After being tricked into buying JLA, and another fairly boring Chewbacca, we had four solid books this week.
JLA #5
What happens when Bryan Hitch is running behind on artwork? You get a fill-in issue by Matt Kindt, Rob Williams and Philip Tan. This is also the issue you get when you don't pay attention to the creative team and buy it anyway.
Seriously. If I knew this wasn't part of Hitch's greater JLA story, it'd have been a no-go. Rob Williams has been writing a pretty good Martian Manhunter story, and Matt Kindt has a good track record, but when you expect Bryan Hitch's JLA, this is really just a fill-in.
So... eh. No bearing on anything else. Adequate art from Tan and a so-so long-winded introspective story from the writers. Sixth Place.
Chewbacca $4
Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto continue their less-than outstanding run on Chewbacca. Chewie and Zarro plant a thermal detonator to send up to hopefully blow up a Star Destroyer. One problem: by issue's end, Chewie and Zarro are also sent up to said Star Destroyer.
The most interesting thing for me is Tyvak, the Shistavanen wolfman bounty hunter. He knows the only way to stop a Wookie is to kill him. He looks super cool and is pretty menacing. Chewie lights him on fire this issue so that'll do it for that bit of excitement.
Maybe there'll be some exciting bad guys waiting on that Star Destroyer to make up for Tyvak. Probably not and I'll just be stuck with Zarro. Meh.
Saga #31
Hey Saga's back! Guess someone (Fiona Staples) was too busy drawing Archie to focus on a much better book (this one). Hey, girl's gotta make that bank though! Sorry, cheap shot on Archie.
The book takes an eight-ish year jump. Hazel's now 10-or-so years old and living in a facility for enemy non-combatants on Landfall with Klara. So far Marko and Alana's whereabouts/situation are unknown. Its an interesting time-jump so I'm curious to find out more. Just when you think Brian K. Vaughan and Staples can't put this family in a worse predicament, they do.
Its nice to have Saga back. There's been a considerable lack of weird alien ding dongs on the Pull-List for quite a while now. And there was a big meat stick in this issue. Way to keep it real, Saga.
He-Man: The Eternity War #12
So, this King Hssss business is running a bit long. King Hssss wasn't exciting in the old series (and the toy was also crap), so having him play such a big role in this series is now tiresome. Give me some classic villains. All the Hordak stuff was way more exciting than King Hssss. Not to mention the bevy of classic Skeletor villains we haven't seen yet. C'mon, boys!
So basically, yeah, lets wrap it up and bring back He-Man vs. some worthwhile villains. The momentum that this book built through the series so far as been killed. Its still a heck of a book and ranks #3 this week, but there are better stories to tell on the other side of this one. I'm ready for Dan Abnett and Pop Mhan to get there.
Darth Vader #13
The second issue in the Vader Down story doesn't disappoint. The only conceit is that Darth Vader is capable of taking out an entire Rebel battalion all by himself. If he's capable of this, why doesn't the Emperor send him to clean house all the time? Eh, these aren't really canon anyway.
While Vader's tearing up Rebels, Doctor Aphra is busy kidnapping Luke from a broken down Jedi temple on Vrogas Vas. I figured the evil Threepio and Artoo owned by Aphra would meet the originals, and here it is.
Continuing the tradition of drawing likenesses, Salvador Larroca does a great job on Han, an okay job on Luke, and can't quite get Leia right. This has been a theme through all of Marvel's Star Wars books. Funny how that's worked out.
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953 – The Witch Tree; Rawhead and Bloody Bones
You don't get much better than a Hellboy book. Especially this 1953 series where we see Hellboy back during his first days with the B.P.R.D.. Mike Mignola has spent a long time fleshing out the entire world and timeline of Hellboy, but these stories are my favorites.
The simplicity of sending Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm around the world to take care of supernatural events and myths is at the heart of what Hellboy is. We even get to see Professor Bruttenholm get his hands dirty and fist-fight some skeletons.
The quick story at the end, Rawhead and Bloody Bones, is classic Hellboy. If you haven't read a Hellboy story and want to read a brilliant one with all the subtlety that Mignola can deliver, please look up this one. Brilliant.
Panel of the Week:
This image of Rawhead and Bloody Bones is so fucking awesome. Thanks, Ben Stenbeck.
-Gint
About the review of He-Man the Eternity War #12, sorry but i have to disagree. King Hsss is a fantastic villain, and the one that he did the most damage in the comic book series so far. We are talking about the villain that was behind the murder of King Grayskull, that killed King Randor, and having Adam fighting for his life. No one else has pushed He-Man to his limits, than Hsss did in this comic book! Personally i will take any day He-Man vs Hsss, instead of He-Man against one of Skeletor brain dead minions, like Beastman, which have been done to the nausea.
ReplyDeleteDimitri! You make a hell of a case for King Hsss. Yeah, in Abnett's run he's pretty much been the driving force behind almost the entire plot. I wasn't a fan of the character/toy as a kid, so there's a missing sentimental value that's influencing my review. I've loved the role of the other snake men (who I also wasn't a fan of) however. They've been great. I'll try to look at King Hsss through your eyes next issue.
ReplyDelete-Gint
It's one of the great Abnett's successes through this comic book series, not only turning the big 3 bads of the MOTU world in threats of cosmic level, but also having them to operate in completely different way the one from the other. Hordak uses the raw power of a demigod and the unlimited resources of his empire. Skeletor on the other hand, without Hordak's resources resides on tactics, strategy, cunning, manipulation and deception. But Hsss is the villain that operates from the shadows, manipulating the history from behind, who can be anyone even He-Man himself, the Evil that cannot been seen and detected, and which is a completely unpredictable. All this make Hsss the most dangerous MOTU villain, because no one can fight, what can't see. Abnett basically turned Hsss to the Sauron of the MOTU world.
ReplyDelete