Comic Book Reviews

[zuludelta]

Noticed that the old comic book review thread wasn't migrated over, so with apologies to the guy who started it on the prior version of the boards (was it Prev? Crimsonquill?), here's a new comic book review thread for this iteration of the FR forums (oh, and just so we're clear, this isn't my comic book review thread, it's for everybody to post their comic book reviews, so feel free to post your thoughts here, although maybe it would be a good idea to keep the focus on reviews, and put any in-depth member discussions relating to specific titles in other, more appropriate threads).

GI Joe #1 and #2
Chuck Dixon (Writer)
Robert Atkins (Pencils)
Published by IDW Comics

IDW Comics managed a minor licensing coup at the tail-end of last year, snagging the GI Joe license from Devil's Due Publishing just in time to capitalize on the buzz being generated by the upcoming summer movie.

I've been a fan of the GI Joe: A Real American Hero property for most of my comics-reading life, but I could never get into what Devil's Due was doing with the title. Apart from brief stints on a couple of spin-off titles by Joe guru Larry Hama, it always felt to me that the writers working on the main Devil's Due GI Joe comic were approaching the title as fans first, and professional writers second. As such, there seemed to be an unwieldy balance being maintained on the book, with the writers and editors trying to update the dialogue and setting while hewing to the somewhat dated stylistic quirks of the original Marvel title's writing. And the art, while competent, was, in my mind, a poor fit, much better suited to superhero books than a faux-military title. I could never figure out why they didn't try to find definitive GI Joe artist Ron Wagner or even old-school artist Herb Trimpe... it's not like either guy's been working on anything for Marvel and DC lately (Trimpe was even featured somewhat recently in an internet article about classic comics artists who've been struggling to find steady comics work), and either artist's inclusion on the creative team would have given the DDP books at least some measure of credibility with older GI Joe fans.

Anyway, IDW seems to be avoiding many of DDP's missteps. They've got a solid veteran writer in Chuck Dixon who's more than capable of writing military comic fiction (his "military" comics credits include stints on Marvel's The 'Nam and Team 7 for the then Image Comics-imprint Wildstorm Productions), and they've got Larry Hama quarterbacking the line as a creative consultant (Hama's also writing a new title called GI Joe: Origins, but that's a review for another time). It's still early on the title, but so far, it seems that Dixon isn't pandering to nostalgia or trying to ape Hama in his approach to the dialogue (although old GI Joe fans may note some resemblance between a particular subplot and a very early GI Joe story from 1984, a deliberate nod, I think, by Dixon).

Dixon does a good job of giving us a feel for the scope of GI Joe's mission profile, setting them up as a sort of covert joint special forces outfit involved as much with advanced military research as with combat and espionage. There's a lot of subtle characterization going on, particularly with the main players Hawk, Scarlett, and Duke, and Dixon does an excellent job of giving keen readers an insight into what might be motivating his version of fan-favourite character Snake-Eyes (the black-clad commando appears in only 2 pages for the first 2 issues, but Dixon manages to do a lot with the character off-panel).

Unfortunately, Robert Atkins' art didn't win me over the way Dixon's writing did. There's nothing inherently bad about Atkins' art, except that he's a poor fit on the title. His stylistic choices seem more geared towards superhero comics: Duke, despite being a first sergeant (the second most senior enlisted rank in most military outfits, and at least in prior GI Joe convention, the team's most senior enlisted adviser), is drawn like he's barely out of his teens, and it's somewhat difficult to tell male characters' faces apart (except for the ones with facial hair), since most of them are drawn with square-ish "superhero jawlines." The visual storytelling is adequate, but nothing that wowed me. And I've got to nitpick here... in one of the scenes set in the Philippines' capital of Manila, Atkins draws the wrong kind of commuter transport motorcycle: the Philippines' utility motorcycle transport, commonly called a traysikel, has a sidecar  situated on the right side of the driver, what Atkins actually draws is a Bangkok motorcycle taxi (what is known as a tuktuk in Thai). I'm probably only the second person who's noticed this (my older brother was the first to point out the error to me), but it says something about the artist's background knowledge and willingness to research reference material. If the writer specifically sets a pivotal scene in a particular locale (in this instance, Manila), it's only expected that the artist use appropriate reference material depicting the actual city, instead of another city like Bangkok (how hard would it have been to Google image search "Manila Street?").

Although it sounds like I'm ripping on Atkins' work (and I guess I am), I'm still quite pleased with the final product. It could have been so much worse given his relative inexperience with the property, and I'm always willing to allow for an artist to develop and mature on a title.

Final Ratings (on a totally arbitrary, non-scientific 5-point rating scale):
Writing: 4
Art: 2.5
Overall (not an average): 3.75

[zuludelta]

Classic G.I. Joe Volume 1
Larry Hama, with Steven Grant (Writers)
Herb Trimpe, with Don Perlin and Mike Vosburg (Primary Artists)
Published by IDW Comics

IDW Comics has managed to get the rights to publish the classic GI Joe tales first published by Marvel over 20 years ago and Classic G.I. Joe Volume 1 collects the first 10 issues of what was one of the best-selling titles of the 1980s.

This is the type of book that is of interest primarily to old fans of the material, so any actual critical review of the stories and art contained therein, I think, is somewhat immaterial at this point, though I will say that this collection is neat little artifact of the Cold War, a time capsule that provides a look into the popular politics and status of the world powers at the time: it's interesting to see the American G.I. Joe team working side-by-side with Afghan mujahadeens and the looming threat of a Soviet invasion of the West looming in the background. It almost seems incongruous how the pieces have rearranged themselves in the current political and economic landscape, with Russia now home to one of the largest free markets in the world and the mujahs now working against the Americans and their allies.

