…

Yeah. I’ve got nothing this week. For this space, anyway. On with the reviews!

The Goon vols. 8-9: Entitled “Those That is Damned” and “Calamity of Conscience,” respectively. These two volumes bring an end to the “Goon Year” of storytelling where writer/artist Eric Powell delivered twelve issues of the series on a monthly schedule. He’s still working on the series, but at a more “relaxed” pace right now. While they continue the decidedly more serious storytelling trend started in “A Place of Heartache and Grief,” there’s still plenty of Powell’s wacked-out humor to keep things from getting too melodramatic or sentimental. Is there a catch? While the story wraps up satisfyingly enough, I was expecting more closure than what I got. For a storyline that was set up to be the mother of all “Goon” stories, to have it come off like the first part of a planned trilogy felt somewhat unsatisfying. Still, it gives Powell room to try and top himself whenever he gets around to following this up.

Ghost Rider: “The Last Stand” and “Trials and Tribulations” – I’d been waiting for the next collections of writer Jason Aaron’s run on “Ghost Rider” for a while now, and while I wasn’t disappointed, they didn’t set my world (or even my skull) on fire. These two volumes continue Johnny Blaze’s struggle against the rogue angel Zadkiel who bound Blaze’s soul to the Spirit of Vengeance and turned him into the title character, and is now set on taking over Heaven. Tossed into the mix here is the revelation that there are many “Spirits of Vengeance” spread out over the world, bringing justice to their particular region, and Blaze’s brother Danny Ketch, who’s “extinguishing” the spirits on Zadkiel’s order. Despite its outlandish nature, the story is too predictable to be compelling in and of itself, but it’s the details that Aaron brings to his stories that make the books worth reading. From a warrior nun turned “Ghost Rider” wrangler, to a big-rig driver who sold his soul to the devil, an anime/manga inspired flesh-shaper, and the Punisher’s reaction to the fall of Heaven, there’s plenty of little things to hold your interest as the plot works towards its inevitable conclusion. Points off for the forgettable filler “annual” in “Trials and Tribulations,” though.

The Umbrella Academy vol. 2: Dallas – Writer/creator Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Ba’s follow-up to their ridiculously inventive first series is a worthy successor. No, it’s not as good as the first one, but that’s mainly due to pacing issues than the fact that the premise has worn out its welcome or that the creators have lost the thread. Anyway, “Dallas” picks up not too long after the events of the first series and finds the cast either succumbing to depression, enjoying their newfound fame, making the most of what was dealt to them, carrying on as usual, or in the case of Number Five, being hunted by an agency dedicated to resolving temporal anomalies — an agency he used to work for. Now they want him back to fulfill the job he wrecked for them: The assassination of JFK. It’s never less than entertaining to see what crazy ideas Way has come up with and how Ba has decided to render them, but the feeling that things are being padded out starts to set in once the cast makes the leap in time back to the 60’s. They could’ve shaved an entire issue off the six that are collected here and not lost anything essential to the plot, but everything on display here still has me looking forward to the next volume in the series.

Captain Britain and MI-13 vol. 3: Vampire State — If the idea of Count Dracula waging war on Britain from his secret base on the moon with his vampire army sounds appealing to you, then buy this volume now! It’s a credit to the skills of writer Paul Cornell that he takes a setup that sounds ridiculous even by the standards of the Marvel Universe and manages to not only wring out an effective superhero story from it, but one that can be taken seriously as well. Yes, there are funny bits sprinkled throughout the story (such as the rooting out of MI-13’s vampire infestation), but the overall story is so tightly plotted and well-thought-out that once Dracula begins his trans-lunar assault, you’ll feel that it’s a credible threat. While I wouldn’t quite recommend this to people who don’t read superhero comics, those who do (and especially those with a fondness for Marvel’s British characters, Captain Britain, Black Knight, Spitfire, Pete Wisdom, and Blade [yes, he’s British too]) will find a lot to like here, and it’s a shame we won’t be getting more of this anytime soon.

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order vol. 12 Angel Redux – Alita is back in action in this volume and she wastes no time in letting Aga Mbadi and Desty (Super)Nova know that they’ll be fighting on her terms from now on. While it’s great seeing Alita back in the real world after the events of vol. 10, the majority of this volume is given over to Toji and Zekka’s rebuilding of their “Space Karate” team for their fight against Alita’s “Space Angels.” While I would’ve liked to see more of Alita than that, it’s still a fairly satisfying chunk of action and character-building setup. However, the best moment in the volume comes in a quiet exchange between Mbadi and Nova, as the former agrees to give the latter one of his servants that Alita utterly defeated to remake for his own purposes. Now the last time Nova rebuilt one of Alita’s foes for his experiments, we wound up with “Tears of an Angel,” the best volume in the previous series. The potential here is exciting, and I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing where mangaka Yukito Kishiro goes with this.

Daredevil: Return of the King – Bringing an end to writer Ed Brubaker’s tenure with the character, a time that was mostly spent extricating the title character from the status quo that previous writer Brian Michael Bendis left him with. Granted, Brubaker’s run has been pretty entertaining, but he never really got the title out of the shadow of Bendis’ epic run. To be fair, this volume does pretty definitively extricate Matt Murdock from pretty much all of those loose ends by setting him up with a drastically new status quo… that will subsequently be explored by new writer Andy Diggle. While this means that Brubaker’s run will probably best be remembered as a “transitional” one, this volume at least sends him out on a high note by bringing The Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, back into Daredevil’s life. After having his attempt at a normal life ruined by Lady Bullseye, Fisk returns to New York and proposes an alliance with Daredevil in order to bring her down. While it should be obvious that there’s more to Fisk’s plan than this, the way things play out wind up giving Murdock a victory of sorts over the people who have sought to control his fate, even if it means placing himself in dire personal straits. Good stuff, but here’s hoping incoming writer Diggle doesn’t let his run wind up in the shadows of his predecessors.

Scalped vol. 5: High Lonesome – By all rights this series should be too depressing to read. The series’ ostensible hero, Dash Bad Horse, has let his life descend into a drug-fueled stupor and then lets himself get roped into a con man’s scheme to rob Chief Red Crow’s casino. However, the worse things get for the cast of this series the more entertaining it becomes. The other stories in this volume are similarly happy tales as they depict crucial and compelling backstory from the supporting cast. We get to see how wannabe Indian FBI agent (and current prison inmate) Diesel became the man he is today, what really went on when the two FBI agents were killed on the reservation back in Red Crow, Gina Bad Horse, and Catcher’s younger days, and most satisfyingly the personal history of Nitz, the FBI agent dedicated to bringing Red Crow down. Up until now Nitz has come off like your average evil white guy in a position of authority; but, with this story we finally get to understand what made him that way and why he’s so bent on getting revenge for his FBI friends that were killed. It doesn’t make him likeable by any means, but he’s a far more interesting character to read about now especially since his actions aren’t entirely unjustified. Another superb volume from writer Jason Aaron, and artist R.M. Guera (and co.), and I can’t wait to see how much worse things get for everyone in the next volume.

(Sorry about the delay.  My computer has been giving me crap all week and I’ve finally bludgeoned it to the point where it’ll go on the internet, but keeps throwing system errors at me.)

Anyway, that bit I wrote two weeks ago about Miracleman being Norman Osborne’s “secret muscle” – completely wrong. As it turns out, the “MM” that Rich Johnston was referring to was “Secret Wars” veteran “Molecule Man.” While I understand he has a place in the hearts of many fans of 80’s Marvel comics, he’s also gifted/burdened with a power that makes him almost impossible to write in a shared superhero universe. That power being the ability to rearrange molecules into any form he wants. It’ll be interesting to see how writer Brian Michael Bendis has wrangled this character and his powers into a believable plot element for the upcoming “Siege” event, but that’s why I like waiting for the trade – you get to hear how these things work out before putting your money down. That said, the fact that Osborne’s secret muscle isn’t Miracleman has diminished my interest in this storyline considerably. More shenanigans with Osborne and his “Dark Reigin” after the break.

