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February 10, 2005
Subway Reading: Stray Bullets and Young Avengers
Stray Bullets #36 - It has come to my attention that there are people who do not buy or read this book. Even worse, these people have the unmitigated gall to still call themselves "comic book fans!" It has action, humor, drama, and frigging genius-level comic art. There is no excuse not to read this book. This latest issue, as usual, moves the overall story forward but remains self-contained enough to enjoy on its own. I can't recommend it highly enough. 5 stars.
Young Avengers #1 - Hold on to your hats: I liked this book. As much as this may shock you, it shocked me much more. My thinking when I picked it up was that, worst case scenario, it would give me fodder for some pithy snark in today's blog entry. Lo and behold, that tiny voice that said, "maybe it won't suck" turned out to be on the money.
This was the first comic effort by TV writer Allan Heinberg and he did a fantastic job. My expectation was for a typically lumbering Marvel first issue, with the beginnings of some unnecessarily long origin stories. (See, for example, Black Panther #1). Instead, Heinberg drops the characters right into the MU and follows the cast of The Pulse and some of the original Avengers as they try to answer the question of who these guys are. A satisfying combination of old and new characters, some old-fashioned Bang! Pow! action scenes, and not one but TWO unexpected last-page revelations/teasers added up to a very fun read.
The art by penciller Jim Cheung and inker John Dell was a little uneven for me. There were some moments of Image-style influence that made me wince. There were also moments of impressionistic yet descriptive finishes that brought to mind the best work of their fellow ex-CrossGen artist Steve Epting. The faces had a generic quality to them that would have made it very difficult to tell characters apart without their identifying hairstyles or costumes. The staging was sort of confusing, especially in the action sequence inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. The character design was solid, though, particularly in the case of "Iron Lad."
The marketing effort behind this title made me wary. These characters had the unmistakable scent of a crass marketing ploy in the vein of X-23, the teenage-girl version of Wolverine that Marvel has been shoving down our throats. These characters may well get the super-saturation treatment in the coming months, but that shouldn't take anything away from this comic book. While it wasn't transcendent or monumental, this was an entertaining read that managed to warm the crusty, pessimistic heart of this Marvel fan. 3.5 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at February 10, 2005 12:37 PM
Comments
Issue #2 will have Hulkling and Thorling full on 4-color man lovin' one another.
Issue #3 will reveal that Buckey Jr. is really Baron Zemo's nephew, leading to a crossover with the Thunderbolts.
Issue #4 will introduce Midget Hawkeye!
This is gonna be a HAWT series!!!
Posted by: Suckytarian at February 10, 2005 03:57 PM
I liked YA too, and completely expected to hate it. When I bought it, I felt like a tool. It did get started pretty slow, and the names (Hulkling?!) are too stoopid. Plus a little too much Bendis-style television dialogue. But -- overall, a lot more fun than I ever would have thought.
Posted by: Tim H at February 10, 2005 05:04 PM
I, of course, never bought it.
I came close, I admit, but the young Hulk one the cover (do they really call him Hulkling? Good gracious!) killed it for me. It looked too stupid for words.
I'm not saying I can't be wrong, it could very well be great, but it set my spider-sense off. That's all I'm sayin'.
Stray bullets, on the other hand, was fuckin' awesome. It's funny, I can never really remember Stray Bullets from issue to issue. I've read every one, once, and always love it, but I can never remember the names or characteristics of any of the regular characters, apart from Amy Racecar.
Maybe it's because they come out so infrequently, or maybe I block it out because each issue somewhat disturbs me, but I just can't seem to hold the overall thread of the story.
As a result, I tend to ONLY look at the issues as a self-contained story, and they never fail to impress me. It really is an amazing book, that paints characters amazingly real and understandable, even as they are bizarre. You almost feel you KNOW those freaks. They perfectly catch the vibe of your creepy, grabby uncle, your angry spinster third grade teacher, or your friend's insane step-parent.
Hats off to Lapham, man. Hats off.
I also picked up the 10th Ultimate X-Men trade. Is anyone other than me annoyed that the trades are getting smaller? Time was, they'd squeeze 12 issues into one of those bad boys. Then it was 8-10. Then it dropped to 6. Now we're down to 4? WTF?
Have enough people (like me) made the switch to buying the trades exclusively that they are catering to our market by rushing them out faster? Or, is it, as I suspect from my job in printing, an intentional reduction page count to hit a price tier that inreases your profit margin, even if you charge a few dollars less for the book.
Those Marvel sons of bitches. They're like goddamn Microsoft.
Posted by: Peat at February 10, 2005 10:51 PM