Saturday, March 26, 2011

Graphic novel reviews M

Maestro: Symphony in a Gamma Key - Peter David

Manga Man - Barry Lyga [Houton Mifflin]
Ryoko, a character from Japanese anime, comes through a strange rift to the "real" world, where he tries to fit in at school, where he is bullied but also meets a girl.  Will he win her heart before he is forced back through the rift, and will the kaiju (monsters) get through as well?  Illustrated with fun black and white art that takes full advantage of the story's interesting conceit (for example, when he is surprised, Ryoko emanates lines which then fall to the floor and must be cleaned up), as well as a clever twist in the plot.  Fun. Library.  [4]

The Manhattan Projects - Jonathan Hickman

  1. Vol. One - Dr. Oppenheimer is recruited by the US military to work in a secret department involving all sorts of high-tech marvels.  He works with Fermi, an alien; Dr. Daghlian, a walking radioactive skeleton; Einstein, who has secrets of his own; the cyborg Von Braun; and others.  Oh, and Oppenheimer isn't who they think he is.  Together they try to stop alien invasions, maintain American supremacy, and explore new universes.  It is as insane and over-the-top as it sounds, and quite enthralling.  The excellent art evokes Frank Quitely.  [4.5]
  2. Vol. Two - The mad scientists go behind their governments' backs to join forces against aliens and to push the boundaries of science.  Naturally, the more-or-less Illuminati that really run things — the orgy-going Truman, a magic Egyptian entity, a banking cartel luchador, the religious plutocrat — try to stop this, with spectacularly gory results.  And then there's more of Oppenheimer's mindscape, which is even weirder.  [4]
  3. Vol. Three - In this volume, the tables turn, as General Westmoreland takes down the scientists and arrests them.  Oppenheimer, however, is still free to work on his insane projects; meanwhile Laika the dog travels through space and encounters a very alien looking ship.  The last section of the book is more about the war inside Oppenheimer's mind, and it's gory and not really very interesting.  I'm much more interested in what happens to the group of scientists.  [3.5]

March - John Lewis [Top Shelf]

  1. The true story of John Lewis, former freedom marcher, head of SNCC, and Congressman.   Switching back and forth between past and present, it tells the civil rights story with calm wisdom, letting the facts speak for themselves create the drama.  Black and white, sketchy illustrations fit the tone.  [4.5]


Marvel Zombies
This shit is hilarious.  [4.5]

Marvel Zombies: Supreme - Frank Marraffino
A mad scientist uses Jack of Hearts' "zero energy" to animate dead clones of the Squadron Supreme, with disastrous results.  Tongue in cheek and gory.  [3.5]

Marvels
A wonderful tribute to the old-school Marvel heroes, with a modern sensibility and gorgeous painting by Alex Ross.  [5]

 
The Mighty Crusaders - Ian Flynn
A new new team of Crusaders is assembled after the first team's children finally defeated the Brain Emperor, at some cost.  This one is led by the new Shield, a young woman brought up in colonial times.  On one of their first outings, they are set upon by some old enemies, the Eliminators.  And then, a sort of Thor pastiche.  As before, the more cartoony art belies the seriousness of the fighting.  The heroes age, get sick, and can be killed.  It's great stuff for someone who wants to see some consequences in their heroics.  This volume serves as introduction, but besides some battle scenes there's not very much development or a sense of real accomplishment; it left me looking for the second volume.  [4]

Miles Morales - Saladin Ahmed

  1. Straight Of Out Brooklyn - High schooler Miles Morales balances a vice-principal out of Ferris Bueller, Tombstone's gang wars, his parents and his retired supervillain uncle, and girls (both civilian and costumed).  Pitch-perfect street Spider-Man in the old Marvel style of "heroes with problems," and the name being a nod to the old Peter Parker title which focused on the man's daily life as much as the spandex stuff.  [4]
  2. Bring On the Bad Guys - Miles faces more girl problems (the costumed Starling, his school girlfriend, and his old colleague Bombshell) but also a grim story arc in which he is abducted and tortured for evil science reasons.  A mutated Green Goblin and a size-changing bad guy working for Kingpin have secrets of their own.  This volume has the same terrific dialogue and a good balance of work and life in Miles' world.  [4]

Miracleman - Alan Moore (credited as The Original Writer)


Moomin: The Complete Tove JANSSON COMIC STRIP VOL. 2 - Tove Jansson [Drawn & Quarterly]

  • Large hardcover volume containing four story arcs of the whimsical, silly comic strip about the easy-going Moomin family and the odd characters who disrupt their lives.  Lacking the word play and detailed art of Pogo, and the humor of Popeye.  Gentle kid stuff.  [3]  Library.