New Avengers vol. 10: Power – I’m back on the wagon after taking two volumes off while the series filled in “Secret Invasion” backstory. As this volume is pretty much the starting point for the “Dark Reign” storyline, I was expecting to see more action than I did. While the opening chapter, “Secret Invasion: Dark Reign” has lots of engaging chatter and setup for future events courtesy of Bendis and artist Alex Maleev, the actual “New Avengers” issues are pretty “meh” in comparison. In the three issues collected, we see the team re-formed, Luke Cage get his daughter back, and the team throws down with The Hood’s gang of supervillains, but remarkably little is actually achieved. There are some good moments as the team gets formally introduced to the new Captain America, and reacts to Osborne’s “Dark Avengers” (while finding out that Wolverine has a son in the process), but remarkably little progress is made in telling any kind of story. Which is too bad because…

Invincible Iron Man vol. 2: World’s Most Wanted book 1 — …this is an excellent showcase for what mileage can be gotten out of the “Dark Reign” setup. With Stark Industries on the brink of collapse, and S.H.I.E.L.D. being re-formed as H.A.M.M.E.R. under Osborne’s watch, Tony Stark has reached his lowest point in a long while. Making matters worse, his plan to keep the Initiative database (which contains the identities of every costumed superhero in the U.S.) out of Osborne’s hands has made him… well, look at the title of this volume. While Tony’s plan to keep the database safe by storing it in his mind and slowly wiping it all away (with a subsequent loss of intellect) requires a certain suspension of disbelief to accept, the rest of the story is grade-A superhero action courtesy of writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca. The ensuing battle of wits between Osborne and Stark’s camps is truly entertaining to watch, and all the action sequences are never less than “thrilling.” Overall, this isn’t just something that I’d recommend to fans of the character or superhero comics – but if you liked last year’s movie and don’t read comics, then I’d recommend this to you too. Speaking of series that have hit their stride…

Claymore vol. 15: At this point, there’s very little chance that Norihiro Yagi’s saga of demonic creatures and the girls with big-ass swords that kill them will ever escape being “Berserk Lite” in my mind. However, it still works pretty well as violent fantasy manga “comfort food” and this volume was a particularly tasty meal. After swiftly resolving the cliffhanger from the last volume Claire and company (I’d give more names, but Yagi’s biggest weakness as an artist has been the way most of his characters tend to look alike) sit back and have the next phase of the plot explained to them. As expository speeches go, this one wasn’t bad, and while one of the revelations came as no surprise (the Organization really are the bad guys) the subsequent twist on that was actually quite ingenious (it turns out that the world of “Claymore” is much bigger than we’ve been led to believe). In addition to this, we finally get to find out what Raki has been up to since the “Battle of the North” and if he and Claire ever meet up again, his new travelling partner will make their reunion a violent one at the least. Toss in the surprise return of a long-forgotten character at the end, and you have a series that has me anticipating the release of the next volume… NEXT JUNE! Come on Viz! You haven’t caught up to the Japanese release yet, so there’s no reason for us to wait THAT long for the next volume. *takes deep breath* Well, at least we won’t have to wait too long for other series…

20^th Century Boys vol. 5: Of the two mangas by Naoki Urasawa being released by Viz, the other being his Astro Boy remake “Pluto,” this is easily the better of the two. The first half of this volume focuses on Kenji’s efforts to gather his friends together and plan to take down the mysterious “Friend,” and it’s well-done if a bit predictable (though seeing the modern-day versions of Yanbo and Mabo was quite a surprise). Things really get interesting when the series jumps ahead 15 years to 2014 to focus on Kenji’s niece Kanna, who has grown up to be the type of frighteningly competent heroine that Urasawa loves to write (see also: Nina in “Monster”). Seeing her stop a gunfight by dressing down the attackers’ poor tactics is great and there’s no easier way to win me over to a story than to show me a protagonist who has their act completely together. While I was less convinced about the leap forward in time as a storytelling device, the fact that I’m actively speculating about what happened to Kenji’s group in 1999 makes me think that it was a good choice in retrospect. And while I can’t wait to see more of Kanna in action in the next volume, other series aren’t as fortunate to have protagonists as capable as her…

Slam Dunk vol. 6: The match between Shohoku and Ryonan finally wraps up, and even though it’s not a televised game, the down-to-the wire action was still pretty exciting on the page. While Hanamichi is still too much of an idiot for my tastes, the fact that he’s improving as a player makes him a little more palatable. Mangaka Takehiko Inoue also makes things more interesting by introducing a new character that might be even more of a violent troublemaker than Hanamichi is. Not a great “Shonen Jump” title, but it’s getting better. Slowly. Still, when it comes to Takehiko Inoue and basketball, his other title is the one I’d recommend to anyone…

Real vol. 6: Ostensibly this is about wheelchair basketball, but it’s really about three teenagers with varying degrees of mental and physical handicaps. You’ve got Nomiya, who is so much of a hothead that he got kicked off of his school basketball team and subsequently quit school, Togawa, a rising star in the field of wheelchair basketball, and Takahashi, Nomiya’s former teammate who was recently paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. It’s Takahashi’s story that’s the most compelling of the three and the one that has (rightfully) been the focus of the last two volumes. While the easy way to handle his story would be to portray Takahashi as a determined hero with an indomitable spirit (right out of a “Shonen Jump” manga) who will regain the ability to walk through sheer will, Inoue takes a much trickier route with him. While he has shown some resilience in the face of his tragedy, the realization that his life will never be the same has pretty much crushed his spirit and caused him to give up on his rehabilitation. The return of his father, who ran out on him and his mother years ago, hasn’t helped as he’s now a beaten-down potter as opposed to the heroic businessman Takahshi remembers him as. Though Takahashi’s struggle has been fascinating to watch, the series was set up as a three-character drama, and while Nomiya gets one good scene in this volume, Togawa and the rest of the wheelchair basketball team’s story feels like it’s going nowhere fast. While it would be nice to see Nomiya and Togawa’s stories get the same treatment that Takashi’s gets, this series is still plenty engaging as it is.

I read an interesting bit of comics rumermongering earlier this week. While it has been shown that Norman Osborne has some superpowered character at his beck and call to keep the members of his Cabal (Namor, Emma Frost, Dr. Doom, Loki and The Hood) in line, this person’s identity has been one of the best-kept secrets in comics at the moment. (Which is probably because people at Marvel haven’t figured it out yet. But I digress…) Rich Johnston over at Bleeding Cool thinks has some inside info on the character’s identity, as he reported that at the Big Apple Comic-Con last weekend that the character’s name involves the letters “MM.” This leads Johnston to believe that it’s Miracleman (or Marvelman if you live in England). To be honest, even I’m having a hard time believing this as I type it. The Moore/Gaiman series of comics featuring the character has been the center of a decades-long legal battle that few thought would ever see resolution. Marvel has apparently made some headway with that as they announced at Comic-Con last year that they now have the rights to creator Mick Anglo’s original “Marvelman” comics, and most are believing that resolving the rights to the contested comics will be a matter of “when” not “if” anymore. As far as Miracleman being Osborne’s strongman? That seems to be so obviously BS that Johnston should’ve recognized it, but he seems to believe it for now. All I can say is that if this is the case, then it would be one of the rare, RARE times when one of their “big reveals” actually feels satisfying. The actual truth of the matter will probably bear out sometime in 2010 – and now, reviews!

Berserk vol. 31: Lots of dramatic fighting between Guts’ crew and the demonic Kushan hordes. Their leader even puts in an electrifying (literally, cue rimshot) appearance as he poses a no-brainer question to Guts: “Join me to fight against Griffith.” The action is entertaining as always, but now that we’ve moved into the “fighting” part of this arc, it’s threatening to overwhelm the storytelling. Of course, with Zodd showing up at the end of the volume (and getting his ass handed to him), there’s potential for some interesting parley between Guts and one of his nemesis’ subordinates. I’m looking forward to seeing how, or if that plays out in the next volume.

