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October 10, 2005
Subway Reading: Express Line
Hie thee unto Buzzscope.com to read my review of Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big In Japan #1! I'll wait patiently until you return...
...and that's enough long-winded, well-reasoned, thoughtful analysis for one day. Let's dive into some quick takes on last week's books, shall we?
Devil Dinosaur #1 - This book was a brightly-colored, one-and-done delight, featuring solid laughs and the Hulk fighting dinosaurs. It also included the best Hulk dialogue I've ever seen, hands down. Marvel should give Eric Powell and Tom Sniegoski a truckload of money and sign them up for a monthly Hulk title immediately.
Grounded #3 - There is a lot to like about this title, not the least of which is the distinctive art. The setting of a high school for kids with super powers is a little tired, but the creators manage to squeeze a couple of clever ideas out of it. My complaint is that the story seems a little disjointed and non-focused; ever since we left the real-world setting of the first issue, I've had a hard time getting my bearings with regard to the characters' motivations and goals. I suspect that all may not be as it seems, however, so I will reserve judgment until the end of the miniseries. The sharp-looking visuals will tide me over until then.
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #11 - The idea was inspired: get a selection of classic horror comic creators to do Simpsons Comics' annual Halloween anthology. The result, unfortunately, was a bit of a disaster. The Dracula parody by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan fell particularly flat. The sketchy, uninked art was confusing and muddy, and the real horror of the story came from the frighteningly ugly clash between Colan's naturalistic drawing style and the flat, stylized design of the Simpsons characters. The remarkable lack of humor in both this story and Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson's Swamp thing send-up did not help. The EC parody, with art by John Severin, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson, and Mark Schultz worked a little better; the art styles generally matched up a little better with the look of the property, and the punchier writing provided a couple of genuine laughs. All in all, the $4.99 cover price and the level of expectation turned this into the disappointment of the week.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at October 10, 2005 03:50 PM
Comments
Huh...I agreed with you on most of the Treehouse of Horror, but I thought that the "Squish Thing" story was perfect. The dialog rang true for me, which is a difficult task, considering that it had to balance the Swamp Thing's gloomy narration with Homer's self-centered simpleness. The rest of the characters aren't portrayed perfectly, but then again, they rarely are in the comics (or in the TV series' out-of-continuity episodes, like this one). I don't know that that story alone made it worth the $5 price tag, but at least it kept me from having any regrets.
How come I can't find your reviews on Buzzscope? Presumably, that Big In Japan review should have shown up on their front page sometime in the past week, right? I never saw it until you posted the link here.
Posted by: Nevin at October 10, 2005 10:09 PM
Never mind my last question. Buzzscope has a link to your review up today.
Posted by: Nevin at October 11, 2005 09:11 AM
The navigation on the Buzzscope site definitely leaves a lot to be desired. There is a way to see links to all my reviews on one page, though they are unhelpfully sorted alphabetically. Check my "links" section on the right for a link to that page.
Posted by: jdonelson_nyc at October 11, 2005 10:03 AM
Yeah, site navigation is one of the main things that's getting overhauled in the relaunch.
Posted by: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez at October 14, 2005 10:03 AM