DoctorFinger
10-12-2008, 09:53 AM
Welcome to Week One of the Official Colony of Gamers Comic Book Reviews
Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.
Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 1 – Week 1
Gears of War #1 (of 6)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Wildstorm/DC Comics
Writer: Joshua Ortega
Artist: Liam Sharpe
Colorist: Jonny Rench
Letterer: Wes Abbot
Editor: Ben Abernathy
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Gearsofwar-1.jpg
Hollow, Part X
I've been saying for a while now that this is the golden age of licensed comics. However in retrospect almost all of those really entertaining licensed books have one thing in common: the ability function outside of any currently running continuity. Star Wars Legacy is so good because it doesn't have to worry about butting up any stories Lucas is currently telling. Same thing with the Transformers, GI Joe, Cthulu and Buffy books have going for them. And the same thing dragging down the Gears of War comic. Writer Joshua Ortega and artist Liam Sharpe do the best job possible, but they're still clearly boxed in by the end of Gears 1 and beginning of Gears 2.
Set two months after the end of Gears 1 (and four months before the start of Gears 2) we find Delta Squad scouring the area around Jacinto for ammo, supplies and most of all surviving Cogs. Marcus Fenix is now a figure of almost legendary status to the two new soldiers joining him and Dom on the search. After the Lightmass bombing that ended Gears 1 the Locust are still terrorizing humanity, and things are as bleak as ever. After weeks of searching they find only one survior - grizzled vet Michael Barrick. They load him into the APC and begin the long trek back to relative safety. Of course they're ambushed and fight back, only to be faced with big trouble: a Boomer headed right for them.
The first thing that jumped out at me was how forced some of the references were. Marcus saying 'Sweet' after chainsawing a Locust. Mentioning that they have to collect Cog tags. Making a whole scene out of a Lancer jamming while reloading. None of it felt terribly natural, and I have a feeling Epic provided Wildstorm with a list of thing that had to be in the game, so there they are. The one place where the continuity helps is Dom's retelling of the mining cart segment from the game, and how that ended up foreshadowing the appearance of the Boomer at the end of the issue. But then you have an issue too. As a Gears player a Boomer just doesn't scare me too much. Yeah, I'm sure we'll get Berzerkers and Broomaxes (Broomaxi?) later in the series, but I just don't feel menace from a Boomer. Sharpe's art straddles the line between moody and muddled. There are some nice spots, but the whole is uninspiring.
Bottom Line:
A decent effort that's hampered by the strict continuity and need to force in certain references.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
13 Chambers (One-Shot)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Christopher Morrison
Artist: Dennis Medri
Colorist: Romina Denti
Letterer: Michael David Thomas
$5.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/13Chambers.jpg
In any dramatic work there are two key elements: the idea & the execution; the story & the storytelling. In this case you have Christopher Morrison's neat idea dragged down by some sloppy execution.
In pre-Civil War times the President of the United States (apparently James Buchanan) created the 13 Marshals - a group of men with extraordinary moral fiber as well as being almost inhumanly good shots. And augmenting that gunslinging ability is the Peacemaker pistol, a 13 chambered gun complete with a gyroscope, sniper rounds and extra triggers. Each Marshall is assigned to one of the 13 fictional Territories of the US to function as sort of super lawmen. Years later Lincoln's successor Andrew Johnson petulantly decides to disband the Marshals, and the 13th Marshal, the one who designed those amazing weapons, is assigned the task of collecting those guns from their former owners and returning them to a secret vault in Washington. The 13th Marshall (hereby referred to as 13) doesn't want the job, but he can't turn down a presidential order. He goes about collecting the Peacemakers from the other Marshals, mostly without incident, until he comes to the home of the 12th Marshal in the 4 Corners region. This Marshal was killed by York, a faux holy man and possibly some sort of Zombie. York runs a silver mine, but he can't get at the next vein until a whole lot of other stone is removed. So he (somehow) bamboozles the town by impersonating a holy man, and (somehow) gets them to excavate the stone and use it to build the Stairway to Heaven (no, I'm not kidding). 13 is (somehow) captured by York, who immediately leaves him tied up alone so that the beautiful damsel can save him. Belle is also a great shot, and apparently her father had owned the mine before York (somehow) took it from him. 13 heads back to town, killing thugs left and right but decides (for some reason) to try and arrest York, who has become obsessed with the secrets of the 13 Peacekeeper guns now in his posession. They can't just be fired like a normal pistol, you have to press a precise sequence of triggers along the handle. Rather than let Belle or her father die, 13 tells York how to work the gun. However the sequence he tells York triggers a secret second barrel in the handle, which blasts York, allowing 13 to save the day. He returns to DC with York and the 13 guns. York is released because of his connections, and one of the 13 guns locked in a vault is a fake.