Captain America — The Man With No Face: Or, volume nine in Ed Brubaker’s run for those of you keeping track at home. Now that Bucky has saved America from the Red Skull’s plan and started to settle into the role of being the new Captain America it’s time to start throwing some old and new threats at him. The old comes in the form of Batroc the Leaper, who despite his goofy appearance Brubaker makes into a credible threat, and the new comes in the form of the title character, a legendary spy who can travel through shadows. Overall, it’s another solid arc in the writer’s run, though I hope that he doesn’t keep playing the “an old threat from Bucky’s past comes back to haunt him” card for the character’s future adventures. It’s more interesting to see him adapt to his place in the current Marvel Universe than in its past.

Fables vol. 12 – The Dark Ages: With Gepetto deposed from his position as the Adversary, everything should be rainbows and sunshine for the cast of this book, right? Of course not, as one of the evil powers, known only as Mr. Dark, sealed away by Gepetto during his reign is turned loose and singlehandedly levels Fabletown. With everyone retreating to the Farm in the wake of Mr. Dark’s attack, there’s a feeling that things are returning to the series’ original status quo, but so many factors have changed since then that it winds up feeling fresh nonetheless. Though regular artist Mark Buckingham handles things with his usual style and competency, the real artistic highlight of this volume is Mike Allred’s return as guest artist for the opening issue. You wouldn’t think that his off-kilter style would work in a book that showcases the virtues of traditional storytelling, but it does. Beautifully. Those of you worried that the series had nowhere to go after the end of the last volume will find their fears happily allayed here.

Neon Genesis Evangelion – The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 2: Yup, still mortgaging my self-respect. That said, I’m starting to see what editor/English adapter Carl Horn said about the appeal of seeing these characters in a traditional high-school setting. While tropes such as mistaken sexual orientation, class trips, waking in on girls in their underwear are out in full-force here, there’s something engaging about seeing the established Evangelion cast perpetrate them as opposed to characters I know nothing about. Then again, I’m also certain that the witty self-aware nature of Horn’s adaptation also contributes greatly to my enjoyment. Anyway, the highlights of this volume include Kaworu’s introduction to the cast, and Gendo’s revelation that NERV’s emergency generators are powered by exercise bikes. Not recommended to the casual manga reader, but if you like Evangelion you might find this unexpectedly enjoyable.

The Walking Dead vol. 10 – Here We Remain: The most enjoyable thing about this volume isn’t something that happens directly on the page, but in seeing how writer Robert Kirkman subverts the standard zombie/horror movie conventions. From the unexpected direction of the relationship between Rick and Abraham (who appears to be your standard angry military man), to the amount of deaths in the main cast, and how he sets up a nice moment between two characters that makes you go “Oh, she’s going to die,” and then doesn’t kill her off – this the work of a man who really knows what he’s doing. Yes, some of the traps he sets up are bound to go off eventually, but it’s clear that he realizes the virtue of letting the reader have time to calm down and forget about them before setting them off. Though Kirkman has said that the cast will eventually reach a real pocket of civilization, even the promise of a respite still sounds fraught with disturbing storytelling potential after reading this volume.

Slam Dunk vol. 5: All through this volume I couldn’t stop thinking about what an idiot the main character, hoodlum turned basketball player Sakuragi Hanamichi, was. I’d find him completely unlikeable if he didn’t actually demonstrate the capacity to learn from his mistakes over the course of this volume. Then there’s the “Shonen Jump” style pacing, which means that the game started in the last volume still hasn’t finished by the end of this one and most of the plot points and beats are inherently predictable because that’s how they play out in stories like this. I was so busy bitching about what annoyed me in my head while reading this, that before I knew it the story was over and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. It’s a credit to mangaka Takehikio Inoue’s skill as a storyteller that I’m still interested in this series despite its many flaws, but it has yet to become the great series that everyone I know says it is.

Secret Six – Unhinged: I’d heard nothing but good things about this series from writer Gail Simone and artist Nicola Scott, so picking up this volume was a no-brainer. After reading it, I’m not as enthusiastic about it as everyone else, but this villain-focused series does have its charms. The Six, made up of Catman, Deadshot, Scandal Savage, Ragdoll, and Bane (and yes, I realize that’s only five villains, but the sixth one joins halfway through) are given a job by a mystery client to break an ex-superhero/ex-FBI agent out of prison and get her to give up the card she stole from a legendarily fearsome and evil crime boss known only as Junior. Junior also wants it back too, and he puts out a bounty on the heads of the members of the Secret Six. Simone is a very witty writer and its clear she’s having a lot of fun writing characters whose moral compasses usually point south, and that fun is infectious for the most part. The problem is that while she creates a very clever McGuffin, the action overwhelms the story by the end and we’re left wondering “What was the point of all this?” Simone also sets herself up for failure with Junior, who is said to be a crime boss so fearsome that he gives the freaks in Gotham nightmares, but comes off as a B (or even C) list Batman villain. When Deadshot has a chance to do him in and is warned off by another character that Junior would kill them all, it’s not believable at all. Still, with the introductory arc over, and the series sales’ at a relatively consistent level, I’m hoping that we get a second arc that’s a bit more low-key and does more interesting things with its impressive cast.

No burning comics news to report today. I did record new podcasts this weekend, so you can look forward to hearing my next crossovercast with the “No Podcast For Old Men” crew next week on a subject near and dear to all of our hearts – “Star Wars.” Two weeks from then I’m going to make good on a promise from an earlier column with my thoughts on the late Drew Hayes’ “Poison Elves.” After that? Well, thanks to RightStuf.com’s Viz sale, I finally picked up the rest of Naoki Urasawa’s “Monster” (after reading it years ago in scanlated form). So a podcast on that and “20^th Century Boys” might be in the offing. Though what I’d really like to do is get the “NPFOM” crew to read “Pluto” since the result of trying to write a sci-fi manga with hard sci-fi elements, but no actual hard science would make for interesting discussion. Anyways, on with the reviews:

DMZ vol. 6: War Powers: Easily one of the strongest volumes in writer Brian Wood and (primary) artist Riccardo Burchielli’s series. Back in the city after a vacation following Parco Delgado’s election as the governor of the DMZ, reporter Matty Roth finds himself in the thick of things again. In order to make good on all of his promises, Parco needs money and Matty’s Triad buddy Wilson is supposedly sitting on a store of gold left unsiezed since the start of the war. While following up on that is one thing, Matty’s even less sure about the man he helped bring to power after he winds up being the delivery boy for Parco’s “insurance policy.” Fascinating in the way it shows Parco’s political maneuvering and strategizing, this volume also sets the stage for what is most likely going to be Matty’s downfall. I think it’ll be very entertaining to watch this man, who didn’t realize until it was too late that he was being played, try to become a player himself.

Gunsmith Cats: Burst vol. 4: It’s hard for any series to keep its momentum going after more than a year between volumes, especially if they didn’t have much to begin with. While the gunfights and gun otaku trappings that have been this series stock-in-trade for the longest time remain compelling, little else does in this volume. After I read the first volume, I wondered why mangaka Kenichi Sonoda decided to revive his signature series since it didn’t seem like he had anything new to say about the characters or stories to tell. The two volumes that followed were more entertaining, but that “lack of ideas” issue rears its head again with this volume as Sonoda brings back Goldie. She was the “big bad” of the first series and her story was pretty much done. Now she’s back, and I might’ve been more amenable to her return if Sonoda didn’t restore her to status quo through an illogical contrivance that makes heroine Rally Vincent look like an idiot. This volume isn’t enough to make me stop reading the series entirely, but I won’t be chomping at the bit for the next volume.

Eden: It’s an Endless World vol. 12: This, on the other hand, I wish Dark Horse would publish more regularly. A fantastic sci-fi action series with ideas as impressive as its gunfights, it’s a series that has me eagerly anticipating the release of each new volume. The action showpiece here is Elijah and Alethia’s showdown with one of Propater’s android assassins, the meat of this volume comes from the bonding between Maya and Hanna. While Hanna is still bristling at being a forced guest at one of Propater’s safehouses, Maya takes the time to teach her about the ways of the world by delving into the memory of the colloid virus (still engulfing people around the world) and showing her the truth being her sister Gina’s ill-fated love affair and drug addiction. I realize that my summation of the events of this volume probably makes things more confusing, and that just means that it’s not a good jumping on point. If you haven’t read it, start from the beginning – you’ll be glad you did.

