|
|
 |
 |
|
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
More Comics Round-up
Now with WonderCon a memory let's look at some of last week's comic as a whole new batch descends upon us today. Something struck me about the comics I purchased a week ago. It seems genre comics' pulpy roots were showing pretty strongly in three of the books I picked up.
The Spirit #14: I loved Darwyn Cooke's run on this title. Cooke clearly knew the immense shadow Will Eisner casts on anyone trying to tell new Spirit stories. He made the choice to barrel ahead in his own way, picking up story ideas from modern times and drawing it all in his beautiful noir-yet-animated style. It stayed true to Eisner's approach to comics but it stayed clear of become an exercise in nostalgia.
I don't think Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragones and Mike Ploog (inked by Mark Farmer) are interested in simple nostalgia either. But their Spirit stories can't help but feel more old-school. The biggest reason is of course Ploog is a protege of Eisner. His style features those big rounded figures and faces similar to what Eisner drew. None of the storytelling trickery Eisner employed in stories like "Ten Minutes" appear. Granted, there's no reason for Ploog to pull off any grand feats with the art when Evanier and Aragones are just telling a slight mystery story. The Spirit and Dolan are their familiar selves and there is some comedy with the elderly suspects but there's nothing gripping or memorable going on here.
I must say I miss the mania that Cooke employed in his stories where you got gangsters turning into zombies and murderous TV show hosts. Now the book has lost some of its visionary spirit and will probably be a series of mystery tales with only the modest goal to entertain you for fifteen minutes. There's nothing wrong with that. I do think stories like this would be better served as one story amongst many others, not unlike how Detective Comics of old had a Batman lead story and then Elongated Man or Manhunter in the back. Compared to what else is on the stands a book that just wants to tell fun little mysteries might not be long for this world. A collection of stories at least feels more substantial.
I could be wrong mind you. Maybe there will be an issue where the writing team or the artists give us a story that really takes creative advantage of the form. That, after all, is the first thing I think about when I think of Eisner.
Zorro #1: When creating The Spirit Eisner was told to come up with a superhero character. Eisner wasn't as interested in superheroes as the guys signing the checks so he basically created a detective who wore a mask and gloves. With that look the former Denny Colt resembled more the pulp heroes like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow and the character in Dynamite's new licensed book Zorro. I've enjoyed Dynamite's Lone Ranger series by Brett Matthews and Sergio Cariello. Knowing Matt Wagner was writing the similar Zorro I had to give the book a shot.
There are similarities to Lone Ranger in the art by Francesco Francavilla, with colors by Adriano Lucas. Like Cariello there's a warm, cinematic style here. Unlike Lone Ranger, which continues its cinematic style with a deliberate pacing designed to make every gesture Lone Ranger and Tonto make seem epic, Wagner covers a lot of ground in one issue. Francavilla matches him with pages filled with panels, although the storytelling never feels burdensome. The art style actually reminded me of manga-ka like Naoki Urasawa who convey a lot of information across a single page.
The ground Wagner covers is the childhood of Diego De La Vega, whom would go on to become Zorro. That story is told in flashback. There are a few pages in the book that take place in the present where we see the Spanish colonists reacting to the havoc Zorro is creating. Like a lot of superhero books today the main character isn't given a full reveal in the first issue. Rather his presence hangs over the proceedings. It's a storytelling approach that can be problematic but Wagner still fills the book with content. The two messages being communicated is why Diego resents the colonists and that his current form as Zorro is a bad-ass. Enough of the character is still filled in which wouldn't have been the case if the book was just drunken Spanish soldiers going "who the fuck is Zorro?" Wagner and team still have to pull of a great second issue when we see at least some of the main character in action. For right now we have a very well crafted prologue.
The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death: One of my favorite things about my favorite superhero book being published today is how writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction have the intent of creating a whole new franchise in The Immortal Iron Fist. Making Iron Fist a legacy character could have meant that Danny Rand was just another of the hundreds of heroes with daddy issues wondering how he could live up to those who came before blah blah blah. Brubaker and Fraction are more concerned with the number of cool concepts they can create for a comic about mystical kung-fu people. One of those concepts is the Doc Savage-esque former Iron Fist Orson Randall, whose Confederates of the Curious (that name!), included Danny Rand's father Wendell. If the previous two comics reviewed here are pulp characters revisited this is the sentiments of pulp being processed through brand new creations.
The four part part story, penned by Fraction alone, centers around Randall and his team on the run from the eponymous mist, a.k.a. The Prince of Orphans who is seen in the current Seven Capital Cities of Heaven storyline in the regular Immortal Iron Fist book. Here is a Grim Reaper figure. It makes a visceral kind of sense. Randall is always just one step ahead of death and by joining his team his friends are putting themselves in harm's way. Now that aspect of the character given form.
It's a neat idea but Fraction is more concerned with filling in some of the plot of the Capital Cities story arc and throwing in some more crazed villains for Randall. I'm up for all of that but there's a problem in the execution. I love most of the art changes in the regular Iron Fist story, each flashback getting its own visual flavor. Here the book has a weird dynamic where the first two art teams fit the pulp feel perfectly and the second two give the book a more modern feel even though the story still takes place in the past. Nick Dragotta and the Amazing Allreds provide that classic superhero look and Russ Heath in the second story gives a touch of validity to the pulp feel with his energetic and very old-school (we're talking pre-Kirby here) approach. It's a lot of fun, especially the sight of Heath drawing crazed Cowgirl Amazons of the Old West.
Then there's a turn where Lewis LaRaosa, Stefano Gaudiano and Matt Hollingsworth take on the next story, centered around the Frankenstein myth. The book now has a much darker look but I don't see the story as having a darker feel to it than the previous two. Sal Buscema showed up on The Immortal Iron Fist and I think he'd be a perfect choice for a story like this.
The last story I understand the art choice a little better. This is a slower story about Randall and his dying father. It is more modern and Mitch Breitwesier, with Hollingsworth returning on colors, do a good job. For the nine of you who read the Draz the Destroyer mini-series rest assured that Breitweiser has gone beyond the John Cassady imitation he used to employed and his now drawing like a more outsized version of The Immortal Iron Fist's regular artist David Aja. I just wish there had been a greater difference between the look of this story and the last. I know Hollingsworth is a great colorist but it would be nice some variety against the murkiness he gives both stories. It works in the last story but again, we run into my problem with the third.
This one-shot works as an extrapolation of the current Immortal Iron Fist storyline and as further information on who John Aman is. It pales in comparison to what Fraction, Burbaker, Howard Chaykin and Dan Brereton did in the Iron Fist Annual. I'm still excited about the idea of Iron Fist having his own strange world for himself where endless stories exist. I also realize they can't all be gems.
Permanent Link: 10:41 AM |
0 comments
Comments:
-- Home
|
|