Moon Knight - Jeff Lemire

  1. Lunatic - Marc Spector wakes up in an archaic mental hospital with cruel orderlies and ECT therapy, told that he has never been Moon Knight and that he's imagined it all.  But it seems to be a trick by Seth, as Marc spots many people from his past in the asylum.  He engineers an escape, but outside the walls of the asylum is more madness and more questions.  It's a fun ride, building on the established mental problems of Spector to point to a new direction for the character.  But it's hard to judge as a stand-alone because it suddenly ends with more questions and nothing resolved.  [3.5]

Moon Knight - Warren Ellis

  1. From the Dead - Ellis recasts Moon Knight as more of a Batman figure, with an AI-driven white limo and a white crescent-shaped drone.  The madness, the personalities, and the Konshu are still there, but more in the background.  This Moon Knight just goes out and wrecks bad guys.  This collection is made up of (mostly) stand-alone stories: Marc goes through a series of levels full of armed men to rescue a girl; Marc takes down a crazy SHIELD agent gone rogue; Marc solves the problem of a dream experiment gone wrong.  The one-shot adventures go down easy, and the art is simply gorgeous.  [4]
The Multiversity - Grant Morrison
The usual Morrison cosmic-scale insanity, combined with the usual Morrison meta-commentary on the reality of fiction.  Mysterious evil gods threaten the multiverse, and various heroes are gathered to fight the menace.  Pastiches of the Marvel universe included.  The Captain Carrot fight scenes are excellent (although having Morrison mumbo-jumbo comping out of Captain Carrot's mouth, as well as Savage Dragon stand-in Din-cop, is a bit much), and the Marvel family fighting multiple Sivanas is really excellent.  I also liked the mopey #EarthMe Super Sons bit, where crime is eradicated and super heroes are bored.  Still, it all gets to be a bit too much lunacy, and he really lays on the "I'm an ink hero, and on a page, but real, because I'm talking to you" bit thick. Finally, it all seems to end on a cliffhanger.  Nothing is resolved, except I guess there's a big group of reality-spanning heroes now.  [3.5]


My New York Marathon - Sebastien Samson
A French artist and teacher decides on a whim to join his wife and her runner friends in the New York Marathon.  Despite some seriously half-hearted training, he runs the entire distance.   With sketch-like B&W illustrations, this memoir is a love letter to both stubborn self-reliance and everything that America used to stand for.  [4]

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Graphic novel reviews N

New Crusaders - Ian Flynn
  1. Rise of the Heroes - In the peaceful town of Red Circle, the retired Crusaders gather to celebrate, when the Brian Emperor returns from the dead and kills them.  Everyone except the Shield is gone; he leads the kids to safety and implements a long-planned procedure of giving them powers and training them as the New Crusaders.  But the Brain Emperor is doing some recruiting of his own.  Don't be fooled by the cartoony Archie-like art; this is cold-blooded and fairly realistic in the casual body count these powered beings would rack up.  The kids are unready and their actions have consequences. I want volume two!  [4]
New Crusaders Legacy - various writers
A mix of "classic" and new stories (the new material is by Ian Flynn).  Set immediately after the first volume, the conceit of this book is that the Shield is showing the New Crusaders the darker side of their parents' legacies, as shown though the older stories.  Kudos to the company for focusing on a wide range of topics such as excessive force, but they're handled in an extremely unsophisticated way (Shield is on trial for murder something like one day after he apparently kills a suspect; he's exonerated through some extremely questionable methods, including the most deus ex machina surprise witness I have ever seen).  [3]

New Kid - Jerry Craft [HarperCollins]
Jordan Banks, a black seventh grader, starts seventh grade at a prestigious private school.  With only a couple of other black kids in his grade, he doesn't feel like he fits in, especially when the teachers mix up their names and even well-meaning kids make stereotypical assumptions.  When he returns to his old neighborhood, he questions how well he fits in there also.  With new sports, weird girls, and jackass entitled kids to deal with, Jordan doesn't know if he'll ever make it.  This graphic novel won the 2020 Newbery Award  and the Coretta Scott King award.  The characters are fleshed out, the issues it deals with are real, and there are several genuinely hilarious moments in the book.  I was not a huge fan of the art style, which was a little too cartoony and whimsical, I thought.  Actually I preferred the sketchbook art that Jordan does.  [4.5]

Nextwave - Warren Ellis
Vol. 1-2 - This is what they want.  Everything else is total ******.  [5]