Dan Dare Omibus: Collecting the miniseries originally published by the now defunct Virgin Comics. That said, let me say now that it was worth collecting, if only for the fact that it’s one of the RARE instances where you’ll see writer Garth Ennis actually show respect to an iconic comic character (to the Brits, anyway). The story is fairly standard issue: An old threat is coming from beyond the solar system and it’s carrying a black hole along with it. Retired for many years, legendary war hero and pilot Dan Dare is called back into action to save us all. Except that not all is what it seems and Dare’s return may just turn out to be his last hurrah. Ennis writes in his introduction about the appeal of Dare’s idealism, and he pulls off the difficult task of making it a quality to be proud of instead of descending into sentimental claptrap. He’s also helped immensely by the art of Gary Erskine, who makes the retro-sci-fi look of the comic seem believable and appealing.

Cable vol. 2: Waiting for the End of the World: In which Scott Summers broods about letting the title character go at the end of “Messiah Complex,” Bishop unsuccessfully tracks him through time, and then he takes a few years off to raise Hope before having to pick up his guns to defend her and their settlement from humanoid cockroaches. If you’re like me, then the main reason you’re reading this is because it’s directly following up on one of the key threads from the “X-men’s” last, excellent, crossover. It’s not bad, but as with a lot of “X-Men” comics these days, it probably won’t have much appeal to people who aren’t well versed in its continuity or have an interest in where the franchise is going. Still, writer Duane Swierczyinski has a good handle on the characters, and it’s a rare writer that can make Cyclops’ brooding actually seem interesting.

Frankenstein’s Womb: Warren Ellis has now done three “graphic novellas” for Avatar, and this is easily the least of them. His first one, “Crecy,” was an excellent history lesson about a battle that helped shape modern warfare, and his second, “Aetheric Mechanics,” was a fun riff on Sherlock Holmes that also had the funniest use of profanity I’ve seen in an Ellis book. (And if you’re familiar with his penchant for profanity, you’ll know that’s saying something.) This… has Frankenstein’s Monster nattering on about the future to Mary Shelley in a castle before she writes her signature work. Less a story than Ellis banging on about an idea he had for 48 pages, it has some nice art by Marek Oleksicki but not much else.

In case you were wondering, I recorded this before I went out and saw the movie last weekend.  Had I seen the movie before recording this, I would’ve recommended that those of you who were planning on seeing the movie to just take the money you would’ve spent on the ticket and put it towards buying the graphic novel that inspired it instead.  It’s not that the movie is awful, but it demonstrated a clear lack of faith in the source material as it replaced the majority of the graphic novel’s plot with something of the screenwriters’ own devising.  So if the idea of “The Surrogates:  As done by the people who brought you ‘Terminator 3′” sounds like a can’t miss idea for you, then run — don’t walk — to see this.  Otherwise, go read the graphic novel and follow it up with a good Bruce Willis sci-fi movie (”13 Monkeys”) instead.

So while I’ve been talking about everything I bought at Comic-Con in these posts for quite some time now, it means that now I’ve got a backlog of new (well, “new-ish”) stuff to talk about now… As well as some more stuff from San Diego that still hasn’t been reviewed yet.

Also, I am planning on going to see “The Surrogates” this weekend. The graphic novels were good and the trailers are promising. Of course, I could wake up on Friday and find out that it has received reviews that make “Transformers 2” look like Oscar material, but that doesn’t seem likely. On that note, look for my thoughts on the original graphic novel and its prequel here next week.

The Boys vol. 4: We Gotta Go Now: Those of you who remember when I talked about the previous volume on the podcast will know that I really liked the last volume. It was the one where the series finally “clicked” for me. Which makes it all the more painful to say that this volume flushes a lot of that goodwill down the toilet. While the idea of having Hughie infiltrate “The Boys’” equivalent of the “X-men” by way of their hard-partying junior team isn’t bad at all, the revelation of the team’s dark secret is probably the biggest miscalculation I’ve ever seen from writer Garth Ennis. While Ennis is usually very good at pushing the envelope to great comedic and dramatic effect, using child abuse the way he does here was disturbing in all the wrong ways and casts a sick shadow on all the other humor in the book. Artists Darick Robertson and John Higgins are on fine form here, but if this is the direction Ennis wants to take the series, then he’ll be doing it without me.

Batman Year 100: After reading this, I want to kick myself for putting off buying it as long as I did. The concept is simple: there’s a Batman in Gotham in the year 2039 fighting a fascist police state that has the city, and country, in a death grip. It’s not a revolutionary idea by any means, but it comes to vivid life in the hands of writer/artist Paul Pope. The fact that he creates an entirely believable future world is impressive enough, but his breathtaking action scenes move like almost nothing else you’ve seen. It’s not often that I credit the art as being a larger part of my enjoyment of a book than the writing, but that’s exactly the case here. If I have one complaint, it’s that the story feels a little slight by the end – like this was intended to be the first part of a trilogy. It’d be great if it was, but this is still an excellent book by itself.

X-Men: Original Sin: Essentially the next volume of “X-Men: Legacy” and “Wolverine: Origins.” After Wolverine rescues his son Daken from the machinations of the mysterious (and eeeeeeeevil) Romulus, he enlists Charles Xavier’s help in breaking the mental programming still in his son’s head. Charles is reluctant to help after the last two volumes of “Legacy” have shown him what a mess he has made of mucking around in other people’s heads, but he finds he has little choice once the Hellfire Club makes its move to enlist Daken in its ranks. If you were bored by those last two sentences, then this isn’t the book for you. As someone who is interested in Mike Carey’s ongoing Professor X story in “Legacy” I thought this was a fine continuation of it. Even though more than half of the issues here were written by Daniel Way, both writers come together to tell a cohesive story that advances the plots of both series. For what it is, this was pretty good.

Black Lagoon vol. 7: Reading the manga that inspired one of my favorite anime series in recent memory has been a somewhat lackluster experience for the most part. It’s not bad, but it’s hard not to appreciate all the little tweaks and changes the creators of the anime made to the manga’s stories to make them work better in a different medium. Now that we’re firmly into stories that haven’t been adapted to anime (yet…) I’m finally eager to see what happens next. While the thrust of this arc was established in the last volume as “Roberta, the killer maid, comes back to kick ass and take names,” mangaka Rei Hiroe takes the time to set things up properly and skillfully shows why her second tour in Roanapour is going to be a much different beast than her first. Even though there’s not a whole lot of action here, there are plenty of verbal fireworks in regards to the revelations of the powers involved in Roberta’s quest for vengeance and why this is probably going to be a very, very bad thing for everyone on the island. As much as I enjoyed this volume, I’m even more excited about seeing how the anime’s creators are going to make it work when the new OVA series comes out next year.

Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei vol. 3: And that’s it for me. There’s no denying that mangaka Koji Kumeta is a skilled artist with an appealing minimalist style and funny concepts – but they don’t actually translate to actual humor for me. I might have smiled or chuckled a few times (with the events of the gross-out tour or the boy who can read anything), but most of the humor just makes me nod my head and think, “Huh, that is a funny idea.” I realize that there’s a huge cultural barrier to a lot of the humor here, but despite the herculean efforts of translator/adapter Joyce Aurino, a lot of that humor remains on the Japanese side of the barrier. When that happens, I figure it’s best to just cut my losses and stop reading now.

