Lone Star Press

I think most people believe in malevolance over ignorance. More people seem to believe in Conspiracy Theories than Happy Accidents or Bad Luck. But the deep belief in conspiracy requires a heaping helping of blindness and a willingness to suspend disbelief. That same kind of blindness might redeem this lousy comic book, but I doubt it.

As all of you poindexters know, Bludhaven was destroyed by a creature named Chemo who is a walking toxic waste dump. As one of the two settings for a future Kurt Russell Escape From… movie, Bludhaven is walled off and the perimeter is patrolled by the military. This move traps thousands of people inside and gives the Government a secret staging area to run their nefarious schemes. There are a few hand-wringing villain scenes and a pointless fight or two. Now, the Teen Titans have illegally entered the closed city, a group of armored Atomic Knights are searching for a radiation leak, and the Government has sanctioned another supergroup to kill the costumed interlopers. As we have seen in New Orleans, that is not even remotely what the aftermath of an event of this scale looks like. Dozens of media teams are all over New Orleans looking for interesting stories. The best writing has some grain of truth at it’s core. This project is utterly hollow and utterly pointless.

To say that this comic book is ill-conceived is to utter a courtesy, it deserves much worse. On top of that, the interior art looks rushed and the cover is a bad swipe of JG Jones style.

 

Guys that are in love with comics are almost impossible to please. In many head cases, this movie will fail because it’s not exactly like the Dark Phoenix Saga from the Uncanny X-Men series from their arrested childhood. For me that is a selling point.

As the movie starts, Cyclops goes to look for Jean Grey at the side of her watery grave when he hears her voice ring in his ears. That gives Storm and Wolverine a chance to investigate and find Jean who is in a coma. Professor X and Magneto go to visit the newly awakened Phoenix who is not really ready for visitors and mayhem ensues. Meanwhile in the B plot, when the father of a mutant finds a cure, Magneto and his crew race to destroy it. That gives the mutants a chance to soul search and provides an opportunity to have the giant fight at the end of the film.

This film fits in with the first two X-Men movies and wraps up some themes and character points from the earlier work. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen still shine as the two sides of the same coin. But more of this movie belongs to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Halle Berry as Storm. Even though that hair looks more ridiculous as the movies go by, Jackman is perfect as Wolverine. Kelsey Grammar is believable as the Beast and Vinnie Jones is a load of fun as Juggernaut.

As comic book fans or as movie fans we should want more from our entertainment than to see the same thing again and again with slight variation. In comics, the Dark Phoenix story has been told again and again with every member of the team getting the chance to take a shot at their teammates. By the end of the three X-Men movies, some of the lead characters have died adding depth and feeling to that overly-familiar plot. Maybe that will eliminate the chance that we will see the same story ad nauseum. The characters in this franchise seem to have more dimension than the comics and that made me realize a few things. Cyclops and Professor X are lousy leaders, but great emoters. Wolverine is entertaining because he is willing to take chances to get things done. Storm can be interesting. Kitty Pride is rather clever…

Right about here, the review/ thoughts start to breakdown. I saw this fine film at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and killed most of a pitcher of Guinness. Except for the rotten parking, this would be the perfect place to see a movie.

Anyway, there is a lot to like in this movie and it is the perfect bookend to the first two X-Men films.

 

The space cops/ space soldiers angle of the Green Lantern Corps is played up in this issue as there is a fight in the Oan chow hall and a rush to free POWs in a distant space sector. I tend to like Geoff Johns’ writing, but after rehabbing his favorite toys he seems to lose interest and move on. I would hope that this does not happen on this series, because I think that the art team would move on. And the art on this issue is beautiful. With influences from Kevin Nowlan, Jim Lee, and Neal Adams, this is a pretty book. Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert provide the pencils and inks for this one and it may be more of the GL Space Opera but its pretty. The double page fight image with the Manhunters and the final splash are all well designed and well executed. Beautiful work.

 

There is something delightfully wrong with Warren Ellis. He is more off than my friends who spent twenty years doing drugs. But he is a funny kind of random. This issue, H.A.T.E. points a variety of weapons at the NextWave crew. They are the muy phallic Armageddon Horn, the carniverous Koala Bears, the bright yellow Assault Pterosuit Flock and killer Samuroids among others. It’s loads of laughs and ultra-violence in the Marvel U which has had both in short supply.

 

The mystery of the other Daredevil is left alone for an issue. There is a nice scene with Ben Urich and Jonah Jameson as they spat and spar. Murdock and the Kingpin argue over what is happening around them as Kingpin denies that he killed Foggy Nelson. The one wrong note seems to be the Punisher who is all gloat and just a little gratuitious violence.

A bad guy gets ripped in half. Geoff Johns is working on the comic book. Coincidence?

It’s sensational!

This is the one One Year Later book that actually tried something bold and it succeeds because of that. Warren Ellis pegged this as an Edgar Rice Burroughs story, which is a nice change from what came before. A young stranger that looks like Aquaman and who is called Arthur Curry travels with King Shark as they search for the youngster’s Father. The stuttering dialogue in this issue got old, but Guice’s artwork is first rate. At different periods in his career, Butch Guice has been influenced by different artists for effect and here he is channeling Joe Kubert with great results. Kurt Busiek’s epic story is interesting but drifting a little as Arthur and his Shark run into the utopian members of the Sea Devils. This is outstanding work on it’s own and when compared to dreck like Nightwing or Green Arrow, Aquaman is a real find.

David Finch and Danny Miki have a way of getting detail into places where it shouldn’t live. And that’s a perfect description for this series. The script by Charlie Huston throws a curve into the Bushmaster villain as he and Moon Knight duke it out to the near-death. The creepy and wordy Mister Crawley makes an appearance looking more like Mick Jagger than he should and hints are thrown out about the fates of the ex-supporting cast. First rate work.

Richard Stark’s latest Parker novel moves along at an even clip as things go wrong from the start. The story starts with Parker killing a man who is stupid enough to wear a wire to a meeting about a job. On the way to pull an armored car robbery, Parker meets indifferent businessmen, two-timing broads, cowardly ex-cons and an overconfident bounty hunter. Nobody Runs Forever has some of the classic Parker moments, but this one feels like it is missing something. The story just stops in mid-flight from the law and there is no real resolution of some of the main storylines. Maybe that type of ending serves the title better, but I like my neo-noir stories to wrap up neatly.