Comic verdicts
Oct. 13th, 2003 03:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelophileBrief opinions on what I read this week. Probably gonna be spoilers so I'll cut them. :)
1602 - Okay, but I was expecting something a little more... more from Neil Gaiman. But then as a writer he's never done a huge amount for me anyway. His reputation seems to outstrip his abilities sometimes. He's done some -great- stuff with Dave McKean, but strangely enough the stuff I've liked most of his has been his stuff that's been rooted in real life, like Mr Punch or Violent Cases. Anyway, taking the Marvel characters and speeling their names funny doesn't really do a lot for me. However, the art is stunning and the basic premise is nice. I'd just like to see a little more in the way of moments that justified the comic.
Kingpin - Pretty good as it goes, but I heartily dislike the idea that the Kingpin rose to power after Spiderman became acive and so he has to guest star in every issue. The character's strong enough on his own and the story works well without Spidey's involvement. However, time issues aside, I enjoyed the little extra bit of characterisation given to Wilson Fisk this issue. Particularly the idea that he's attempting to take over the city's drug traffiking so he can -stop- it rather than profit from it after seeing his mother distroyed by drugs. Whether that turns out to be the truth or a sympathy play is another thing but it's an intriguing concept for a character who's always had plenty of, well, character.
NYX - To be honest, disappointing. Didn't like the art much, the characters didn't do much for me. However, it was pretty well written and it'll be interesting to see where the story goes.
Ultimate X-men - Still Ultimate Crossover. Much as I think Brian Michel Bendis is a genius I don't think his strength lies in writing team books. As witnessed by the fact his run has gone this far with only Jean and Xavier having speaking lines. The art I like - why is Bryan Hitch so rated when people are producing stuff this good and ON TIME? But the story I'm pretty indifferent to, which is extremely rare for Bendis's stuff.
Transformers: War Within. Vol: 2: The Dark Ages - Longest title of the week. And also the BEST frickin' Transformers comic I've read for a -long- time. I mean, for someone who grew up reading the UK Transformers comic to have the best Transformers writer and best Transformers artist working together again is just superb. Andy Wildman seems to have toned down his 'organic' style of drawing TFs to follow on from what Pat Lee and others have done with the books and it works magnificently. The story is what lifts it though - dealing with the Transformers conflict before Cybertron was abandoned and they crashed onto Earth. Simon Furman has obviously skipped over the cartoon origins of some of the characters and is using Dreamwave's 'amalgam' universe of a mix of comic and toon to base his storys on, lifting the best elements from both. But what makes it really great is that he's mostly happiest to use his own books as reference.
For a long term fan like me it's simply fantastic to see him making slight reference to stories he wrote 18 frickin' years ago. Grimlock almost calling Swoop Divebomb (according to UK canon, Divebomb 'stole' Swoop's original name after defeating him in battle.' The Wreckers are referenced and will no doubt appear next issue. Grimlock in his rightful place as not only a well rounded character but leading the Autobots after Prime and Megatron have disappeared. The origins of Bludgeon and Mindwipe's 'mystical' abilities as they performed dark magics, a new baddy in the shape of The Fallen, Starscream getting screwed over as always, a whole host of minor characters in cameo roles. It's just so damn good. Just looking forwards to Runabout appearing and getting eaten, like he seems to in every Transformers comic eventually. It seems to be his fate to be eaten by freakish mechanoid monsters every time he appears.
So bloody good. ;)
1602 - Okay, but I was expecting something a little more... more from Neil Gaiman. But then as a writer he's never done a huge amount for me anyway. His reputation seems to outstrip his abilities sometimes. He's done some -great- stuff with Dave McKean, but strangely enough the stuff I've liked most of his has been his stuff that's been rooted in real life, like Mr Punch or Violent Cases. Anyway, taking the Marvel characters and speeling their names funny doesn't really do a lot for me. However, the art is stunning and the basic premise is nice. I'd just like to see a little more in the way of moments that justified the comic.
Kingpin - Pretty good as it goes, but I heartily dislike the idea that the Kingpin rose to power after Spiderman became acive and so he has to guest star in every issue. The character's strong enough on his own and the story works well without Spidey's involvement. However, time issues aside, I enjoyed the little extra bit of characterisation given to Wilson Fisk this issue. Particularly the idea that he's attempting to take over the city's drug traffiking so he can -stop- it rather than profit from it after seeing his mother distroyed by drugs. Whether that turns out to be the truth or a sympathy play is another thing but it's an intriguing concept for a character who's always had plenty of, well, character.
NYX - To be honest, disappointing. Didn't like the art much, the characters didn't do much for me. However, it was pretty well written and it'll be interesting to see where the story goes.
Ultimate X-men - Still Ultimate Crossover. Much as I think Brian Michel Bendis is a genius I don't think his strength lies in writing team books. As witnessed by the fact his run has gone this far with only Jean and Xavier having speaking lines. The art I like - why is Bryan Hitch so rated when people are producing stuff this good and ON TIME? But the story I'm pretty indifferent to, which is extremely rare for Bendis's stuff.
Transformers: War Within. Vol: 2: The Dark Ages - Longest title of the week. And also the BEST frickin' Transformers comic I've read for a -long- time. I mean, for someone who grew up reading the UK Transformers comic to have the best Transformers writer and best Transformers artist working together again is just superb. Andy Wildman seems to have toned down his 'organic' style of drawing TFs to follow on from what Pat Lee and others have done with the books and it works magnificently. The story is what lifts it though - dealing with the Transformers conflict before Cybertron was abandoned and they crashed onto Earth. Simon Furman has obviously skipped over the cartoon origins of some of the characters and is using Dreamwave's 'amalgam' universe of a mix of comic and toon to base his storys on, lifting the best elements from both. But what makes it really great is that he's mostly happiest to use his own books as reference.
For a long term fan like me it's simply fantastic to see him making slight reference to stories he wrote 18 frickin' years ago. Grimlock almost calling Swoop Divebomb (according to UK canon, Divebomb 'stole' Swoop's original name after defeating him in battle.' The Wreckers are referenced and will no doubt appear next issue. Grimlock in his rightful place as not only a well rounded character but leading the Autobots after Prime and Megatron have disappeared. The origins of Bludgeon and Mindwipe's 'mystical' abilities as they performed dark magics, a new baddy in the shape of The Fallen, Starscream getting screwed over as always, a whole host of minor characters in cameo roles. It's just so damn good. Just looking forwards to Runabout appearing and getting eaten, like he seems to in every Transformers comic eventually. It seems to be his fate to be eaten by freakish mechanoid monsters every time he appears.
So bloody good. ;)
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Date: 2003-10-13 09:14 am (UTC)