Summit of the Gods vol. 1: Here’s a manga equation for you: Jiro Taniguchi + man vs. nature stories = 100% awesome. Don’t believe me? Then go read his excellent short story collection “The Ice Wanderer” right now. It was that equation that had me pick this volume up as soon as it came out. I wasn’t disappointed, but the results are only 75% awesome here, mainly because Taniguchi isn’t writing, but is letting Yumemakura Baku handle those chores as he adapts his own novel. It’s not that Baku is a bad writer, but it’s clear through his numerous text bubbles that he hasn’t quite grasped the “show, don’t tell” conventions of writing manga. Still, Taniguchi’s art is fantastic as always, and the story is inherently compelling. The first half sets up what I’m fairly certain is going to be the overarching plot of the story, as a Japanese photographer finds a camera that might prove Edmund Mallory made it to the summit of Mt. Everest first. It’s interesting enough, but the second half is even more so as it deviates from that to give a fascinating glimpse inside the world of mountain climbing (in Japan, at least) through second-hand accounts of Jouji Habu, a mountaineer whose climbing skills are equaled only by his anti-social nature. Good stuff, and I’m looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

Planet Hulk: After hearing no end of good things about this series, and after reading its “sequel” “World War Hulk” first, I finally got around to picking this up at Comic-Con for half-price. After finally reading it, I was a little underwhelmed. It certainly has a great concept – Hulk is sent away from Earth by the “Illuminati” of the Marvel Universe and winds up on a distant planet where he is first enslaved to fight in its gladiator arenas, but eventually escapes and goes on to lead a revolution. It’s essentially “Spartacus,” “Gladiator,” and a couple dozen standard sci-fi concepts thrown together, yet it’s still fun to see Hulk in an environment where his “HULK SMASH” tendencies are encouraged and a role that he’s generally not that suited to. The problem is that a lot of the supporting cast is pretty bland (especially the emperor, who is so one-dimensionally cruel that he comes off as boring rather than threatening), and there’s this feeling throughout the story that Hulk isn’t really taking an active part in the story, but just reacting to the events around him. Letting the plot shepherd him along, in other words. I realize I’m in the minority on this, but I enjoyed the modern take on “Hulk vs. the Marvel Universe” in “World War Hulk” more than what was on display here.

Yup. Still going through the haul from San Diego. After this week I should be back to talking about the stuff I’ve read more recently, but I think the “Lightning Round” format will probably stick around for a while longer.  Though I’ll probably drop the subtitles after this for obvious reasons…

The Spirit vol. 2: Not the best deal I found at the con, but getting the second hardcover for 60% off the cover price was nice. Too bad that the stories inside didn’t quite match up to the fun of the first volume. Writer/artist Darwyn Cooke still tells some good stories (especially his “Sand Saref” finale), but the main story about The Spirit’s clash with undead gangster “El Morte,” and later his zombie legions, feels out of place compared to what has come before. There are also numerous other short stories from other noted writers and artists that are fun, but nothing too memorable.

Body Bags — Father’s Day: Gleefully offensive, morally bankrupt fun – which is great in small doses like this every once in a while. Legendary body bagger (read: bounty hunter) Clownface finds out he has a smartassed daughter named Panda after she tracks him down and does everything she can to get him to teach her the tricks of the trade. The plot is merely an excuse for writer/artist Jason Pearson to indulge in some of the most tasteless jokes you’ll ever hear at the expense of people on society’s lowest rung and some of the most explosive fights (gun and otherwise) this side of a Garth Ennis comic. Recommended for people who like finding inventive ways to kill the pedestrians in the “GTA” games.

Suicide Squad – From the Ashes: John Ostrander’s run on “Suicide Squad” in the 80’s is one of those legendary runs that everyone talks about how good it was, but has yet to be collected in any form. This is a collection of the eight issue miniseries written by Ostrander which has him reuniting most of the main cast (from what I can gather). After you get past the first three issues, which are mostly setup showing us how one of the characters survived his apparent death in the original series, the appeal of the concept starts to manifest itself. In a team made up of morally dubious individuals, it’s not a matter of if they’ll start to turn on each other, but when and who will align with who. Good stuff and it makes me interested in checking out Ostrander’s original run.

Simon Dark – Ashes: It’s never a good sign when in a series that stars a character with supernatural abilities (who was stitched together Frankenstein-style), and a cult spreading a demonic plague through soap bars, that the thing most requiring the reader’s suspension of disbelief is that for a series set in Gotham City, Batman and co. wouldn’t intervene at some point. I realize that setting the series in Gotham was probably done to help boost sales, but it doesn’t do the story any favors. That’s too bad because it’s not a bad supernatural tale. Writer Steve Niles brings just the right amount of humor to his characters to make them and their situations endearing, and artist Scott Hampton handles the creepy and the mundane effortlessly. Maybe Batman will show up in the next volume to explain things, but even if he doesn’t, I won’t be too disappointed.

The Life Eaters: Behold! The best deal I found at the con: I picked up this $20 graphic novel for $3! What’s even better is that after reading it, I would’ve been willing to pay full price for it. Written by David Brin (adapting his story “Thor Meets Captain America” – which is funny in itself because this was published by Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics) with art by the aforementioned Scott Hampton, this is an alternate history story that deals with the Nazis winning WWII. The catch here is that they had help from the Norse gods who suddenly appeared on the scene to help turn the tide. The story of where did they come from and what will happen to humanity after other gods start appearing proves to be a compelling tale of humanity’s resourcefulness in the face of unimaginable power. It’s not perfect (our hero getting a giant mech comes off as a little silly) but if the concept sounds interesting to you, I’d recommend checking it out.

X-Factor Visionaries vol. 4: Collecting the final issues of writer Peter David’s run on the original series, it also happens to be the weakest of the four volumes. That’s mainly because A) three of the issues collected are part of the “X-Cutioner’s Song” crossover (they’re not really bad, but who wants to read three random issues of an extended crossover like this) and B) David left the series before he could wrap up his final storyline. However, the one shining bright spot in this collection is the one issue of his run that EVERYONE talks about: “X-aminations,” where the cast is psychoanalyzed and we get to see what really makes them tick. It’s a great issue and worth reading if you’re a fan of the characters involved, or Peter David. But unless you can find this volume for dirt cheap, you’re probably better off tracking down the issue by itself (which is #87 of “X-Factor” vol. 1).

The Nodwick Chronicles vols. 5 & 6: Aaron Williams’ comedic take on the conventions of fantasy RPGs (mainly the pen-and-paper variety, but films and video games get their due too) reaches its finale with these two volumes. Needless to say, this isn’t the point at which to jump into the series, but if you’ve been enjoying Williams’ laid back skewering of fantasy and gaming tropes, then you’re going to enjoy how it all wraps up here. I have to admit that I’m impressed he was able to build to a suitably epic climax since his style doesn’t really lend itself to that kind of storytelling. He does manage to transcend it just enough to make it work, though not quite as well as I’ve seen elsewhere.

Wolverine… by Claremont and Miller: Not sure what to call this since just calling it “Wolverine” might confuse some, but this is the collection of the very first Wolverine mini-series from 1982. Reading it again after a decade, it comes off as… quaint. I know that this was the character’s first solo outing, but after reading god knows how many other (and frankly, better) stories with the character in the intervening years, this one felt like a product of its time. Granted, this was a time when Claremont and Miller were in their “Can do no wrong,” periods so it’s still readable enough, but it still comes off as being noteworthy mainly because it came first (and introduced Wolverine to Japan) than anything else.

Fallen Angel vols. 5 & 6: Picking up where the “Fallen Angel Omnibus” left off. Fallen Angel Lee’s son Jude, magistrate of the “City that Shapes the World” Bete Noir, has finally managed to tick off the wrong people in his efforts to use the city’s influence to make the world a better place. Lots of people wind up suffering for that in the process, and Peter David’s sometimes dramatic, sometimes serious, sometimes comedic look at life, the universe and everything reaches a climax. Much of what I said about “Nodwick” above can be applied here, except that the “ending” David cooks up is more of an inversion of the status quo, and not a particularly appealing one to me at that. While I know the series continues in the recently launched “Fallen Angel Reborn,” I’m starting to wonder if David does have a plan, or if he just wants to stretch this out indefinitely. He’s done enough good with this series to make me want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but we’ll see what happens in the next volume.