Nola's Worlds #1: Changing Moon - Mathieu Mariolle [Graphic Universe]
  • Translated from the French.  A girl with a distant mother befriends two strange kids who are more than they seem, having strange powers and being hunted by strange creatures.  Bright, cheery, colorful illustrations with some anime and American cartoon influences.  The story is not presented well, with the character's relationships and actions changing abruptly and seemingly without reason.  Has some charm in the art, but no wit or suspense. Library. [2]

Northlanders - Brian Wood

  1. ?
  2. The Cross and the Hammer - In 11the century Ireland, one lone rebel goes on a killing spree against the invading Vikings, accompanied by his young daughter.  Proto-detective Ragnar is sent by the king to flush him out.  But not everything is as it appears to be.  This is an interesting story with a bit of twists.  Blood and gore aplenty, without any time for nuance of character.  [3.5]

Nova - Duggan
Vols. 1-6.  Standard teen superhero action.  Teen finds himself with powers, father maybe a hero but missing, in over his head, etc.  A lot of posturing and punching, not as much thinking.  Pretty standard stuff.  [2.5]

Nova - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Graphic novel reviews O

Oddly Normal - Otis Frampton
Vol.1 - The titular girl, daughter of a witch and a normal man, is mocked at school, but when she is transported to Fignation (great name), where all manner of imaginary beings live, she finds school is just as awful, and a lot more dangerous.  Very well done, with cute drawings, a great ear for narration, and real suspense.  Aggravatingly, this volume ends in the middle of the action, just when things were getting started.  [3.5]
 
Oh My Gods! - Cooke & Fitzpatrick
 
The Okay Witch - Emma Steinkellner
 
One Year at Ellsmere - Faith Erin Hicks

Original Sin - Jason Aaron
With a couple of issues by Mark Waid and Ed Brubaker.  Someone has shot the Watcher and taken his eyes, and a disparate group of heroes and anti-heroes are recruited to find out who, how, and why.  A very powerful villain named Dr. Midas, his daughter Oubliette, and the Orb are mixed in somehow, but only the Orb seems to know what's really going on.  Containing a few twists and surprises, this is pretty good murder mystery with powers.  Aaron's dialogue isn't his strong suit, and sometimes things get a bit muddled, but he's definitely got a way with the gritty noir feel.  Some major changes happen to the MU as a result of this volume, but as always, comic book changes have to be taken with a grain of salt.  [3.5]

The Owl - J.T. Krul [Dynamite]

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Graphic novel reviews P

Peanut - Ayun Halliday [Schwartz & Wade]
A teenage girl in a new school decides to reinvent and distinguish herself by claiming a severe allergy to peanuts.  With mostly black and white, sketchy art (Sadie's shirt is colored throughout).  Has a good grasp on teen speech and social interaction; utterly clueless about how teachers think and talk.  Thoughtful and surprisingly potent emotionally.  [4]

Pedro And Me - Judd Winick  [Henry Holt]
The MTV reality television star turned cartoonist tells of how he met his future wife and best friend Pedro on the show.  Pedro became an AIDS activist and later died of the disease.  An honest, warm, harrowing, humorous, bittersweet tale.  Read several times, and it makes me cry like a baby every time.  [5]

Pests and Pets - Andy Warner

The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci  [Oni]
New girl at a suburban school mists some similarly-named misfits and they start a guerrilla art club.  More than the typical nerd-girl-wants-cute-boy tale there seem to be so many of these days; this story has several layers and contains a few unexpected turns. Clean black and white art.  Read twice. [4]

Planetary Brigade - Giffen & DeMatteis [Boom]


Poe Dameron - Charles Soule

  • 1. Black Squadron
  • 2. THE GATHERING STORM
  • 3. Legend Lost - A Star Wars story.  The Alliance pilot and his squad try to find an old Jedi master.  Along the way they are constantly thwarted by Terex, an ex-Stormtrooper and now leader of the First Order.  Soule does a great job explaining the villain's backstory and motivation, and in fact it's nearly as much Terex's story as it is Poe's.  A bit rushed and out-there cosmic at first, but fun and well written when it hits its stride.  [3.5]

Pride of Baghdad
A lion escapes his zoo during a bombing of Baghdad.  Beautiful pictures.  [4]


Primates - Jim Ottaviani
A look at the adventures in science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas (who studied orangutangs).  Well researched and entertaining, with engaging cartoony color art.  [4] 

The Professor's Daughter - Joann Sfar  [First Second]
Translated from the French.  Surreal tale, at turns whimsical and nightmarish, about a walking mummy in Victorian England who falls in love with the titular professor's daughter.  When the pharaoh's father (also bandaged like a mummy) shows up, he brings trouble with him.  Dream-like and bizarre, but charming as well.  Detailed art in sketchbook style.  Read twice.  [4]

