In all the world, there is one constant. The sun coming up in the east? No, someday the sun will burn out. The one constant is me and Northlanders — Brian Wood will write it, and I will love it and rave about it in this space. Prepare for the worst: The sky’s gone out.
Northlanders 41 Thor’s Daughter is a standalone about Birna, a 14-year old girl in the Outer Hebrides (those islands off the west coast of Scotland), having to fend for herself now that her father is dead. It opens with her killing a man, then flashes back to why she’s killing him, and then resumes in the moment after the killing. The fractured narrative diminishes the forward momentum of the story, but what’s worse is that it feels like a page is missing. How does Birna go from being helpless and on her own to having her father’s henchman rally around her? No idea. I’ve read this three times trying to figure out how exactly she got to the opening page, and I still don’t know. I shouldn’t have to create her greatest moment of character development in my head. Marian Churchland’s art is brilliant, however, and David McCaig’s washed-out color palette looks like it was done with colored pencils, and it’s almost enough to save the whole thing. I expect an awful lot from Brian Wood as a storyteller, so this may be a case of my expectations not being met. If you read it and loved it, lemme know. Brian Wood is now 40 and 1 on my scorecard.
I was bummed by the Northlanders let-down, so I immediately read Tiny Titans 41, because Tiny Titans always lifts my spirits. The Fast Issue stars Kid Flash and the other fast titans running around, racing one another and looking for lemonade– don’t let its simplicity fool you into thinking it’s not a good time, because it most certainly is. Kid Flash behaves like your typical little kid who’s eaten three pounds of Sweet Tarts for breakfast, shouting inappropriately and getting excited about stuff like sharp pencils. How sharp are they, KF? “Flashpoint” sharp. D’oh! Blue Beetle also makes an appearance, and Art Baltazar’s rendition of him makes me wish there was an ongoing monthly for this version of the character, with Baltazar naturally penciling the deal.
Kirby Genesis 1 doesn’t have quite the same crackle that the zero issue had. I think that’s because the zero issue was an exercise in “Look at this! And this! Can you believe this?,” while this issue is more concerned with introducing our human characters (Kirby, young college-age sci-fi loving smart guy, and Bobbi, his beautiful/smart/confident best friend since childhood) and setting an actual plot in motion. Kurt Busiek’s script does these things well, and it’s nice to see so many words per page — few comic writers bother to actually write this much anymore, and I prefer a big script. Jack Herbert’s art is fine, but as soon as Alex Ross comes in with a page it just makes me wish Ross was doing all the art for this. I think that would be true for anyone Dynamite selected for the job — Ross’ art attracts attention like few artists’ work does.
I believe I bought Alpha Flight when I was younger solely because of Guardian’s costume — that red and white maple leaf suit is the business. I’m pretty sure I bought Alpha Flight Fear Itself 1 because look at Guardian on the cover. The Fred Van Lente/Greg Pak writing team sets up an interesting set of problems for the team in this, namely, the Alphas are all alive again and beloved by Canada, and Canada’s Prime Minister just activated a law that makes the Patriot Act look like a lax babysitter’s rules by comparison. I ain’t crazy about the new x-treme Marrina, but that’s balanced somewhat by the return of Sasquatch and the depiction of Northstar in a loving, committed relationship with his boyfriend, Kyle. (Sidebar: Is Kyle’s unseen sister Stevie the same Stevie who used to teach dance at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters back in the 80s? [Interior Sidebar: Man, Chris Claremont was awesome when he was at the top of his game.] It’s a stretch, sure, but the two teams do have shared history. Also, whatever happened to Stevie and her bum knee? Old guys who lost a decade demand answers.) I do wish this book was not a Fear Itself tie-in, because I don’t want any part of that, but I suspect I’m gonna buy all eight of these. Partly out of nostalgia, yes, but also because I think the Van Lente/Pak team has proven they know how to work with Marvel’s lesser characters and make them interesting.
Will it surprise you to know that I find Conan to be interesting? (Note to Jim Mosley: ZIP IT.) Island of No Return 1, by the unexpected team of Ron Marz and Bart Sears, is meat-and-potatoes Conan. He’s in trouble with the town guard, he fortuitously meets up with two beautiful warrior women who bail him out, and in return they demand he accompany them on a thieving job that requires his expertise. This has the feel of any number of highly enjoyable Savage Sword of Conan stories, and I’m fine with this — I welcome this in fact, because it’s not another adaptation of an REH original. Bart Sears still has that heavy-lined style that can veer from highly dynamic to overly-blobby all on one page, but he gives Conesy a suitably brutal face that I find suits the big Cimmerian very well. A solid effort from a pair of creators I haven’t checked out in quite a while.
Dungeons and Dragons 8 was actually on the racks this week, so I feel safe reviewing it since anybody can buy it. And I would urge anyone who likes their sword & sorcery leavened with humor to check it out, whether you’ve played the world’s greatest RPG or not. John Rogers and Andrea Di Vito dump our well-balanced party (racially and class-wise) into the Feywild, the mystical wilderness realm where time and space operate differently than here in this world. Rogers really has a firm grasp on how these characters relate to one another, and there’s none of the “Ye Olde Tough Guy Smacke Talke” that sometimes crops in these things. This is a serious and action-packed adventure yarn that just happens to star elves and dwarves and gnomes and such. It’s worth noting that after two issues of fill-in artists, Andrea Di Vito’s return is very welcome. His crisp and lively action scenes are easy to follow, and he’s adroit at depicting a range of expressions other than “open mouth screaming” or “open mouth horror” or “open mouth shock.” D&D is unpretentious and unrepentant entertainment, and that’s worth celebrating. In fact, it’s the best thing I read this week.
-Paul
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