Poison Elves: vol. 10 – Dark Wars vol. 1, and Ventures vols. 1 & 2: It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything from this series, because after creator Drew Hayes died in ’07 there was no chance the series would reach any kind of resolution. Then I found these for half-price at Comic-Con and figured, “What the hell.” Reading vol. 11 reminded me of how much I liked the black humor and cynicism that Hayes brought to the fantasy genre while tweaking the genre tropes in enjoyable ways. Regrettably this volume doesn’t end with any kind of closure (in fact, it leaves a lot of the characters in some VERY bad places), so I’ll probably pick up vol. 11 if only because it has to offer a better sense of closure than this one does. As for the “Ventures” volumes, they collect the mini-series and one-shots written by Keith “Some Guy I’ve Never Heard Of” Davidsen that focus on some of the series supporting cast, along with some other stories by Hayes that have never been collected before now. Most of the stories aren’t bad, but they have the feeling of “filler” about them and will probably be of interest only to die-hard fans of the series (though I will admit that the one-shot with Jace in vol. 2 was actually very good). Along with picking up vol. 11, reading these have also convinced me that I need to go back and re-read the series again, so expect to see a podcast on the series sometime next month.

It’s been over a month since Comic-Con and I still haven’t finished reading all of the stuff that I bought there. I blame work, games, and the steady stream of new comics that are coming out each week for this. Anyway, more rapid-fire reviews after the break.

Sandman Mystery Theatre vols. 6-7: More pulpish noir stories set in the late 30’s starring the Golden Age Sandman Wesley Dodds and his girlfriend Dian Belmont. The appeal of this series lies in how it takes familiar genre setups from the time period and tells them with modern sensibilities. Yes, that usually means more blood, violence, sex and gore, but you also see racial and sexual subtexts brought to the surface. My main complaint with this series is that while nearly every story has been setup as a “whodunit” the resolution and unmasking of the villain tends to fall a little flat, and that’s no exception with these volumes. Still, you’ve got sharp writing from Matt Wagner and Steven Seagle with Guy Davis vividly realizing each story (with Warren Pleece turning in some fine work on his arc) which makes these volumes worth a look.

Phonogram: Rue Britannia: I’d heard lots of good things about Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s miniseries about a phonomancer (a kind of magician who draws his power from pop music) and after reading it, I can say that they’re mostly right. Granted, there was a stretch in the middle that I had trouble wrapping my head around, but everything comes together in the end as Gillen makes his point about the power and influence of pop music in a truly impressive fashion. Also, while I’ve never really had an interest in most of the music mentioned here, this volume did a great job in actually getting me interested. Maybe I’ll track some of it down one of these days…

MySpace Dark Horse Presents vol. 1: Almost worth it for Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon’s “Sugarshock,” but the “Umbrella Academy,” “Gear School,” “Empowered,” and “Goon” stories range from the “quite good” to “excellent” range as well. Everything else ranges from “not bad” to “meh” which is actually pretty good for any kind of anthology.

Anna Mercury vol. 1: The Cutter: I have a friend who hates the fact that Warren Ellis seems to be tossing off miniseries about whatever idea comes into his head on a given day rather than sitting down and focusing on making one really great series. I generally don’t agree with him on this, but anyone would be hard pressed to not see his point after reading this. Lots of flash with precious little substance, I’m glad I got it for half price rather than paying the $20 it normally goes for.

Batman Black and White vol. 3: The final collection of B&W Batman stories from the defunct “Gotham Knights” series. As with any anthology, there’s a wide range in quality but there’s a greater distance between the hills and valleys here than in the aforementioned “MySpace Dark Horse Presents.” There’s enough good stuff here to warrant a purchase if you’ve already got the first two volumes, but if you want to see why there are three volumes of this, go pick up the first volume instead.

Thor vol. 1 and Thor: Vikings: I now own three times as many Thor books as I did before I came to the con. “Vol. 1” collects the first six issues of J. Michael Straczynski’s run on the book, and it’s not bad. It didn’t really compel me enough to pick up the second volume (now out in paperback), but maybe next year… “Vikings,” is its polar opposite in terms of style and execution as it’s a collection of a Garth Ennis-written miniseries that has Thor fighting zombie Vikings in modern day New York. While I liked it, the collection still treads pretty familiar territory for Ennis – except for the fact that I was impressed how he managed to display a modicum of respect for Thor by the end of the story. You don’t see THAT very often in his superhero stories.

Wolverine: Logan: This collects Brian K. Vaughan’s miniseries with art by Eduardo Risso. While I can understand the desire to put a work by these two esteemed creators in a hardcover collection, charging $20 for three issues of content is ludicrous. (Which is why I’m glad I got it for $10.) That said, while Vaughan states in his proposal for the series that he wanted to create a “timeless” story that would stand alongside Claremont and Miller’s original miniseries. I’m just going to say that he falls short here and that Jason Aaron and Ron Garney’s “Get Mystique” would be a better value for your money.

Punisher: Goin’ Out West and Hunter/Hunted: More of Matt Fraction’s run on the title. Ennis is in no danger of losing his title as “Greatest Punisher Writer Ever” in my mind after I finished reading these two volumes, but they have their appeal. They’re entertaining in a straightforward “Frank Castle goes out and kills bad guys in brutally amusing ways” kind of way that won’t cause you to think any deep thoughts or cause them to stick in your head any longer than necessary.

Hawaiian Dick vol. 1: Byrd of Paradise: Here’s a detective story that’s set in the 50’s and captures the atmosphere of the Big Island like nothing I’ve seen before. While the story and characters are quite familiar, writer B. Clay Moore and artist Steven Griffin utilize the setting well enough to make things seem fresh(er). I’m even impressed that the supernatural twist the story takes doesn’t seem entirely forced.

Wolverine Legends vol. 2: Meltdown: There’s an 80’s-style seriousness that permeates this due to the subject matter, which revolves around Chernobyl and an evil mutant trying to use nuclear power for his own ends, and the art, from Jon J. Muth and Kent Williams, that appeals to me. To a certain degree, that is. All the style this book has can’t really compensate for its cookie-cutter plot involving the aforementioned evil mutant’s plans to utilize Wolverine and Havok in his plans for world domination. I’ve read better Wolverine stories, and I’ve read better Havok stories – speaking of which…

X-Men: Emperor Vulcan: Continuing the story of Vulcan, a.k.a. Gabriel Summers (Cyclops’ and Havok’s other brother), from Ed Brubaker’s “The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire.” While this miniseries was written by Chris Yost with art by Paco Diaze Luque (doing a not that impressive approximation of “Shi’ar” artist Billy Tan’s style) it furthers the story by having the Havok-led Starjammers team up with Vulcan’s Shi’ar to fight an even nastier alien menace that likes to fling suns at planets. It’s a familiar setup and Yost really doesn’t do a whole lot to enliven the proceedings, except at the end. The ending was actually a fairly satisfying “good guys lose” ending that raised my overall enjoyment of the series. Not enough to wholeheartedly recommend it, but still.

Batman: False Faces: This collects the various Batman stories that Brian Vaughan wrote before he became the superstar writer he is today. As he notes in his introduction, the fact that he didn’t get a regular gig writing Batman after his “audition” arc allowed him to focus his efforts on his series about a boy and his monkey. After reading this, I doubt that anyone will lament the fact that we got “Y: The Last Man” instead of a couple years of Batman stories out of Vaughan. Still, these aren’t bad Batman stories, but they do have a “going through the motions” feel to them. Recommended for Batman and Vaughan completists.

Silent Dragon: This was written by an Englishman (Andy Diggle) and illustrated by a Filipino (Lenil Yu) but it captures the spirit of a great Japanese sci-fi action movie in gloriously over-the-top fashion. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the faithful retainer of a yakuza is framed for betrayal, but is resurrected as an android with enough combat skill and firepower to take his revenge. Naturally, the people who resurrected him have other plans for their pawn. Even with a setup as familiar as this, Diggle and Yu rip through the proceedings with enough energy and invention that it ceases to be a problem as you let yourself be taken along for the ride. Hell, I’m even impressed that the ending manages to be satisfying even as it begs/sets up a sequel.

I wasn’t planning on picking up either of these volumes of “Star Wars: Vector.” As Dark Horse editor and co-founder Randy Stradley states in his introduction, this crossover was done so that the company could bring a little of the sales sizzle that Marvel and DC get for their events to the “Star Wars” comic line. Fine, whatever. Have your editorially mandated crossover and then let me get back to the business of reading “Legacy.” That would’ve been the end of the story if DH hadn’t also had the canny idea to make the crossover chapters for each title the next “volume” for each of these series. So while “Vector” is only two volumes, it’s also the fifth volume of “Knights of the Old Republic,” the second of “Dark Times,” the fourth for “Rebellion,” and the sixth for “Legacy.” It may sound confusing, but the end result is actually much more readable and enjoyable than I was expecting.

