Star Wars #6 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS No. 6, August 2015

One of the biggest disappointments of the 1983 motion picture “Return Of The Jedi” is arguably the lamentably brief battle upon one of Jabba the Hutt’s desert skiffs between notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett and the Galactic Empire’s greatest threat, Luke Skywalker. Some thirty years later and writer Jason Aaron has attempted to partially correct George Lucas’ fifty second oversight by dedicating the vast majority of his final instalment of the “Skywalker Strikes” story-arc to just such a colossal contest.

Admittedly in many ways depicting an early encounter between the young inexperienced rebel pilot and the ruthless son of Jango was always going to fall short of the excitement their cinematic clash should have generated. After all the former moisture farmer has yet to become “a true Jedi” and as the murderous mercenary himself states during their comic book confrontation Luke is so overmatched that he ‘shouldn’t be able to fight him’.

Surprisingly though the Alabama-born author does a very good job of infusing this ten-page long battle scene with plenty of excitement, urgency and action. Indeed the frantic pace of the two combatants as they exchange blows within the claustrophobic confines of Obi Wan Kenobi’s home on Tatooine is genuinely worthy of being official canon. Especially as it provides an increasingly frustrated Fett with some great moments as his supposedly easy prey continuously outwits and outfights him despite being temporarily blinded by a flash grenade before the contest even started.

Far less successful are the scenes involving Han Solo’s awkward attempt to seduce Leia Organa on an “oasis” planet hidden “underneath an atmosphere… of the most violent electrical storms.” The stilted dialogue is as clumsy as the Corellian smuggler’s unromantic advances towards the Princess, and the fact this sequence intermittently interrupts Skywalker’s ferocious battle with Boba makes the entire scene all the more intrusively unwelcome. To make matters worse however Aaron also decides to use this disagreeable interlude in order to introduce the scoundrel’s wife, Sana Solo into the ‘Star Wars Universe.

Sadly Issue Six of “Star Wars” is also the last edition to be drawn by Eisner Award-winner John Cassaday. The American artist’s departure is particularly disheartening as his illustration work throughout this book is simply stunning, especially when it comes to his pencilling of the Mandalorian-armoured bounty hunter’s tense dual with the light-sabre wielding Luke.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS" No. 6 by John Cassaday and Laura Martin

Wytches #3 - Image Comics

WYTCHES No. 3, December 2014

It is not surprising that Scott Snyder begins his editorial for this title by stating “how overwhelmed (and stunned)” both he and the magazine’s creative team were that this book had ‘to go back to the press”. For its doubtful that any of the 43,240 purchasers of Issue Three of “Wytches” realised just how increasingly disappointing and unbelievably ‘choppy’ this “Image Comics” publication was going to become when this series first saw print.

Indeed without having an exhaustive recollection of the story’s previous two instalments, there is little doubt that any reader of such unfollowable meanderings will quickly get lost within the plot’s unrecognisable timeline. Especially as rather than resolve the double cliff-hanger from his prior periodical, the New Yorker instead takes any perusing bibliophile back to a time when the Rooks Family were playing ‘hide and seek’ within the claustrophobic confines of ‘The World’s Largest’ tube maze.

Flash forwards three years and Snyder abruptly jumps to a time when Charlie and Lucy are looking for their daughter in the woods having found the school bus she earlier stole crashed nearby. Anxious, fearful, angry and agitated the missing girl’s father is understandably upset when the Authorities question the veracity of his story about the “decrepit”, legless old woman who was terrorising him just hours earlier.

Followers of this book will almost certainly have been experiencing similar emotions for it is only now, a third of the way through the issue, that the American author finally starts to provide some pieces as to what has previously taken place to the frustrated parent… and even then the matter is dissatisfyingly resolved within the space of a handful of panels as Charlie admits to passing out when the 'crone' started torturing him “and when I woke up… there were no marks on me, and she was gone”.

Fortunately this terrifying trip into the writer’s childhood memories finally starts to gather momentum as the disillusioned protagonist decides to “go look for Sailor” on his own, and encounters an all too familiar hole within a tree from which a mutilated Reginald despairing calls for help. Desperate to aid the man, Charlie starts to bash the tree with a large rock only to discover that the “hollow wouldn’t fit a dog.” Disturbing, captivating stuff which is sadly ruined by Snyder once again inexplicably hurling events back in time without warning and midway through a page…

Equally as annoying as the New Yorker’s inability to keep the sequence of key events simple, is Matt Hollingsworth’s overly heavy application of “hero spatter” across the artwork of Mark Simpson. Admittedly at times the colorist’s initial manual sprinklings are rather atmospheric and impactive. But for the vast majority of this issue the watercolour and acrylic splodges actually make it rather hard to see Jock’s inks and more importantly, what is actually taking place within the panels.