Overall I liked the story, but the issues with it's presentation were pretty glaring. Medri simply does not choose the right 'shot' often enough. Rather than show the Marshall taking out two thugs with one shot he'd do a pin-up of the Marshall with the smoke from his gun forming a skull. Examples like that - where rather than show a story element or an action shot we get a pin-up - happen way too often. Morrison is also guilty if this to a lesser extent. You can see he's much more invested in some parts of the story than others, like how some of the Territories of the US are given names, but others are just the '13th Territory' or the '4th Territory'. A couple of characters mention that York is using religion to force the townsfolk to work the mines, but it's never shown in any fashion. Also, according to an interview I read about this book, York really is a Zombie and not just deformed. That would explain why 13 doesn't just kill him rather than turn him over knowing he'd be out in a day, but it's never even hinted at in the story. Overall the whole thing just felt incomplete and haphazard. Like the creators had some things they wanted to do and just couldn't be bothered to fill in all the details around it. Those failings are all the more frustraiting because the world this takes place in is engrossing, and normally I'd want to see more from it. But if the promised follow up one-shots are this scattershot, I won't be picking them up.
Bottom Line:
An interesting western story hampered by some weak storytelling
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png
Top Ten: Season 2 #1
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: America's Best Comics/ DC Comics
Writer: Zander & Kevin Cannon
Artist: Gene Ha
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Scott Dunbier & Scott Peterson
$2.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Top10-1.jpg
Corpus Delecti
Law & Order with Superpowers. Sometimes a book can be explained just that simply. But before you dismiss Top Ten off hand as just another attempt to cash in on the procedural crime drama craze, take a look at who created this series: Alan Moore and Gene Ha. Bet that got your attention. Because of his antipathy towards anything Warner Bros. related, Moore won't work on the book anymore, but his hand-picked replacement Zander Cannon picks up the slack to create a really entertaining tale.
Right off the bat there's something different. In the world of Top 10, everyone has powers of some sort, and most trapse around in outlandish costumes and masks. However unlike say Astro City & End League, Top 10 doesn't deal in superhero archetypes. While there are some familiar themes, it's obvious that none of the characters are supposed to be this icon or that icon. Instead these powered individuals resemble more the usual cast of a good cop show, albeit investigating some crazy stuff. In this case we get a new Detective, Slipstream Phoenix. 'Slip' is a straight laced, by the numbers cop. In fact he's the only cop who wears his blues to work; the rest just wear their costumes. He's joining the 10th precinct just as the department gets a new comissioner. This new commish comes from the 61st parallel universe, and he's a puffed up pencil pusher with a superiorty complex. He also won't actually travel to this dimension, so all of his interactions are via a robot with a hologram in it's dome shaped head. Phoenix is placed behind the 8-ball when the others discover that he was brought over with the new commish, so he's suspected of being a spy. Into the midst of all this, the bodies of 12 naked teen girls are instantaneously dumped in the precinct's fountain, and no one saw it happen, not even the cameras. Phoenix is partnered with Omni-Woman, while some of the other orricers investigate someone selling drugs to kids, and a billionare who may have used 'Cassandra level' precognition to game the stock market. Meanwhile, one detective - Perigrine - discovers she's pregnant just as she also discovers that her husband is a cross-dresser (a new costume, iden Phoenix' straight laced style and honesty begins to win over his partner, but the rest of the precinct still feels uneasy around him, especially after the new commishoner tells them they'll all have to start wearing their blues and stup carrying any non-issue weapons.
Never have I read a story where the superpowers are presented in such a non-chalant fashion, but in doing so they make them interesting. I began to see powers not just as weapons in a fight - as I see them in every other superhero story - but as tools to be used in the investigation. That little shift in focus really opens up the story to interesting places. They're not superpeople with superproblems, they're superpeople with normal problems. Phoenix, Omni-Woman, Perigrine & Duane all seem like interesting characters and not just because of their powers. There is one discordant note: the art. I like Gene Ha's art in most spots, but it changes from his usual painted style to a more traditional 4-color set-up way too often, sometimes within the same panel. I'm not sure what the intent was with that decision, but it took me out of the story a little, although it's not a deal breaker.
Bottom Line:
A mashup of superheroes and cop show that manages to rise above the cliche and tell an interesting story.
Rating: "Buy It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Quick Hits
Action Comics #870 - So Pa Kent is dead again. It's a shame that the same writer that killed him isn't writing a story about the dead rising next year...
X-Men Original Sin One Shot - Yeah, they've been going back and turning too many old stories into something more sinister, but I really like the Xavier-Wolverine combo, so this one was fun for me.
Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.
Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 1 – Week 1
Gears of War #1 (of 6)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Wildstorm/DC Comics
Writer: Joshua Ortega
Artist: Liam Sharpe
Colorist: Jonny Rench
Letterer: Wes Abbot
Editor: Ben Abernathy
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Gearsofwar-1.jpg
Hollow, Part X
I've been saying for a while now that this is the golden age of licensed comics. However in retrospect almost all of those really entertaining licensed books have one thing in common: the ability function outside of any currently running continuity. Star Wars Legacy is so good because it doesn't have to worry about butting up any stories Lucas is currently telling. Same thing with the Transformers, GI Joe, Cthulu and Buffy books have going for them. And the same thing dragging down the Gears of War comic. Writer Joshua Ortega and artist Liam Sharpe do the best job possible, but they're still clearly boxed in by the end of Gears 1 and beginning of Gears 2.
Set two months after the end of Gears 1 (and four months before the start of Gears 2) we find Delta Squad scouring the area around Jacinto for ammo, supplies and most of all surviving Cogs. Marcus Fenix is now a figure of almost legendary status to the two new soldiers joining him and Dom on the search. After the Lightmass bombing that ended Gears 1 the Locust are still terrorizing humanity, and things are as bleak as ever. After weeks of searching they find only one survior - grizzled vet Michael Barrick. They load him into the APC and begin the long trek back to relative safety. Of course they're ambushed and fight back, only to be faced with big trouble: a Boomer headed right for them.
The first thing that jumped out at me was how forced some of the references were. Marcus saying 'Sweet' after chainsawing a Locust. Mentioning that they have to collect Cog tags. Making a whole scene out of a Lancer jamming while reloading. None of it felt terribly natural, and I have a feeling Epic provided Wildstorm with a list of thing that had to be in the game, so there they are. The one place where the continuity helps is Dom's retelling of the mining cart segment from the game, and how that ended up foreshadowing the appearance of the Boomer at the end of the issue. But then you have an issue too. As a Gears player a Boomer just doesn't scare me too much. Yeah, I'm sure we'll get Berzerkers and Broomaxes (Broomaxi?) later in the series, but I just don't feel menace from a Boomer. Sharpe's art straddles the line between moody and muddled. There are some nice spots, but the whole is uninspiring.
Bottom Line:
A decent effort that's hampered by the strict continuity and need to force in certain references.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
13 Chambers (One-Shot)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Christopher Morrison
Artist: Dennis Medri
Colorist: Romina Denti
Letterer: Michael David Thomas
$5.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/13Chambers.jpg
In any dramatic work there are two key elements: the idea & the execution; the story & the storytelling. In this case you have Christopher Morrison's neat idea dragged down by some sloppy execution.
In pre-Civil War times the President of the United States (apparently James Buchanan) created the 13 Marshals - a group of men with extraordinary moral fiber as well as being almost inhumanly good shots. And augmenting that gunslinging ability is the Peacemaker pistol, a 13 chambered gun complete with a gyroscope, sniper rounds and extra triggers. Each Marshall is assigned to one of the 13 fictional Territories of the US to function as sort of super lawmen. Years later Lincoln's successor Andrew Johnson petulantly decides to disband the Marshals, and the 13th Marshal, the one who designed those amazing weapons, is assigned the task of collecting those guns from their former owners and returning them to a secret vault in Washington. The 13th Marshall (hereby referred to as 13) doesn't want the job, but he can't turn down a presidential order. He goes about collecting the Peacemakers from the other Marshals, mostly without incident, until he comes to the home of the 12th Marshal in the 4 Corners region. This Marshal was killed by York, a faux holy man and possibly some sort of Zombie. York runs a silver mine, but he can't get at the next vein until a whole lot of other stone is removed. So he (somehow) bamboozles the town by impersonating a holy man, and (somehow) gets them to excavate the stone and use it to build the Stairway to Heaven (no, I'm not kidding). 13 is (somehow) captured by York, who immediately leaves him tied up alone so that the beautiful damsel can save him. Belle is also a great shot, and apparently her father had owned the mine before York (somehow) took it from him. 13 heads back to town, killing thugs left and right but decides (for some reason) to try and arrest York, who has become obsessed with the secrets of the 13 Peacekeeper guns now in his posession. They can't just be fired like a normal pistol, you have to press a precise sequence of triggers along the handle. Rather than let Belle or her father die, 13 tells York how to work the gun. However the sequence he tells York triggers a secret second barrel in the handle, which blasts York, allowing 13 to save the day. He returns to DC with York and the 13 guns. York is released because of his connections, and one of the 13 guns locked in a vault is a fake.