Now for someone like me who only reads one out of the four titles involved in the crossover, my biggest concern was accessibility. While my knowledge of the “Star Wars” universe is considerable, I’m still coming into several series that have their own ongoing stories that I know little to nothing about. A lot of this is nicely sidestepped due to the focus on the heroine of the series: a Jedi hunter named Celeste Morne. As the series starts out in “KOTOR,” written by John Jackson Miller, she’s been sent to the undercity of Taris to track down a powerful Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman. This leads to her crossing paths with the main characters from the series, fugitive padawan Zayne Carrick and his money-grubbing buddy Gryph. Making matters more interesting is that Morne has been sent to track down the talisman under orders from the Covenant, a secret order of Jedis who framed Carrick for murder after it was predicted that he would bring disaster upon the Jedi.

That’s the main story thread, and over the four issues collected here, it’s pretty easy to follow. There are references to what I’m assuming are other plotlines and past events in the series (most of them dealing with the Mandalorian invasion), but prior knowledge of them isn’t required to enjoy the goings-on here. Granted, none of the storytelling in either of these volumes will win any awards, but there are pleasures to be had in seeing the storyline progress and in observing Morne’s interactions with other characters. Her relationship with Carrick in the “KOTOR” chapters is particularly interesting because while it’s easy to see why she’d be annoyed by him at first, it turns out to be just as easy to believe that she could grow to respect him after journeying and fighting alongside him in battle. Of course for her efforts she winds up in possession (or is it “being possessed by…”) the Muur Talisman and sealed into a Sith sarcophagus for four thousand years, which takes us to the time of Darth Vader in the “Dark Times” and “Rebellion” issues, written by Mick Harrison and Rob Williams, respectively.

To be honest, these issues probably benefit the most from being collected since anyone reading them in monthly form probably would’ve viewed them as decent, but inconsequential detours to their respective titles. Taken as part of the overall “Vector” storyline, they advance the story well and give Vader some nice moments as he locks horns with Morne and plots to use her to his advantage. This happens directly in the “Dark Times” issues where he gets his hands on the sarcophagus and finds out that he may have bitten off more than he can chew in trying to utilize Morne’s power to overthrow the emperor. Then in the time of “Rebellion,” he remembers his encounter with the Jedi and plots to use her to take out that pesky band of rebels that blew up the Death Star.

To say that Luke, Leia and Han survive their encounter with Morne should surprise no one, and that’s the biggest problem with this batch of tie-in issues. Though it is somewhat entertaining to see her interact with the most well known “Star Wars” characters, the storytelling is hamstrung by the fact that we know that this encounter can’t really affect the characters in any significant way. Sure, Morne hints cryptically about Luke’s future, but it’s obvious this isn’t going to be a life-changing encounter for him. Fortunately seeing Morne’s reaction to waking to a universe that bears no resemblance to the one she left, and her subsequent struggle to adapt to being locked into a power struggle between the spirit of Karnass Muur (the Sith Lord who made the talisman) and finding herself in control of the rakghouls and the plague that causes them is handled pretty well. That said, it’s clear to see that the main point of these issues was to bring her back into play, and set her up for her encounter with Cade Skywalker and the rest of the cast of “Legacy” written as always by John Ostrander.

It’s probably because I’ve been reading “Legacy,” but I found these to be the most satisfying issues of the crossover. Dutiful readers will remember that I said volume five of “Legacy” that Cade was planning on assassinating Darth Krayt, but had his plan shot down by what was left of the Jedi Council. Taking matters into his own hands, Cade sets off to do it his way with his friends, and some Imperial Knights along for the ride. Now taking down the most powerful Sith in the galaxy would probably have been difficult enough for Cade’s grandfather, but when he encounters Morne in self-imposed exile along with her rakghouls on an abandoned Star Destroyer, he thinks he has found just the weapon he needs.

Back in the dark days of the 90’s and early 00’s, the biggest criticism of pretty much any crossover was that it failed to enact any real change in the universe it took place in. While you can still say that about most DC crossovers, pretty much every crossover since “House of M” at Marvel has existed to ONLY change the status quo (though I’m sure they’ve got a big one planned for much later on that restores the status quo of the universe to the one we’re most familiar with). That’s a criticism that can’t be labeled against “Vector,” if only because the conclusion turns out to be a real game-changer for “Legacy.” It’ll definitely be interesting to see how the fallout from the events of “Vector” plays out in the subsequent volumes of the series. While change is good, as is the case for pretty much everything in the crossover, the heart of these issues lies in seeing how Morne interacts with the rest of the cast. Not only has Morne’s disposition become darker and more Sith-like during her exile, but her quite literal struggle between the dark and light sides of the Force makes for an interesting contrast with Cade, someone who has utilized both sides without being beholden to either.

One thing I’ve neglected to mention in this review is the art for each arc of the crossover, which maintains a relatively consistent style and tone for three-quarters of it. The odd man out in this case is Scott Hepburn’s art in “KOTOR,” which falls into the category of “too cartoonish.” While his storytelling is sound, and I can see the appeal in his basic style, Hepburn seems to have problems with faces and facial expressions. A lot of the time, the “look” of the characters’ faces just seems “off” or they have some exaggerated cartoonish look to them that would be more at home in a Saturday morning cartoon.

Faring much better are Doug Wheatley and Dave Ross on “Dark Times,” and Dustin Weaver on “Rebellion.” All of these artists have more “realistic” styles that are more appropriate to the “Star Wars” world, especially when it comes to depicting its iconic characters. Wheatley and Ross’ art also has a darker, more sinister look to it, which complements the time period; conversely, Weaver’s work on “Rebellion” has a much brighter look to it, and he has a good handle on getting the likenesses right for Luke, Leia and Han. As for Jan Duursema on “Legacy,” she does good work as always. My only complaint is something that’s become commonplace in observing her art, and that’s when the characters look overly photo-referenced. The problem with that is you’ll wind up with characters in poses and making expressions that don’t match up with the tone of dialogue or the scene. Thankfully she seems to use it more sparingly than Greg Land, which is why I continue to appreciate her work on this series.

In the end, “Vector” succeeded as a crossover because it had a compelling lead character in Celeste Morne. By focusing the crossover issues on her exploits and how they affected the characters of those series (however marginally in some cases), it managed to make the overall story accessible to those of us who don’t read most of DH’s ongoing “Star Wars” titles. Granted, I don’t think this storyline would have a lot of appeal to anyone who isn’t a “Star Wars” fan; but if you are, and you do read one or more of these titles, then don’t worry about picking up these two volumes. They’ll be worth your time.

(BTW, in case anyone is wondering if the scene depicted on the back cover of “Vector” vol. 2 actually happens in the comic, the answer is, “Yes.”)

Secret Invasion: Surprisingly, not as bad as I had heard. Bendis turns in a sharp script, and Yu gives us some fantastic visuals. It’s biggest problem is that while it works as a diverting super-hero slugfest, it doesn’t have the depth to justify its $30 asking price. Recommended if you can find it for $20 (or less like I did).

Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories HC: This collects all of the “Batman: The Animated Series” related comic work by series creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. All the stories are good, but the standout is the title story which relates the funny and tragic origin of Harley Quinn. If that’s not enough, know that Batman calls Joker “Puddin’” at one point. This is a must-buy for anyone with a Batman-loving bone in their body.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja vol. 3: Operation Dracula! From Outer Space: Twice as big as the previous volumes, but sadly not twice as funny. There’s really no way that a comic that has a ninja doctor fighting off hordes of ninja undead (that he originally killed in the last volume) with the help of Benjamin Franklin’s clone could not be funny, but it doesn’t really hit the ingenious comedic heights of the first two volumes.