The variant cover art of "WYTCHES" No. 3 by Declan Shalvey

Uber #8 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 8, November 2013

As a title which “depicts an alternate World War Two in which the Third Reich develops powerful superhuman soldiers” this particular edition of “Uber” definitely lacks any action, despite its events initially taking place “two hours before the Second battle of Kursk.” Indeed the twenty-two page dialogue heavy magazine makes it abundantly clear as to why “this one takes the prize for the most number of rewrites… so far” by creator Kieron Gillen. For it does little more than document the Russian Motherland's own murderously dangerous journey to create "dragons of her own."

But whilst arguably being “a horrible issue”, this first in a two-part story-arc which covers “the scale of human sacrifice on the Eastern Front” still contains some incredibly compelling storytelling, with the British writer’s version of “Uncle Joe Stalin” proving to be an especially captivating character to read about. Grim faced and ‘cold of judgement', the tyrant is a terrifyingly convincing clinical despot, who quickly rationalises that in order to produce his own ‘panzermensch’ he must brutally sacrifice almost half a million of his countrymen to a deadly substance that almost always kills in the most horrifically painful way imaginable; “Do it.”

Equally as harsh is the behaviour of the NKVD Officer in charge of ensuring that the 420,000 survivors of the Berlin rout 'voluntarily' “place the blotting paper” on their tongues. The political Commissar is emotionally and physically exhausted having found none who are susceptible to the catalyst despite “doing this all day”. Yet whilst he has clearly been unsettled by his orders and their agonisingly bloody results, the law enforcement agent remains steadfast in his duty to see them through to the end and ensure that his comrades “die for a better tomorrow”. In fact the 'political policeman' shows himself to be as callously calculating a killer as his Premier when “Katusyha Maria”, having witnessed the carnage of her colleague’s gory deaths, refuses to “swallow the paper” and screams at the man to “just shoot me in the head!”

With such a sedentary script Caanan White has little action with which to invigorate the reader’s eye, and as a result is clearly not at his artistic best throughout this comic book. In fact the vast majority of his illustrations are merely disappointingly competent, with the African-American’s caricature of Joseph Stalin arguably being the highlight of an otherwise unremarkably drawn issue.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 8 by Caanan White

Batman Beyond #2 - DC Comics

BATMAN BEYOND No. 2, September 2015

Having introduced any prospective “readers… to who Batman Beyond is, what the world is, and who else might be there as quickly as we can” in this title’s opening edition, Dan Jurgens takes something of a step backwards from such global grandeur in this second instalment of “Brave New Worlds”, and instead simply concentrates upon the powerless superhero’s survival within a “processing” prison for Brother Eye. Such a simplification of his story’s earlier scope really lets the former “Superman” penciller pay a good deal of attention to the exploits of Tim Drake and as a result the story’s futuristic events are far easier to understand for any bibliophile who hasn’t read almost a year’s worth of “Future’s End” back-issues.

The Minnesota-born writer is also able to utilise a rather elderly-looking Barbara Gordon to inform both Batman and the reader as to just who the villains of this piece are and what they are doing. Admittedly it’s pretty clear from Bernard Chang’s artwork that the Lodge’s ‘terminator-like’ cyborgs are to be avoided whilst the simpleton-faced inmates to be pitied. But the former Batgirl provides plenty of backstory as to how this “world has become a rather awful place” due to the Eye spending “years infiltrating computer networks and data systems worldwide.”

Followers of the “Warner Brothers” 1999 animated series “Batman Of The Future” will find little to disappoint them with this integration of their beloved cowled crimefighter “into the DC Universe”  either. For having introduced a Victor Stone who has bizarrely somehow retained more of his physical body than his previous incarnation did as Cyborg, Jurgens has Drake additionally confront Inque; “Terry’s most dangerous foe” from the television programme.

Indeed the shape-shifting femme fatale’s introduction really imbues the American author’s narrative with some much needed pizzazz. Especially as it coincides with Tim’s ability to recharge and thus reactivate the Batsuit; albeit “the suit will be less than fully functional, sir.” Such a classic clash between this “new improved version” of the Dark Knight and McGinnis’ powerful adversary is an absolute delight despite its brevity, and even provides the opportunity for some nice interplay between Drake and his digitised butler Alfred.

