Moon Knight #8 - Marvel Comics

MOON KNIGHT No. 8, December 2014

It is said that imitation is one of the greatest forms of flattery, and this title’s new(ish) creative team of Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood have certainly made an attempt with Issue Eight of “Moon Knight” to mimic the innovative approach to storytelling employed by their predecessors. But whereas the work of former writer Warren Ellis came across as a series of fresh nervy adventures, full of invention as well as enthralling atmosphere and dynamic action, “Live” reads as a somewhat cold and lack-lustre collection of twenty pages whose scenes appear as choppy and confusing as the multiple personalities which plague the titular character.

Much of this disconnection is invariably due to the manner in which the Vermont-born author has decided to tell this particular tale of a suicide bomber holding an office full of workers hostage. Which, whilst certainly ‘out of the box’ as the action is followed via the video recordings of phone cameras, robot scarab streaming feeds, security footage and television coverage, also unfortunately provides the proceedings with a sense of remoteness and distance that is arguably unappealing. Such a technique also requires any dialogue to be placed outside each panel as opposed to simply being contained within a speech bubble, and thus warrants the re-reading of certain pages just to ensure events are fully understood. This is especially necessary when having secretly entered the office, Moon Knight starts to schizophrenically swap between the identities of Grant and Lockley, and it isn’t terribly clear at first just who is doing the talking…

The plot is also somewhat sketchy and annoyingly illogical at times. It is never made clear just what the significance of the serial numbers is which the bomber gets one of his captives to read out at the start of the comic. Nor does it make any sense why the masked vigilante would ask Detective Flint to phone his Doctor “before all of this escalates out of all restraint and reason.” What horrific wound does the hero inflict upon the terrorist in order to give the disgruntled employee “something to remember me by” and why? Whatever injury he sadistically caused it was certainly bloody and stupidly seemed to play straight into the hands of the media (and his untrustworthy physician) by giving them reason enough to label “the man in white” as “the terrorist we need to be looking for.”

Sadly Greg Smallwood’s illustrations are as inconsistent as the storyline, with the Kansas-based artist’s pencils, tightly squeezed into several sequences of small rectangular panels, lacking any great clarity or detail. Indeed, the American’s design of Lockley’s Moon Knight costume, a black body stocking with a sculpted white face mask and chest plate gives the character the disappointing air of being some sort of awkward looking automaton. Not the swift-moving competent martial artist which presumably Wood had in mind when he scripted the scene.

The variant cover art of "MOON KNIGHT" No. 8 by Declan Shalvey

Batman #8 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 8, June 2012

As the precursor to the first major crossover event of “The New 52” by “DC Comics”, there is little to fault with this thirty-page action-fest. To begin with Scott Snyder portrays a haunted Bruce Wayne, who despite being injured and depressed at his recent failure to defeat The Court of Owls, still demonstrates he is a formidable combatant even when dressed in little more than a dressing gown and pyjama bottoms.

Indeed the American comic book writer shows a side to the billionaire which is really seen. Despite past beatings this man is nonetheless a steely scrapper, who even though unarmed, still manages to put several of the deadly Talon out of commission by utilising the décor of his family home. Whether it be an ornately carved piece of bannister or a bat-decorated weather vane, the ‘robed resident’ leads both his would-be-murderers and the reader through a breath-taking series of fast-paced pages.

Ultimately however the ‘capeless crusader’, alongside an exhausted Alfred, is forced to seek shelter within the refuge of the Batcave’s armoury. Once again providing Snyder with the opportunity to unsettle the sanctity of the Dark Knight’s most closely guarded secrets, his identity and the whereabouts of his secret headquarters, by having both penetrated by the masked assassins with disconcerting ease; a double revelation which shows just how vulnerable the New Yorker’s version of Batman really is.

Equally as impressive throughout “Attack On Wayne Manor” is the pencilling of Greg Capullo, whose eye for detail, coupled with a great feel for the dramatic, really helps create some extremely atmospheric moments of mayhem and magic within the shadowy claustrophobic confines of the time-worn building.

Sadly the same cannot be said for the artwork of Rafael Albuquerque, the illustrator responsible for drawing this issue's ten-page secondary tale “The Call”. Competent though somewhat colourful and cartoony, the Brazilian’s sketches unfortunately jar horribly with the eye as a result of following straight on from Capullo’s sumptuous panels.