The softcover TPB itself seems to be of good quality. I'm usually wary of softcover TPBs from Marvel and DC because they don't hold up to the rigors of repeat reading (My Ultimates and The Authority softcover TPBs all started falling apart a few weeks after purchase, a process no doubt helped along by the inferior binding glue used to hold the books together), but IDW's product seems to be a lot sturdier. The stories have been re-printed as is... the colouring errors and typos from the original print runs are all still there (I checked some of the more noticeable ones against the original comics that I have), and thankfully, IDW even managed to keep the Hulk "appearance" at the end of issue #10 intact (I was afraid that Marvel might have wanted them to change the character due to the book being a non-Marvel publication).

All in all, a quality reproduction of some fun comics from my childhood.
Final Rating (based on the quality of the reprint, and not the interior material itself): 5 out of 5

Jungle Girl Season 2 #1-3
Frank Cho (Plot/Cover Art)
Doug Murray (Dialogue)
Adriano Batista (Pencils)
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

Jungle Girl Season 2 continues right where the first mini-series left off, although I can barely remember what happened back then... there was Jana the Jungle Girl saving a film crew and fighting a motley collection of dinosaurs and ape-men, but nothing really sticks to memory. Not that this is the type of comic that requires a lot of involved analysis. Cho's threadbare plot and Doug (The 'Nam) Murray's dialogue only serve to propel the story forward perfunctorily. More than anything, this title is a showcase for Adriano Batista's cheesecake art, and on that score, Batista delivers. He's nowhere near the master of the female form that Cho is, but he's good and getting better, and I wouldn't be suprised if we see him on a high-profile Big Two book soon given his abilities. He'd do great on a She-Hulk or Wonder Woman comic, I think.

Anyway, instead of ape-men and dinosaurs, this mini-series sees Jana going up against some mermen/mer-people and trying to uncover some sort of undersea mystery but really, who cares? It's got Adriano Batista drawing an attractive female in a fur bikini and smacking the crap out of scaly monsters. If that sounds like the type of thing you'd enjoy poring over, get ye to your local comic book shop post-haste.
Final Ratings (on a totally arbitrary, non-scientific 5-point rating scale):
Writing: 2.5
Art: 3.75
Overall (not an average): 2.75

[zuludelta]

GI Joe: Origins #1
Larry Hama (Writer)
Mike Hawthorne & Tom Fiester (Artists)
Published by IDW Comics

GI Joe: Origins features the long-awaited (by me, at least) return of scribe Larry Hama to the characters he created and helped turn into one of the most recognizable icons of the 1980s.

It's quite apparent in his writing (and by the "Parental Advisory" label on the cover) that Hama recognizes that most of the people interested in this title are likely to be older readers, most probably fans of the original comic now in their late 20s or early 30s whose tastes have shifted as they've aged. Hama re-imagines GI Joe as an elite black ops unit, where there's no "recycle" and washing out in training means a trip home in a zipped-up black bag.

While the change might seem drastic from the sometimes ridiculously cheerful set-up of the GI Joe cartoons most people are familiar with, readers of Hama's 1980s comics might find it a natural progression from some of the elements he introduced back in the day when Hama would occassionally paint GI Joe leader Hawk as a somewhat amoral and scheming pragmatist committed to completing their missions at all costs, even if it means lying to his troops about mission objectives or refusing to conduct rescue missions to extricate expendable assets.

Cobra Commander is no longer the inept egomaniac from the cartoons or the failed businessman-turned-terrorist from the 1980's comic. Here, he is a former US Special Forces operator every bit a strategic and tactical match for the military's best and brightest. Female GI Joe operative Scarlett, more often than not used as an afterthought in the cartoons and a romantic foil for Snake-Eyes in the original comic, is now depicted as perhaps the most qualified enlisted field leader for the team, outperforming first sergeant Duke in a couple of key sequences.

The art by Feister and Hawthorne is a definite step-up from what we've seen in recent GI Joe comics from Devil's Due Publishing or even the concurrent GI Joe comic published by IDW. There's a slight ligne claire aesthetic going on in the art, although I think it maybe an artifact of the digital inking process (and what seems to be the use of 3D models for certain props) rather than a conscious decision by the art team to emulate European comics. If I have a misgiving about the art, it's one that's a common complaint when it comes to collaborative art teams where the workload is split evenly: even though their individual pages aren't credited, it's apparent when one or the other artist does the figure work, as there's a perceptible shift in art style and quality at certain points in the story. The shifts aren't so obvious so as to detract from the storytelling, but they're there to see for anyone looking for them. 

All in all, I'm impressed with Hama's return to the property he helped launch all those years ago, even though his creative decision to go in, for lack of a better term, a slightly Tom Clancy-esque direction might not sit well with some fans who are looking to reread updated stories featuring their chilhood favourites (and to those fans I say, you can always read the new TPBs IDW is publishing if you're looking for a nostalgia rush).

Final Ratings (on a totally arbitrary, non-scientific 5-point rating scale):
Writing: 4.5
Art: 3.75
Overall (not an average): 4.5

[Jakew]

I read the "Girls In White Dresses" Punisher MAX TPB recently ... it wasn't too bad (anything following the Ennis run was going to struggle by comparison), aside from the inclusion of

Spoiler

Jigsaw

into the Punisher MAX universe.

Spoiler

Jigsaw

, who is essentially a gimmicky super-villain, should be left in the mainstream Marvel universe. Punisher MAX has been established as a zero-tolerance character, and would (under Ennis) just shoot him straight in the head, rather than let him escape to attack him again and again.

3/5