Disappointingly Bernard Chang’s illustrations whilst competent do little to add to a rather exciting action-packed issue. In fact the Asian American artist arguably has some extremely ‘wobbly’ moments whilst trying to depict the numerous brainwashed inmates of the Lodge, with his rendition of a pink-haired ‘zombified’ Max towards the end of the comic proving especially disturbing and peculiar. It is also not clear why Marcelo Maiolo seems to think it’s a good idea to leave the odd panel predominantly white with garishly red inking instead of colouring them as normal. 

Admittedly such a monotone technique makes these small scenes ‘pop’ from the page. But there doesn’t seem to be any particular rhyme or reason as to why certain pictures are chosen for this effect. Something which quickly lessens their visual impact and essentially makes the blood rouge ‘mini-sodes’ an annoyance rather than an artistic enhancement.

The variant cover art of "BATMAN BEYOND" No. 2 by Andy Kubert and Brad Anderson

Marvel Two-In-One #4 - Marvel Comics

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE No. 4, July 1974

Sporting an incredibly dynamic and pulse-pounding cover of The Thing and ‘Sentinel of Liberty’ battling a horde of futuristic Zoms by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott, “Doomsday 3014!” is sadly not “the most titanic team-up ever… in this, the Marvel Age of comics!” But Steve Gerber’s eighteen-page long narrative isn’t an especially bad one either. It’s simply a storyline which comes in two parts and disappointingly the first half is a rather lack-lustre low-brow affair as a particularly grim-faced “Unca Ben-Jee” takes the child-like super-powered Wundarr for an ill-conceived stroll through “Central Park Zoo on a sunny day in New York.”

Admittedly this sojourn into the domestic life of Benjamin Grimm provides plenty of humour and surreal comic book moments, such as the long-haired refugee from Dakkam innocently trying to show an escaped Lion his pretty pink balloon, or The Thing’s rocky hide being harmlessly “gnawed on” by the self-same king of the jungle. However there is little sense of peril to any of these shenanigans and even Captain America is inauspiciously utilised to accomplish nothing more than deal with a handful of “Hoods--taking advantage of the confusion… Looting the deserted concession stands!”

Fortunately the Eagle Award-winner’s writing significantly picks up pace once the mysterious Tarin is inadvertently transported back to ‘our time’ thanks to Ben accidentally activating Dr.Doom’s Time Machine; “Captured after F.F. #5 – Guess Who!” Such clunky lazy story-telling is undeniably a somewhat unsatisfactory way for Gerber to introduce a personality who would go on to become ‘President of Earth’ in the Nineties “Guardians Of The Galaxy” series. Yet the human mutate’s innocuous ‘bump’ into Victor’s time-travelling device does at least set up the motivation behind why the founding member of the Fantastic Four would accompany the “frail girl in a flashy future-suit” back to her time and “lend them Guardians a hand!”

In fact the subsequent four pages of almost non-stop action are the highlight of the magazine, and genuinely live up to the high expectations set by Kane’s aforementioned cover illustration. Possibly the red-suited blank-eyed Zoms aren’t the most impressive of villainous minions ever created by “Marvel Comics Group” during the Bronze Age of Comics, especially with their delicate looking horned headbands. But the quite ludicrously named “Monster of Badoon” proves a suitably impressive adversary for the ‘ever lovin’ blue-eyed Thing’, even if the green-skinned three-fingered behemoth does look as bad as its name sounds.

In addition this comic contains some wonderfully characterful artwork by Silvio “Sal” Buscema, an artist who is clearly capable of bestowing upon Ben Grimm’s typically stony unreadable face all manner of emotions. Indeed the inkwell Award-winner’s drawings of The Thing sending the Zoms flying with a swipe of a broken lamp-post or the super-strong hero’s battle with a giant gorilla are as energetic and ‘full of life’ as you could want a penciller to sketch.

Writer: Steve Gerber, Artist: Sal Buscema and Inker: Frank Giacoia

Daredevil #9 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL No. 9, December 2014

Considering that at its most basic level the plot to Issue Nine of “Daredevil” simply consists of a group of young orphans stealing and then driving a marked police vehicle, Mark Waid’s narrative manages to create an incredible amount of ominous tension and suspense. Indeed the creepy nature of the Alabama-born writer’s youngsters genuinely replicates the fright and fear generated by notable horror luminaries such as Stephen King, with his 1977 short story “Children of the Corn”, and John Wyndham, who wrote “The Midwich Cuckoos” (a.k.a. “Village of the Damned”) in 1957.