The short story’s plot, co-written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, is equally as rudimentary, with the Talon’s successful assassination of a number of prominent Gotham City officials prompting a heavily armoured Bruce Wayne to instruct Alfred to “Put the call out to the [Bat] family.” And thus the seed for the multi-title story-arc “Batman: Night Of The Owls” is sown…

The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 8 by Jason Fabok

The Amazing Spider-Man #16 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 16, May 2015

In many ways Issue Sixteen of “The Amazing Spider-Man” was something of a no-win situation for American comic book writer Dan Slott. On the one hand he had whetted the appetite of many readers for ‘out and out’ action across a sweeping grand landscape with his multi-issue cross-title ‘mega-event’ storyline “Spider-Verse”. But on the other he was facing the increasing discontent of cynical fans who felt the title needed to simply concentrate more upon Peter Parker and have the costume vigilante shy away from such ‘big universal happenings’. Fortunately Slott turned to regular writing partner Christos Gage to ease this burden, and together they have penned an issue which should appease both the adrenalin junkie and those longer-term followers that have been baying for the book to once again solely focus upon the exploits of the titular character.

To begin with Part One of “The Graveyard Shift” throws the reader straight into the ‘deep end’ with a frantic fist-fight between Spidey and the Iguana; a mutated reptile who has the memories of the Lizard. In many ways this confrontation actually harks back to the Wall-crawler’s struggles of the Late Sixties as the friendly neighbourhood crime-fighter not only trades both punches and insults with his scaly opponent. But also has to juggle his personal life as Doctor Parker, by having to take several phone calls during the altercation.

Disappointingly Slott’s version of Webhead still isn’t the most intelligent of fighters though, as Peter stupidly informs his far larger foe that it is pointless trying to hypnotise him on account of the “special lenses in my mask.” Such an amateurish mistake badly undermines the super-hero’s standing as one of the most formidable and experienced combatants in the Marvel Universe.

Having presumably sated any craving for action with his reptile house fracas, the writer of “Silver Surfer” then focuses his storytelling talents upon further developing Parker Industries and establishes an intriguing business rivalry for Peter’s company with the less than scrupulous Alchemax. Inexplicably however this plot point, based upon the two businesses vying for the contract to build a new Department of Corrections incarceration facility, is brought to an abrupt half just fourteen pages into the comic. As for some unfathomable reason Slott decides to instead deliver the first of three ‘separate’ short instalments centred around the Black Cat’s somewhat ‘out-of-character’ rise within the criminal world. Why “Repossession” could not simply be delivered as part of the book’s main story is a mystery, especially as it is simply a continuation of the lead tale’s final scene set within the Slide-Away Casino?

Indeed both stories not only feature Felicity Hardy but also contain a scene depicting Aunt May and John Jonah Jameson at the Pinkerton Auction House. The latter of which occurs at the start of “The Late, Late Mr. Parker” but which, rather confusingly, doesn’t appear until the end of the secondary tale. Making it appear somewhat out of sync with the sequence of events.

Such an incongruous inconsistency with the comic’s timeline however can potentially be overlooked when the book’s artwork is as wonderfully well-drawn as Ramos Humberto’s pencilling is within this periodical. The Mexican artist’s depiction of Spider-Man fighting Iguana, complete with hissing pythons and snapping crocodile, is especially impressive, and there’s a genuine sense of impact whenever either of the combatants lands a solid punch upon the other.

The regular cover art of "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" No. 16 by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #2 - DC Comics

SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP No. 2, March 2014

Created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff, and debuting in July 1955, the canine crime-fighting partner of the Dark Knight, Ace the Bat-Hound, has proved something of an anathema to the vast majority of serious comic book collectors. Whether it be due to the German Shepherd’s rather absurd-looking cape and cowl or his bat emblem dog collar, the animal has suffered a rather inconsistent spotty relationship with aficionados of the Batman canon. Perhaps artist Alex Ross best sums up the dividing opinion over the character with his belief that ‘as a child, the idea of Batman having a dog is cool but as an adult the same idea is outrageous.’

Fortunately Sholly Fisch suffers no such qualms about incorporating Ace into the Hanna Barbera-based universe of Scooby Doo, bringing the “skilled detective” together with Norville Rogers’ friendly hound for their “first-ever team-up” following a meeting of the ‘Mystery Analysts of Gotham City’. “Translated from the barking” the subsequent jolly storyline, though straight forward, admirably relies upon the keen senses specific to the four-legged animals to progress the plot, rather than simply using the characters’ pairing as a cheap gimmick. For the Scarecrow is in town robbing jewellers, and whilst Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma and the Dynamic Duo are ‘trapped’ fighting fear-gas generated monstrosities, the two dogs, immune to the fumes as they’re “not people”, must save the day.

