DoctorFinger
11-02-2008, 09:23 AM
Welcome to Week Four 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 4
Spawn #185
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image Comics
Writers: Todd McFarlaine & Brian Holguin
Penciller: Whilce Portacio
Inker: Todd McFarlane
Colorist: Jin Han
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Todd McFarlaine
$2.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Spawn-185.jpg
Endgame, Part 1
Is it possible to be indie and mainstream at the same time? Because that's what Spawn is: the most successful ongoing series from someone other than the Big 2 in probably 30 years. And in all those years I haven't read a single issue of it. So this issue - which sees creator Todd McFarlane returning with fellow Image founder Whilce Portacio to the series that made him a multi-millionaire - seemed like a good time to give the book a try. Because obviously they'd make the book new reader friendly, right?
We start with who I assume to be Al Simmons, the man who made a deal with a devil and became Spawn. I have to assume it's him, because Al Simmons is a black man, and this guy looks like a gray skinned Asian fellow. Al is in Hell, and walking on a street made of faces. He finds just the right spot, grabs a handful of the darkness and begins to Spawn out. His face and arms draped in darkness, his eyes and fingers glowing green, he reaches into a portal of some sort, then shoots his glowing hand back, gouging out his eyes. There's then an explosion of green that's visible in the real world. At that exact moment, at a convalescent center on Long Island, Patient 47 wakes up suddenly. He's been in a coma so long no one knows when he first arrived. But some very powerful people are furious - and scared - now that he's awake. Back in New York City, The Clown is trying to track down whoever lit up the sky with a mystic light show that even the norms could see. He sheds his disguise and takes his Violator form before finding the headless body of Al Saunders, still covered with glowing green goop.
So McFarlane & Portacio take over the book, you'd think they'd make it accessible to new readers. Uh-huh. It's a confusing mess of poorly sequenced art. I had to look at Wikipedia to understand that the Clown and the long-limbed demon thing (Violator) were one and the same. I do know that Al Simmons is supposed to be a black man, be he's drawn as an ash gray Asian guy. Maybe that's an artistic choice, but it feels like sloppy decisionmaking. We know Patient 47's revival is important, but we don't know the who or why as of yet. The whole book felt very, very light. It was the standard lenght, but I flipped that last page and it felt like I only read half a comic. Not a good way to grab new readers.
Bottom Line:
Some moderately interesting mysteries, but confusing storytelling and a fairly new reader impenetrable whole
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png" border="0" alt="" />
Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1 (of 2)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Alan Davis, Mark Farmer & Rob Schwager (Part 1), Adi Granov (part 2)
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Axel Alonso
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/AXMGB-1.jpg
When I review a book I try to limit the review to that single book in my hand, or at most the greater storyline of which these issues are usually a part. But with this issue I just can't. Don't get me wrong, the content of this issue is damn good. It's just that I spent $4 on what is essentially 16 pages of content. One-third more money, for one-third less content. That right there pisses me off, and drags the score down.
What we get are (apparently) two alternate realities. The connecting line being the titular Ghost Boxes. Introduced in the main Astonishing book, these are gateways to alternate universes. What it really amounts to is an excuse for Ellis to hook up with some A-list artists to tell some interesting short stories. The second tale is pretty much a Steampunk X-Men. Know as the X-Society, they're Victorian adventurers who are called in to investigate a murder that jibes exactly with the one from a few months back in Astonishing. They discern the killer is escaping on a Zeppelin, and go to arrest him. The killer lights Logan on fire and causes the west coast's Hindenburg disaster, an act which turns the public against the X-Society, forcing them into house arrest, surrounded by clockwork Sentinels. The first story is a bit more meaty. It's framed as the debriefing of Agent X-13, the man the X-Men were chasing in Astonishing (and this is all explicitly said to be on Earth-616, which is the designation of the main Marvel U). Rather than let the X-Men get a hold of his Ghost Box, he teleports it back to his universe, in the process bringing back a trio of Deathlock-class security units: gold Sentinels, one of which has Magneto trapped in it's chest. Between X-13's fire and these Magneto powered Sentinels, the X-Men are quickly killed, and within a few days Earth - the part that remains after a nuclear war - has been annexed by this alternate universe.
Sounds cool right? A romp through a few alts with the X-Men (the next issue is apparently an identical format, with Kaare Andrews and Oliver Copiel on art). But, it's so short. Two 8-page stories, plus Ellis' scripts for both. For an extra dollar. I can't stress that enough. Why not either put all 4 alts in one $5 issue, or whip up and extra 2 stories to fill out the books? It's been a long time since I've felt this ripped off by a comic. And the worst part is the stories are fun. The X-Society doesn't break new ground - Emma, Hank, Scott & Logan all have the exact same personalities as the main universe - when illustrated by someone like Adi Granov is absolutely jumps off the page. The Davis story is a little more confusing, Earth-616 is the main Marvel U but those events clearly didn't happen as portrayed here, but I have a feeling that it leads to something. Ultimately as fun as the stories are, I still feel ripped off. Had this book been the normal price I still probably would have felt like I'd been taken for a ride. There are so many ways to disseminate these stories without that feeling - an extra story in each issue, combining the 4 into one larger book, putting them in the normal book one at a time as back-ups - that serving them up this way and not letting anyone know beforehand is just wrong.
Bottom Line:
It's a shame two good stories like this are being used to rip-off the consumer.
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png" border="0" alt="" />
Quick Hits
Thor #11 - It's light on the action, but heavy on the characterizations and tension, and just an all around great book.
Immortal Iron Fist #19 - You just have to love the Immortal Weapons.
Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns One-Shot - Don't let the title fool you: it has nothing to do with Final Crisis, instead it's an intro to the War of Light, and a pretty good one at that.
Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.
Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 1 – Week 4
Spawn #185
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Image Comics
Writers: Todd McFarlaine & Brian Holguin
Penciller: Whilce Portacio
Inker: Todd McFarlane
Colorist: Jin Han
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Todd McFarlaine
$2.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Spawn-185.jpg
Endgame, Part 1
Is it possible to be indie and mainstream at the same time? Because that's what Spawn is: the most successful ongoing series from someone other than the Big 2 in probably 30 years. And in all those years I haven't read a single issue of it. So this issue - which sees creator Todd McFarlane returning with fellow Image founder Whilce Portacio to the series that made him a multi-millionaire - seemed like a good time to give the book a try. Because obviously they'd make the book new reader friendly, right?
We start with who I assume to be Al Simmons, the man who made a deal with a devil and became Spawn. I have to assume it's him, because Al Simmons is a black man, and this guy looks like a gray skinned Asian fellow. Al is in Hell, and walking on a street made of faces. He finds just the right spot, grabs a handful of the darkness and begins to Spawn out. His face and arms draped in darkness, his eyes and fingers glowing green, he reaches into a portal of some sort, then shoots his glowing hand back, gouging out his eyes. There's then an explosion of green that's visible in the real world. At that exact moment, at a convalescent center on Long Island, Patient 47 wakes up suddenly. He's been in a coma so long no one knows when he first arrived. But some very powerful people are furious - and scared - now that he's awake. Back in New York City, The Clown is trying to track down whoever lit up the sky with a mystic light show that even the norms could see. He sheds his disguise and takes his Violator form before finding the headless body of Al Saunders, still covered with glowing green goop.
So McFarlane & Portacio take over the book, you'd think they'd make it accessible to new readers. Uh-huh. It's a confusing mess of poorly sequenced art. I had to look at Wikipedia to understand that the Clown and the long-limbed demon thing (Violator) were one and the same. I do know that Al Simmons is supposed to be a black man, be he's drawn as an ash gray Asian guy. Maybe that's an artistic choice, but it feels like sloppy decisionmaking. We know Patient 47's revival is important, but we don't know the who or why as of yet. The whole book felt very, very light. It was the standard lenght, but I flipped that last page and it felt like I only read half a comic. Not a good way to grab new readers.
Bottom Line:
Some moderately interesting mysteries, but confusing storytelling and a fairly new reader impenetrable whole
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png" border="0" alt="" />
Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1 (of 2)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Alan Davis, Mark Farmer & Rob Schwager (Part 1), Adi Granov (part 2)
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Axel Alonso
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/AXMGB-1.jpg
When I review a book I try to limit the review to that single book in my hand, or at most the greater storyline of which these issues are usually a part. But with this issue I just can't. Don't get me wrong, the content of this issue is damn good. It's just that I spent $4 on what is essentially 16 pages of content. One-third more money, for one-third less content. That right there pisses me off, and drags the score down.
What we get are (apparently) two alternate realities. The connecting line being the titular Ghost Boxes. Introduced in the main Astonishing book, these are gateways to alternate universes. What it really amounts to is an excuse for Ellis to hook up with some A-list artists to tell some interesting short stories. The second tale is pretty much a Steampunk X-Men. Know as the X-Society, they're Victorian adventurers who are called in to investigate a murder that jibes exactly with the one from a few months back in Astonishing. They discern the killer is escaping on a Zeppelin, and go to arrest him. The killer lights Logan on fire and causes the west coast's Hindenburg disaster, an act which turns the public against the X-Society, forcing them into house arrest, surrounded by clockwork Sentinels. The first story is a bit more meaty. It's framed as the debriefing of Agent X-13, the man the X-Men were chasing in Astonishing (and this is all explicitly said to be on Earth-616, which is the designation of the main Marvel U). Rather than let the X-Men get a hold of his Ghost Box, he teleports it back to his universe, in the process bringing back a trio of Deathlock-class security units: gold Sentinels, one of which has Magneto trapped in it's chest. Between X-13's fire and these Magneto powered Sentinels, the X-Men are quickly killed, and within a few days Earth - the part that remains after a nuclear war - has been annexed by this alternate universe.
Sounds cool right? A romp through a few alts with the X-Men (the next issue is apparently an identical format, with Kaare Andrews and Oliver Copiel on art). But, it's so short. Two 8-page stories, plus Ellis' scripts for both. For an extra dollar. I can't stress that enough. Why not either put all 4 alts in one $5 issue, or whip up and extra 2 stories to fill out the books? It's been a long time since I've felt this ripped off by a comic. And the worst part is the stories are fun. The X-Society doesn't break new ground - Emma, Hank, Scott & Logan all have the exact same personalities as the main universe - when illustrated by someone like Adi Granov is absolutely jumps off the page. The Davis story is a little more confusing, Earth-616 is the main Marvel U but those events clearly didn't happen as portrayed here, but I have a feeling that it leads to something. Ultimately as fun as the stories are, I still feel ripped off. Had this book been the normal price I still probably would have felt like I'd been taken for a ride. There are so many ways to disseminate these stories without that feeling - an extra story in each issue, combining the 4 into one larger book, putting them in the normal book one at a time as back-ups - that serving them up this way and not letting anyone know beforehand is just wrong.
Bottom Line:
It's a shame two good stories like this are being used to rip-off the consumer.
CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png" border="0" alt="" />
Quick Hits
Thor #11 - It's light on the action, but heavy on the characterizations and tension, and just an all around great book.
Immortal Iron Fist #19 - You just have to love the Immortal Weapons.
Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns One-Shot - Don't let the title fool you: it has nothing to do with Final Crisis, instead it's an intro to the War of Light, and a pretty good one at that.