The post-holiday doldrums are over. At least comics-wise they are; my own doldrums continue unabated. I was seven hours late to work today, and I’m blaming an almost lethal malaise for that.
I did buy quite a few comics, however, and that almost always cheers me up. I have too many to review here (because I’m long-winded), and some of them were so good I’d really like to dig into why they’re so enjoyable (and I’m long-winded). Allow me to inhale deeply, and then we’ll get to it.
Legion of Super-Heroes 9 is a book I recently started reading after years of ignoring it. The main reason I finally picked it up is Paul Levitz, who returned to scripting the book after toiling for years as DC’s publisher. I really like Levitz as a writer, and despite having very limited familiarity with any of the Legionnaires, I find the book compelling. This is largely due to Levitz’s skill with characterization, but his ability to cram a lot of words into every issue also appeals to me (go figure). Levitz’s stories are extra-dense, rife with characters and side plots and little scenes that maybe don’t relate to the main arc right now, but seem to be setting up something down the line. The current story involves the Legion trying to prevent the shape changing Durlan race from killing more United Planet officials in a misguided attempt at vengeance. I’m fuzzy on why this is important, but I’m enjoying the story. Yildiray Cinar and Wayne Faucher’s art enhances the experience, as the pair have a super-clean style that’s reminiscent of a more dynamic Silver Age aesthetic.
Amazing Spider-Man 652 is another story-heavy type of comic. Let me count the ways I love Dan Slott this week.
1. Spider Slayer has created an army of insectoid villains from people who were adversely affected by J. Jonah Jameson’s days as Bugle publisher.
2. Mary Jane definitely seems to be pining for Peter Parker back in her life, and that’s as it should be.
3. Peter Parker does a fruity little disco roller skating routine that is hilariously illustrated by Stefano Caselli.
4. Pete walks into a glass door and ends up in the hospital with gauze noseplugs.
5. This:
6. You know, I could keep doing this until the list is longer than the comic. If you have any fondness for the superhero comic as an artform and as entertainment, you should be reading Amazing Spider-Man.
Thor 619 is kinda turning in to the opposite of Amazing Spider-Man. Matt Fraction’s “I’m wrecking Asgard all over again in ways no one has ever seen” storyline continues, and it’s losing steam. I say that as a Thor fan. I want this book to be awesome, and the past few months I’ve been underwhelmed. Today I actually groaned when I saw it on the racks, as if my involuntary nervous system was rebelling against buying a Thor book, and I’m genetically predisposed to buying Thor. This month, Thor has awakened Odin, who airs some grievances against his son for the way he’s been handling things in the old man’s absence, and the main gripe just so happens to be, “Why did you bring Loki back to life?” This is a gripe I had two months ago, so I’m glad Odin sees it my way. This being a Matt Fraction book, Kid Loki escapes Odin’s wrath by hopping in a conveniently-placed car and driving away — it’s neither as entertaining nor as fun as it sounds. Oh, and *SPOILER ALERT* Balder is totally eviscerated by the bad guys. I guess he’s dead now; that plot twist is so old it predates modern English. I sigh heavily and sink back into my malaise …
Ooooh, Tiny Titans 36 — malaise is gone. A rare book-length story rather than a series of vignettes, this month’s tale features Kid Devil and Hotspot cooking hot dogs by firing up their head flames, and then a journey to the center of the earth with Terra and Beast Boy where they meet a certain demon who speaks only in rhyme. Oh, and there’s also a very huggy girl Tyrannosaurus Rex in this month’s issue. Awesome? Oh, indeed it is.
I’ve had a steady stream of Errol Flynn movies on my Netflix lately, because they give you exactly what’s advertised. You get a handsome, witty man fighting against evil, you get a beautiful woman who’s nowhere near helpless, and you get a lot of fantastic action scenes — and often, you get an Eric Korngold score, to boot. The same could be said for IDW’s Dungeons & Dragons 3, minus the Korngold. John Rogers is writing an episodic, character driven story with lots of fight scenes, Andrea Di Vito provides beautiful visuals and beautiful women, and the whole thing is a great deal of fun under any name. Is it breaking new ground? No, not really. But it’s a solid comic that gives you exactly what the name advertises. And as I said last month, Bree Three-Hands the Halfling rogue is quickly becoming a favorite character of mine — she buckles a swash as well as Errol, and she’s as wry as Han Solo. This is good stuff.
Now, if you’ll excuse me a moment, it’s the time of month where I rave a bit about Northlanders. Issue #36 marks three years of Brian Woods’ viking crime stories, and I’m both amazed that it lasted this long and grateful that it has. This month’s issue finishes the two-part “The Girl In the Ice” story, and now that it’s all done, I can honestly say this is the last thing I would have considered for a viking crime story. Our titular character is a dead girl found in a frozen lake, her discoverer is an old man named Jon who is outraged by the snuffing out of a young life, and no one in the story is engaged in the heroic exploits of the sagas. What can I say? I loved it. Becky Cloonan’s art is amazing in a peculiar way — she draws a bird’s eye view of Reykjavik as a huddled knot of tents and sheds hugging the coastline that graphically demonstrates the precariousness of life in this world.
Woods uses the death of a child as a point of departure for exploring the marginalized characters of history, namely women, children and the elderly. Jon is heroic, make no mistake — he risks everything to attempt to provide a proper burial for the corpse of the young girl. Jon provides a point of view on the viking world that is contrary to everything that makes a great saga. He’s powerless and at the whim of the bloodthirsty men who run Iceland, and so we see how terrifying it would actually be to live that way. If you’re young and a man, you can pick up the axe and attempt to change the world; if you’re not, you’re seen as a potential victim. Jon knows he’s too old to be useful to the warring clans, but he’s driven by his humanity to find out who this girl was and where she belonged. It’s not a spoiler to say he finds out the answer to that enigma, but it would be a spoiler to reveal all that he learns. Months ago I wrote about Northlanders that the final issues in any arc always leave me breathless as I race to find out if the main character survives the story; I also mentioned that I’m always surprised whether they do or don’t live. This month is no exception.
For sheer delight in the art of comics, I would say Northlanders is the best thing I read this week. If you’re not into the whole viking mise en scene, I’d highly recommend Amazing Spider-Man as the best thing. If you’re looking for a great team book that provides a great deal of story for your buck, I’d point you to Legion of Super-Heroes. If you can’t find something delightful about one of these three titles, I’m not sure you actually like comic books.
-Paul
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