn't Going to Keep it That Way?"

I'm going to miss Planetary.

I guess that's a very slight exaggeration, since the only single issue that I've ever purchased was this one, the last one, the one that I'm reviewing. I guess what I'm really going to miss, then, is the idea of Planetary being ongoing- the feeling that the world is strange and that Elijah, Jakita and Drums are going to keep it that way. This, first and foremost, is what was so wonderful about Ellis and Cassaday's baby; it suggests the world is more fantastic than we will ever know.

While one of the conceits of Planetary (hell, one of the conceits of the whole of the Wildstorm universe) is that it doesn't exist in our reality, it does exist in a world that is familiar to us, because it exists in a world that we know- the connected universe of pulp-pop-culture. It's fitting that the series should end at the launching points for an expedition into a fictional world, for that is exactly what Planetary is- an expedition into our favorite fictional realities.

Ellis makes his project abundantly clear from the very beginning- the first issue is a twisted vision of the Crisis on Infinite earths, ending in a climactic battle (a battle in which everyone loses, by the way) between a JLA analogue and their pulp precursors- and, although this limits the audience to people with some knowledge of the medium, this is what allows it to pass into brilliance. Far from being a simple play on archetype (like fellow Ellis Wildstorm creations Apollo and Midnighter), Plantery represents an attempt to write an in-medium history of the comics and a beautifully conceived and constructed one at that. Although Ellis isn't the only writer to do this (see Kirkman's Invincible) he's certainly the best at it- while Kirkman's work is self-referencing without being particularly meaningfully so, Warren's insights into the form come on almost a page by page basis.

The series' scope is wide and, insofar as it starts with the pulps and ends with the future, all-encompassing- Ellis is making a statement, and he wants to make sure we all know that. While I would love to see "The Further Adventures of Planetary!" published on a regular schedule, what the series' ending reveals is that the future will be wonderful, but also that it will be open ended.

Ellis, then, ends his history with a warning to his audience- it's a strange world and the only way to keep that way is by not deciding we know what comes next. What he's done from the beginning of his opus is play with the knowledge and expectations that we all have about superhero comics: where they come from, where they are, where they're headed. Keep in mind, though, that by the end all of those stories are dead and buried. His twisted versions of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Nick Fury, Constantine, the JLA have all been killed or shunted aside (and that last one is done away with twice: once in the first issue and again in #10). All that is left is the Planetary organization, a team of mystery archeologists dedicated to finding and preserving the secret mysteries of the world. They don't know what's coming.

And neither do we.

It's a brilliant conceit, really, one that I don't think any other comics historian has picked up on. Most histories of the medium focus on the writers, the artists, the driving forces behind the comics. Ellis chooses a different perspective from which to view superhero comics- the perspective of the discoverer, of the adventurer, of the comic book reader. We are Planetary and Planetary is us.

This is why the parting shot is so important- it's a message, a message that's meant for his readers- his entitled and notoriously difficult fan base. We want our comics to be comforting. We want them to be like the comics from the past. We never want anything about them to change. If the books are comforting, though, they are also stagnant. If they're stagnant, they aren't interesting. If they aren't interesting, if they aren't wonderful, if they aren't fantastic (in the most literal sense of the term), if they aren't down right STRANGE than they're missing the point.

The Four aren't the villains of the series because Ellis is taking a shot at Marvel; they're the villains of the series because Ellis is taking a shot at our reliance on the Silver Age, at our dependence on Stan and Jack. They had a good run, and we need not forget them nor their influence, but we're stifling creativity by being reliant on old stand-by characters, old ideas and old creators. We're being told that projects like X-Men Forever don't celebrate the medium, they stunt it. The continuous recycling of the Big Two may make old fans happy, but it will never keep the world strange.

In this way, what we have in Planetary is the last hurrah of deconstruction to be found in superhero comics- we've gone past what would really happen if supermen actually existed, and gone into a place where there be dragons- that is, what if, in response to the horrifying Miracleman types that've been everywhere since the '80's, there were genuinely good heroes? Heroes who really were like the people we want them to be? It's fitting that the central motif of the final issue is a circle, because Ellis has brought superhero deconstruction full circle. In typical Ellis fashion, however, he's also made clear that he's not fond of circles. Much has been made of the fact that this issue reads like an epilogue and his point is clear. It's time to move on.

Before we get going, though, we should take a minute to evaluate the issue itself.

Like I said, it reads exactly like the epilogue it is: Elijah has one more thing to do before he can move on with us, and Ellis and Cassaday portray it beautifully. Everything that there is to love about Planetary is here. In smaller doses, perhaps, and not necessarily exactly the way I wanted to see it done, although I suppose that's the point, right?

From a writing standpoint, it gives Ellis another chance to flex his science muscles- Schrodinger and Heisenberg both make textual cameos, and the first act of the issue is dominated by the problems with time travel (which, incidentally, come about because the activation of a time machine makes time a circle). I would be lying if I said this sort of thing was particularly engaging, but it is genuinely interesting in an academic sort of way, and it sets up a series of great Elijah/Drums moments.

What's really great here, though, is how effectively emotional the storytelling is- what could have been horribly overwrought moments (Jakita's self-doubt could have come off as whiny and Elijah finally managing to save Ambrose Chase almost finds its way into sappiness as it is) come off as beautifully genuine.

To give most of the credit on that score to Ellis, though, I think would be a mistake. Let's give credit where credit is due- if Ellis is the engine of this spaceship, John Cassaday and Laura Martin are everything else. They streamline the story, they make it move, and they make it look really, really nice. For my money, there are very, very few comics artists better than Cassaday out there right now, if any.

The art is the real emotional force here. There are pictures interspersed throughout the review, so go and take a look at the way he handles faces, emotions, tiny little details (like the panel where Jakita and Elijah are talking and the latter is holding a sandwich- I think I laughed out loud when I saw that). The drawing here adds weight and significance, and it turns a great issue into a brilliant one.

So, THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT? Planetary #27 is a fitting ending to what I believe is the seminal work of comics in the last decade. It has long been my contention that Warren Ellis is this generation of creators' Alan Moore and- if that's true- I think this is what's going to turn out to be his Watchmen. If you haven't read any Planetary, you should check it out from the beginning, and if you have been keeping track through years of delays, than you should go back and take a closer look. In Planetary, something unique springs off of the page, and it's something worth cherishing.