However the “DC Comics” children’s title writer also manages to include plenty of in-jokes for those who “grew up with the Mystery Incorporated gang and want to enjoy something of a nostalgic trip down memory lane." Be that Fred and Batman discussing the differences between using “many cutting-edge forensic techniques” and simply ‘just pulling off their masks', or Shaggy chastising Jonathan Crane for using his line “Let me out of here!” There are some genuine ‘laugh out loud’ moments within this comic’s twenty pages.

Having said that much of the success of “Who’s Scared?”, which proved it was not just “for young readers” with a sales figure of 8,984 copies in January 2014, is undoubtedly down to artist Dario Brizuela. For in addition to superbly capturing the look and feel of the Seventies animated cartoon franchise, the Argentinian’s pencilling also manages to pay homage to some of the great iconic Batman images of all time. With nods to the definitive cover of Frank Miller’s 1986 four-issue mini-series “The Dark Knight Returns” as well as to the distinctive art-style of Warner Brothers’ 1992 “Batman: The Animated Series” all being readily recognisable despite something of a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ “dynamic Scooby-duo” makeover.

Writer: Sholly Fisch, Artist: Dario Brizuela, and Colorist: Heroic Age

Daredevil #5 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL No. 5, September 2014

Created in 1964 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, the character of Franklin P. “Foggy” Nelson appears to have always been overshadowed by some of the more colourful (and villainous) supporting cast members found within the “Daredevil” comic book series. This is despite the fact that he has been Matt Murdock’s friend (and later partner) since they were roommates whilst studying at Columbia Law School, and thus been there since the series' very beginning.

With Issue Five of “Daredevil” storytellers Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have attempted to do something to redress this imbalance, focussing on the Harvard graduate’s battle with Ewing’s sarcoma and purported death at the hands of (a new) Leapfrog. Unfortunately the creative team do not really seem to know what sort of story this twenty-one page tale is supposed to be or seemingly what direction to take it in. Initially appearing a sentimental yarn, as a sombre Matt Murdock addresses a crowd filled street at his friend’s large-scale funeral, the atmosphere suddenly turns prickly as Nelson, fatigued following his medical treatment, angrily protests at the suggestion that he needs to fictitiously die in order to be safe now everyone knows he’s Daredevil’s best buddy. But then without warning the plot becomes something of a light-hearted action romp as one of the most ludicrous-looking villains to ever grace this title’s pages literally leaps from beneath the surface of a boating lake and threatens to gun down the two friends.

Bizarrely however, that isn’t what the “giant green metal tank” operating assassin has in mind though. Rather than simply shoot Foggy with his mini-gun or crush him to death with one of his pincer arms, the criminal stows the sick lawyer within his metal shell and then sets the robotic-looking suit’s self-destruct so that “people will remember Daredevil in this moment forever!”

Fortuitously this overly complicated and destructive plan provides old Hornhead with the perfect situation for him to engineer Nelson’s fake death with the help of a microscopically-sized Hank Pym; who co-incidentally just happens to be travelling inside Foggy as Ant-Man, in an effort to eradicate any circulating tumour cells. Preposterous is an understatement as the situation smacks of being an unconvincing concoction of events solely engineered by the former “Captain America” writer to allow him to supposedly ‘kill off’ the former District Attorney in as explosive a manner as possible.

Doubtless as disappointed with the substandard storyline as the title’s slowly diminishing audience, artist Chris Samnee fails to provide the comic with anything more than workmanlike pencilling. In particular the design and look of Leapfrog’s giant large-limbed walker suit is dishearteningly awful, as is the mint-coloured technologically enhanced leotard which the villain himself is shown to be wearing once he has evacuated his murderous machine.

Storytellers: Mark Waid & Chris Samnee, and Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Batman #7 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 7, May 2012

Whilst writer Scott Snyder’s stance of trying to “give the artist room to flex his muscles, because you want him to shine on the book too” is very laudable. It is hard to imagine illustrator Greg Capullo being especially pleased with the substantial space afforded him within Issue Seven of “Batman”. For very little actually occurs within its twenty page narrative despite events having ‘moved forward’ a significant period of time since the previous edition ended. Instead all a slowly declining readership of 127,402 had to essentially enjoy was a lengthy dialogue-heavy sequence housed within the Batcave, where a somewhat unstable-looking Dark Knight provides Nightwing with a plethora of explanatory speeches as to just who the Talon is and that by taking an adolescent Dick Grayson under his wing, Bruce Wayne actually ‘saved’ the former acrobat from being recruited as an assassin of the Court of Owls.