Overall I liked the story, but the issues with it's presentation were pretty glaring. Medri simply does not choose the right 'shot' often enough. Rather than show the Marshall taking out two thugs with one shot he'd do a pin-up of the Marshall with the smoke from his gun forming a skull. Examples like that - where rather than show a story element or an action shot we get a pin-up - happen way too often. Morrison is also guilty if this to a lesser extent. You can see he's much more invested in some parts of the story than others, like how some of the Territories of the US are given names, but others are just the '13th Territory' or the '4th Territory'. A couple of characters mention that York is using religion to force the townsfolk to work the mines, but it's never shown in any fashion. Also, according to an interview I read about this book, York really is a Zombie and not just deformed. That would explain why 13 doesn't just kill him rather than turn him over knowing he'd be out in a day, but it's never even hinted at in the story. Overall the whole thing just felt incomplete and haphazard. Like the creators had some things they wanted to do and just couldn't be bothered to fill in all the details around it. Those failings are all the more frustraiting because the world this takes place in is engrossing, and normally I'd want to see more from it. But if the promised follow up one-shots are this scattershot, I won't be picking them up.
Bottom Line:
An interesting western story hampered by some weak storytelling
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png
Top Ten: Season 2 #1
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: America's Best Comics/ DC Comics
Writer: Zander & Kevin Cannon
Artist: Gene Ha
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Scott Dunbier & Scott Peterson
$2.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Top10-1.jpg
Corpus Delecti
Law & Order with Superpowers. Sometimes a book can be explained just that simply. But before you dismiss Top Ten off hand as just another attempt to cash in on the procedural crime drama craze, take a look at who created this series: Alan Moore and Gene Ha. Bet that got your attention. Because of his antipathy towards anything Warner Bros. related, Moore won't work on the book anymore, but his hand-picked replacement Zander Cannon picks up the slack to create a really entertaining tale.
Right off the bat there's something different. In the world of Top 10, everyone has powers of some sort, and most trapse around in outlandish costumes and masks. However unlike say Astro City & End League, Top 10 doesn't deal in superhero archetypes. While there are some familiar themes, it's obvious that none of the characters are supposed to be this icon or that icon. Instead these powered individuals resemble more the usual cast of a good cop show, albeit investigating some crazy stuff. In this case we get a new Detective, Slipstream Phoenix. 'Slip' is a straight laced, by the numbers cop. In fact he's the only cop who wears his blues to work; the rest just wear their costumes. He's joining the 10th precinct just as the department gets a new comissioner. This new commish comes from the 61st parallel universe, and he's a puffed up pencil pusher with a superiorty complex. He also won't actually travel to this dimension, so all of his interactions are via a robot with a hologram in it's dome shaped head. Phoenix is placed behind the 8-ball when the others discover that he was brought over with the new commish, so he's suspected of being a spy. Into the midst of all this, the bodies of 12 naked teen girls are instantaneously dumped in the precinct's fountain, and no one saw it happen, not even the cameras. Phoenix is partnered with Omni-Woman, while some of the other orricers investigate someone selling drugs to kids, and a billionare who may have used 'Cassandra level' precognition to game the stock market. Meanwhile, one detective - Perigrine - discovers she's pregnant just as she also discovers that her husband is a cross-dresser (a new costume, iden Phoenix' straight laced style and honesty begins to win over his partner, but the rest of the precinct still feels uneasy around him, especially after the new commishoner tells them they'll all have to start wearing their blues and stup carrying any non-issue weapons.
Never have I read a story where the superpowers are presented in such a non-chalant fashion, but in doing so they make them interesting. I began to see powers not just as weapons in a fight - as I see them in every other superhero story - but as tools to be used in the investigation. That little shift in focus really opens up the story to interesting places. They're not superpeople with superproblems, they're superpeople with normal problems. Phoenix, Omni-Woman, Perigrine & Duane all seem like interesting characters and not just because of their powers. There is one discordant note: the art. I like Gene Ha's art in most spots, but it changes from his usual painted style to a more traditional 4-color set-up way too often, sometimes within the same panel. I'm not sure what the intent was with that decision, but it took me out of the story a little, although it's not a deal breaker.
Bottom Line:
A mashup of superheroes and cop show that manages to rise above the cliche and tell an interesting story.
Rating: "Buy It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Quick Hits
Action Comics #870 - So Pa Kent is dead again. It's a shame that the same writer that killed him isn't writing a story about the dead rising next year...
X-Men Original Sin One Shot - Yeah, they've been going back and turning too many old stories into something more sinister, but I really like the Xavier-Wolverine combo, so this one was fun for me.