Project Superpowers Omnibus - Jim Kreuger &Alex Ross
A paean to the public domain heroes of the 1940s; collects two TPBs, issues #0-7 of chapter one, issue 1/2, and issues #0-7 of chapter two.
>After WWII, the Fighting Yank, acting on some apparent misinformation by his ancestor's ghost, traps all the heroes in a magical urn.  A new entity called the American Spirit tells the Yank, now old, to free the heroes.  But standing against him is the android Dynamic Man and his similarly inhuman family, and the shadowy organization above that.   In all, this story is an exercise in nostalgia, which is very cool, but it's not first-class writing, plot-wise.  [3.5]
>The second chapter takes place after the events shown in character-specific limited series, once the heroes have taken over the White House and started their quest to make America free.  The Supremacy will stop at nothing to damage the heroes' reputation and wipe them out, and their former sidekicsk, now freed, are against them as well.  In this section, Kreuger and Ross go beyond taking liberties with the characters and transform them, as well as giving a new and satisfying explanation for all that has come before.  This volume has more character development and a more exciting villain.  [3.5]
 
Project Superpowers: Blackcross - Warren Ellis
In a small Oregon town, a handful of disparate people find themselves haunted by voices telling them to do strange things.  These voices turn out to be the spirits of the old heroes — the Lady in Red, Black Terror, Pyroman, and some others — trying to escape from their captivity by merging with the bodies of those in the other universe.  Meanwhile, a very violent spirit, seen by the police as a serial killer, is set on imprisoning them.  It's a different take, all eerie and horror-noir; interesting, but with a rather abrupt ending.  [3.5]

Punisher - Matthew Rosenberg
  1. War Machine Vol. 1 - Nick Fury tasks Frank with clearing out a dictator in a Slavic country, and helps him boost an old War Machine armor.  Frank does some ethnic cleansing.  Pretty brutal, with some wit.  [3.5] 
  2. World War Frank - Out of the War Machine armor and back in New York, Frank is hunted by a few Defenders as well as Baron Zemo's men, not to mention the new Mandarin.  While I love to see Frank in this world, I'm not sure his holding his own against such enemies is easy to swallow.  Frank lands a blow on Iron Fist?  Seems iffy.  [3.5]
  3. Street By Street, Block By Block - Frank teams up, reluctantly, with Sgt. Alves, Night Thrasher, Black Widow, Moon Knight, and Ghost Rider to take on Baron Zemo's collection of bad guys.  It sounds like it should be utterly wonderful madness, but somehow it's really just a confused mess.  There's very little in the way of explaining how Frank fits in among such powerhouses.  And frankly, writing Kingpin and Zemo as a pair of foul-mouthed squabblers is as silly as having Zemo's men wear Hydra suits under their UN disguises.  [3]

Punisher - Nathan Edmondson and Kevin Maurer

  1. Black and White - Frank goes after a cartel boss that wants to destroy Los Angeles with a chemical weapon, but Electro stands in his way.  And if that wasn't enough, the modern day Howlin' Commandos have orders to take him down.  This is a terrific Punisher, sticking him smack dab in the Marvel universe and showing just how out of his element he can be.  He's tough against all human opponents, but the presence of the supers throws him a lot of curve balls.  Page-turning suspense.  [4.5] 
  2. Border Crossing - Frank gets some information from a Central American prison, rescues an American special ops POW, and tangles with Crossbones.  Meanwhile the Howlin' Commandos are still on his tail, and they decide to go after his extended family!  This title continues to have the best Punisher in the Marvel Universe — as realistic as can be expected, gritty urban noir going on under the capes' radar.  [4.5]

PUNISHER MAX (10 volumes) - Garth Ennis
PUNISHER MAX: BORN
PUNISHER MAX: FROM FIRST TO LAST
PUNISHER MAX PRESENTS: BARRACUDA
The perfect Punisher, free of gadgetry and silliness; a grim unstoppable killing machine going up against real-world evils like women trafficking and the drug trade.  Entire run read twice. [5]  Keep.

Punisher War Journal
VOL 2: GOIN' OUT WEST - Matt Fraction
Handles Marvel Universe history capably, offers lots of tough guy ass-kicking action, makes time for occasional Big Talk about right and wrong and obsession and courage.  The second-best Punisher there is.  [4]


Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle
Translated from the French.  A Canadian animator's account of his supervision of Korean animators in Pyongyang.  Not exactly a startling expose, since Delisle was always with a minder or in the foreign-only compound, but a depressingly thorough look at what is visible: silent drone-like workers, translators who drank the Dear Leader punch, rusting monuments, empty theaters, propaganda, martial training on dummies made to look like American soldiers.  [3.5]