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April 01, 2005
Subway Reading: The Goon, Amazing Joy Buzzards, Ultimate Secret
The Goon #11 - According to the Dark Horse web site, this issue marks a new direction in Eric Powell's art style. The change came about because of an upgrade to glossier paper, which is more forgiving to the subtle tonal variations that Powell likes to create with pencil-shading. For one thing, I thought it was cool that DH found a change in an artist's style important enough to warrant an official announcement. More importantly, I like the new look. The Goon has been split between inked and non-inked styles for a while, usually to signify the difference between present-day action and flashbacks. This new style is sort of a merger between the two, with heavy inks deployed for outlines and pencil gradations replacing pen-hatching for shading and texture. Together with the appealingly unified coloring and the shiny new stock, the new style ratchets the visuals up yet another notch.
Story-wise, Powell returns to the wacky action that we all know and love. Dr. Alloy is mysteriously disintegrating, and he needs The Goon and Frankie to venture into another dimension and retrieve a chunk of un-earthly metal so that he can be saved. Hilarity ensues. It's nice to get some genuine laughs from a humor comic for a change, weird looks from my fellow subway riders be damned. Hey folks, at least I'm not bellowing out an obscene rant about The Bible, AIDS, and oral sex like this one guy was doing on a train car full of children the other day. Anyway, toothless grins go out to Powell for Frankie immediately going nuts in the other dimension, and for Alloy's Spanish-speaking man-lizard servant Lagarto. Simultaneously hilarious and gorgeous, The Goon remains my favorite book on the stands. 4.5 star.
The Amazing Joy Buzzards #4 - This title has never been perfect, but the pros have always outweighed the cons for me. In this issue, however, the cons squeaked ahead to a narrow victory. Smith and Hipp went a little heavy on the expository dialogue and the spotted blacks, making it a bit of a chore to get through the book. The multi-chapter mystery that wraps up in this issue gets a lot of attention at the expense of the throwaway jokes and zany action that we have come to expect.
** SPOILER WARNING! **
Then there's the way that the book ends. Basically, the climactic fight scene is missing from the issue. To see it, you have to visit the creators' web site or wait for the trade paperback. While I would normally fly off the handle with nerd-fan rage at something like this, in this context it really didn't bother me that much. The stunt fits in with the generally irreverent and self-conscious tone of the book. The thing that irks me about the missing scene is that the pages we did get were mostly talking heads and plot exposition. If the book had been humming along at its usual fun pace, I wouldn't miss the ending scene at all. This was a disappointing chapter from a title that has not built up enough good will to afford such a clunker. 2 stars.
Ultimate Secret #1 - I only have two major comments about this book. One, this was my first exposure to the art of Steve McNiven, and I was blown away. His work reminded me of John Cassady's, not because of his tightly naturalistic drawing style, but because he combines it with dynamic compositions and clever storytelling. My second thought is, "Holy God in heaven, can Warren Ellis slow a book down any further?" I went into this book expecting Ellis' usual slow pace. What I got was even less story than I ever imagined. Don't get me wrong; the action scenes were very cool, and the set-up was intriguing. Nonetheless, the end of the book brought up that all-too-familiar feeling of "that's IT?" I did enjoy the book, but even with the gazing that I was forced into by McNiven's lush artwork, it was over all too soon. 3 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at April 1, 2005 01:15 PM
Comments
McNiven became one of my favorites during his evolution working on Meridian. While I think he deserves all the big book (and presumably big buck) recognition he's getting at Marvel, I do long for a day when he's once again doing visuals on a book I'm actually interested in reading.
Posted by: Jason Kimble at April 1, 2005 02:41 PM