Much of this pervading aura of claustrophobia and ‘sense of dreadful foreboding’ is undoubtedly due to the dark, highly atmospheric artwork of Chris Samnee and colorist Matthew Wilson. For in using a muted palette of purples, blues, greens, yellows alongside eerie silhouettes, the creative team manage to imbue the five sinister-looking adolescents as they wordlessly walk the streets of San Francisco with a genuine aura of menace. So much so that it is little wonder any person foolish enough to make eye contact with Doctor Zebediah Killgrave’s offspring stagger away screaming in silent agonised terror.

Such a wonderfully oppressive and suffocating ambience is heightened still further by the unexpected and rather gruesomely bloody return from the County Morgue’s slab of a seemingly ‘zombified’ Purple Man… plip plap “Gnnngh--!” “It… doesn’t… hurt…” In fact the Harvey Award-winning artist has arguably been just as influenced by 'gore gurus' such as George A. Romero, as his fellow story-teller Mark Waid has. For the concluding splash page to “Purple Reign”, disconcertingly depicting a gashed, broken shambling effigy of Killgrave looming over the convulsing beaten body of Daredevil, scarily smacks of something inspired by the American-Canadian film director’s celluloid body of work.

Disappointingly such a well-crafted incredibly illustrated ‘frightfest’ is unfortunately let down by the inclusion of a bizarrely jovial and oddly out of place scene depicting a supposedly heavily-disguised Foggy Nelson wearing a ridiculously inept ill-fitting fat-suit. The somewhat lengthy sequence, which focus’ upon whether the blind lawyer is ready to face his past trials and tribulations whilst writing “the most depressing book in the world” sadly ‘brings very little to the party’ except interrupt the reader’s immersion in the sinister shenanigans of the fear-provoking purple-skinned children.  

Storytellers: Mark Waid & Chris Samnee, and Colorist: Matthew Wilson

The Walking Dead #125 - Image Comics

THE WALKING DEAD No. 125, April 2014

There’s an incredible amount of ‘talk’ going on within the pages of this penultimate chapter to “All Out War”. In fact little of anything else actually takes place, with perhaps the notable exception of Paul “Jesus” Monroe and Michonne under-estimating the numbers of undead “in and around the Hilltop”… And even this ‘brush’ with the comic’s ever-present roaming threat is a dishearteningly brief fleeting one. Instead creator Robert Kirkman decides to subject the reader to a tediously tiresome series of scenes where those infected by Negan’s poisonous blades slowly succumb to their fatal injuries and Rick Grimes once again demonstrates why he’s the leader of the survivors by giving his devoted followers yet another morale-boosting speech.

Admittedly some of this dialogue is very well written, especially Nicholas’ dying words to his wife and Carl’s impassioned advice to the dead man’s young son, Mikey. But any reader who thought that the former police deputy’s “I’m not sick… it just hurts” sermon would spell the end of this issue’s sluggishly-paced character-driven plot, was clearly in for a bitter disappointment. For not even the sudden arrival of the Saviour’s profanity-fuelled leader at the settlement’s front gates manages to motivate the “Image Comics” partner into infusing his narrative with any actual pulse-pounding action.

Rather the word count demoralizingly actually increases as a result of Negan’s confrontation with Grimes and unbelievably even reaches the point where the two foes do absolutely nothing but converse with one another for almost half the length of the book. Such a monotonous technique may prove an acceptable methodology within the medium of a ‘collected works’, compendium or graphic novel. It is not however an eminently sensible practice to use for a twenty-two page periodical. Regardless as to whether the title is published every two weeks or not.

Long-time artist Charlie Adlard must have found his pencilling skills as stretched as the patience of this comic’s 66,741 followers. For at times the English illustrator appears so completely at a loss as to how to populate the blank sheet before him that he just draws a single splash-panel depicting the psychopathic tyrant swearing. Indeed towards the end of this book the Shrewsbury-born sketcher appears so dispirited with the endless discourse that he starts to either simply replicate precisely the same image of Rick over and over again, or depict exactly the same scene, such as Negan holding has hand over his mouth, just from different angles. Such artistic ‘padding out’ only adds to the sheer dreariness and tedium of the entire edition.

Writer: Robert Kirkman, Penciller: Charlie Adlard, and Inker: Stefano Gaudiano