Unfortunately this convoluted conversational piece lasts for eight pages, and disconcertingly only ends when the billionaire back-hands the former Robin hard enough to dislodge one of Grayson’s teeth. Admittedly the motivation behind such a bloody assault upon his ex-partner is to remove a tiny owl-shaped molar ‘’poisoning’ him with electrum, and the violent manner with which it’s done highlights how poor Batman’s thinking currently is. But the youth's reaction, to simply walk away whilst telling Bruce “I don’t care…” seems a rather restrained response bearing in mind just moments before he was struck in the face, Dick was angrily and passionately yelling at his mentor.

Disagreeably this rather uninspiring confrontation is not the only disappointment to befall Snyder’s usually enthralling storyline, as the American bewilderingly never actually explains just how the Caped Crusader managed to escape the watery grave he was last seen falling into either. Mentally and physically exhausted by his torturous eight days surviving the ‘Court of Owls Maze’ the crime-fighter apparently didn’t have the strength to break the thick surface ice preventing his getaway from Gotham Harbour… And yet “The Talons Strike!” starts with the Dark Knight being resuscitated by a mysterious young girl and Alfred informing him that the butler had seen “the hole in the ice.” So just how did the heavy muscular vigilante get from the bottom of the seabed into the van of Harper’s boss? Such explanations should not have to sought or clarified by visiting the “DC Comics Database”. 

Sadly having been given such a lack-lustre tale to illustrate, Greg Capullo’s pencilling appears uninspired at best. Snyder’s faith in the American artist being able to draw an entire issue simply concentrating of characters conversing with one another “because I know that he can add some subtleties to their expressions really, really well” is naively optimistic. For there are only so many different ways of drawing the same pair of ice-blue eyes, staring moodily from within a scowling visage.

The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 7 by Dustin Nguyen

'68 Jungle Jim #3 - Image Comics

'68 JUNGLE JIM No. 3, June 2013

Creator Mark Kidwell has made it clear that he likes to keep his “readers off their footing” by jumping “to an altogether different branch of the ’68 narrative.” And clearly there are many who enjoy his “individual” and “preferred style of storytelling”, or else his Vietnam-based zombie comic book series would not be an award-winning one. But with “Hellhole: Change… It Had To Come” the special effects creature designer has arguably written a somewhat disorientating third instalment to this four-issue mini-series by having the comic’s ongoing storyline suddenly occur in the past as opposed to the present. As a result for the first eleven pages the blood-drenched action is recounted by both Private Brian Curliss and Miss Manon, and whilst the marine’s ‘voice’ is quickly recognisable, the narration of "Jungle Mother" is a little harder to fathom until the book’s twelfth page makes it obvious.

However even this revelation, a single page depicting the inhabitants of the Salut Glen Mission recovering from the presence of the Viet Cong and subsequent attack of “the Dead”, is unwelcome as it pedestrian pace jars horribly with the fast-flowing tale which occurred beforehand. For one moment the reader is having their senses overloaded with scenes of depravity and torture, most notably the already violated evangelist having her face licked by a gestalt of living corpses, and in the next instant Trang is slowly waking up in a hospital bed having had his life-changing wounds dressed and bandaged. Fortunately for the loyal “‘68 Jungle Jim” gore fans, the gruesome bloodbath of wickedness continues, almost unabated, on the following page, with one hapless Viet Cong soldier having his eyes chewed out of his head by a limbless torso, and the French missionary losing an unhealthy chunk of right forearm to a “smart” zombie. 

Disappointingly Kidwell’s decision to keep ‘mixing-up’ his storytelling methodology by occasionally flitting back from the gruesome past to the present, continues to interfere with the harrowing course of the zombies’ ‘brain-fest’ battle with the murderous guerrillas. Albeit these “quick cuts” actually allow those readers unused to such graphic depictions of sexual assault, wanton bodily mutilation and more eyeballs popping out of the head than even an ophthalmologist could track, to at least momentarily catch their breath before their senses are once again assailed with more horrifically chilling blood-letting.

Artist Jeff Zornow delivers some stunningly gruesome single-page splashes during this issue. Most notably a (worryingly cuddly-looking) tiger stalking away from the partially chewed heads of two zombies and then later the arrival of ‘Jungle Jim’ at the ramshackle children’s shelter as Curliss decapitates one living cadaver with a machete and sprays the foliage with the brain matter of several others. Infuriatingly though the Brooklyn-based illustrator’s less gruesome drawings, such as those showing the Mission staff or an unmasked Brian ‘enjoying’ some quieter moments, are far less satisfactory or consistent. Indeed in many ways the undisciplined pencilling looks positively rushed, almost as if Zornow was eager to dispense with the sedentary scenes and swiftly return to his well-detailed depictions of reanimated corpses causing carnage.

The variant cover art of "'68 JUNGLE JIM" No. 3 by Nat Jones and Jay Fotos