Halo: Uprising HC: Bendis again, this time with his frequent artistic collaborator Alex Maleev on board for the art. Maleev kills on pretty much every page, bringing all of the trademarks of the “Halo” franchise to gritty life. Bendis… does his usual schtick and delivers a script that allows Maleev to show off and keeps the story moving. The problem is that the twist in the story is flawed as a) it’s kinda obvious and b) makes the Covenant look like fools. For what it is, it’s not bad, but probably not as interesting as the story of why this four issue series took over two years to come out would be.

House of Mystery vol. 1: Room and Boredom: One of the newer series to emerge from DC’s Vertigo imprint, and to come from the “Vertigoverse” that all the company-owned characters from the imprint inhabit. Fig is an architect who wanders into the titular house after being chased by some mysterious beings, and then finds herself unable to leave. While the overarching story looks to be about Fig and her mysterious connection to the house, the most memorable parts of the book are the short stories featured in each chapter. From stories about a woman who married a fly to a process server for mythical and magical beings, these are the ones that will stick in your head. A good enough start, and enough to make me want to pick up the next volume.

Batman: The Private Casebook HC: Paul Dini again, this time with artist Dustin Nguyen (and writer Peter Milligan pitch-hitting on one story). An interesting study in contrasts between this and “Mad Love” as this has Dini telling Batman stories in the DC Universe proper, and doing a pretty good job of it. As you’d expect, he’s got a great handle on Batman, but he also proves equally skilled at writing the DCU iterations of Ra’s Al Ghul, Zatanna, the Riddler, and introducing a new Scarface/Ventriloquist pairing. Nguyen also handles the artistic side of things with style, resulting in another Batman book I’d recommend to fans (if not in hardcover, then definitely in softcover… when it comes out).

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: I’d heard good things about this collection, which tells the story of the world’s richest duck from childhood to being the aged miser he’s known best as. It’s a fun, all-ages story that appeals to the part of me that remembers watching “Ducktales” as a kid. I’m not sure how much I’d have enjoyed it if I hadn’t watched the series all those years ago, but if you’re looking to start your kids on comics, you could do worse than to hand them this.

Hulk: The End HC: Collecting two stories written by Peter David: “Future Imperfect” illustrated by George Perez, and “The End” illustrated by Dale Keown. The former is the stronger of the two, as we get to see Hulk flung into the future to fight against his future self, the tyrant leader of the known world who calls himself “The Maestro.” “The End” is an interesting take on how Hulk/Bruce Banner would react to being the last being(s) left on Earth, even though I couldn’t quite figure out how Bruce managed to escape his fate at the end. Putting these two stories together in one collection results in one of the better “Hulk” collections you’ll read if you get the chance.

Gravel vol. 1: Bloody Liars: Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer provide the story and script, Raulo Caceres and Oscar Jimenez provide the art for this first collection of the ongoing series detailing the escapades of combat magician William Gravel. If you haven’t read any of Ellis/Wolfer’s “Strange Kiss” series from Avatar, all you need to know is that he’s a magician who’s as skilled with a .45 as he is with spells (John Constantine with SAS training, if you will). In this volume, he kills several magicians who want him dead in ways both violent and creative. Not groundbreaking by any means, but if any of what I’ve described to you sounds interesting, you’ll like this.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 1: This is me mortgaging my self-respect on the good word of Carl Horn, editor and adapter extraordinarie at Dark Horse. If you’ve seen the series, then this manga takes the high-school comedy scenes in the last episode as it’s jumping off point, and wacky hijinks ensue between less tortured versions of Shinji, Asuka and Rei. I certainly can’t fault this series for failing to deliver what it promises, but I have a feeling that by the time I get to vol. 4, I’ll pick it up and go, “Why am I still reading this?” We’ll see if I’m proven wrong.

Deathblow: And Then You Live! Writer Brian Azzarello teams up with artists Carlos D’Anda and Henry Flint to tell a story of Wildstorm’s manly soldier fighting the war on terror with advice from a talking dog. Fortunately it’s clear that the ridiculousness is intentional on Azzarello’s part, but the end result left me feeling cold and uninterested. I didn’t know much about Deathblow at all before this series, and if Azzarello was counting on some familiarity with the character to draw readers into his tale, he miscalculated badly. While I doubt the current marketplace would’ve supported this story without the use of an established character in the lead, the story here might have been better served if it had been told without any connection to the Wildstorm universe.

The Incredible Hercules: Against the World & Secret Invasion: I’d heard good things about this series online, and these two volumes didn’t disappoint. Hercules, with smart-aleck genius Amadeus Chow in tow, smashes his way out of the carnage of “World War Hulk” and into battles with Ares, the god of war, and the gods of the Skrull pantheon. Both volumes tell their stories with lots of energy and style, while the “Secret Invasion” tie-in story is particularly clever in the way it manages to have its cake and eat it too as it not only serves as a notable tie-in to the crossover, but manages to advance the series main story as well. Neat trick, that.

Black Panther: Secret Invasion: This is the first “Black Panther” comic I’ve ever bought, and you can attribute that to the presence of writer Jason Aaron (and my desire to spite Marvel for charging $13 for a collection of three issues, by buying it at half price) for that. As for the story itself: Skrulls invade the Panther’s homeland of Wakanda, and wind up getting their asses handed to them thanks to the combination of the Panther’s smarts and his wife Storm’s weather-manipulation powers. It’s a clever, fun comic with a lot of fighting, but not clever enough to be worth the price on the cover.

Wonder Man: My Fair Superhero: Peter David again, with Andrew Currie on art and… well… if you don’t like what you see on the cover, then let me warn you that the art doesn’t get any better on the inside. If you can look past that, though, you’ll find a perfectly enjoyable story about Simon “Wonder Man” Williams trying to reform an unrepentant killer, who calls herself “Ladykiller,” with the help of Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers and Henry “Beast” McCoy. David’s wit is on fine form and full display here, as is his knack for finding substance in the most conventional (and in some cases, editorially mandated) of setups. That’s the case here as the question of whether or not Simon’s rehabilitation of Ladykiller isn’t a form of brainwashing in itself is made the center of the last few issues. In short: A good story with art that will not be to everyone’s taste.

Star Wars: Legacy vol. 5 – The Hidden Temple: John Ostrander writes as always, and Jan Duursema is back on art for this volume, which means that the story shifts back to focusing on the exploits of Luke’s reckless grandson Cade Skywalker. This time out, Cade and his friends meet up with some family, and what’s left of the Jedi Council. Cade being Cade, wants the Council to agree to his plans to assassinate Darth Krayt, but of course they think that his plan leads to the Dark Side. It’s another solid entry in the series, even if what goes on here is mostly setup for the events that go down in “Vector.” Speaking of which…

Star Wars: Vector vols. 1 & 2: These actually merit a longer discussion on my part since they represent one of the better executed crossovers I’ve seen. All I’ll say for now is that they are required reading if you follow “Legacy” since the events here represent a major turning point for that series.

Yeah, not only is this late, but it’s not the “100 Bullets” podcast I promised.  That’s been done and will be up in due time.  In the meantime, I picked up a metric assload of comics from Comic-Con and am in the process of reading through them all.  I’ll see if I can post the full list at some point, but I’m likely to get several podcasts out of the stuff I picked up over the last five days.

If there was any justice in the world today, then you’d be reading my thoughts about “Blade of the Immortal vol. 21: Demon Lair II.” But not only did my comic shop not have it, the volume wasn’t even mentioned on Diamond’s shipping lists this week. This is in spite of the fact that Dark Horse’s website lists the book as coming out today, as does Amazon (which is currently sold out of the volume). So it looks like I’ll be picking it up (along with “Berserk vol. 30,” “Parker: The Hunter,” and a ton of other stuff) at Comic-Con next week. In the meantime, here’s a look at one book I wasn’t expecting to find at Anime Expo a few weeks back, but was glad that I did.

Thank goodness for Frederick Schodt. Not only has the man given us some stellar collaborative translations of works from Osamu Tezuka and Masamune Shirow, but written renowned books on manga such as “Manga! Manga!” and “Dreamland Japan.” If that wasn’t enough, he has now contributed a forward to the newest Tezuka manga to hit our shores that perfectly calibrates one’s expectations for it. It’s not that I don’t think I wouldn’t have liked “Swallowing the Earth” if I hadn’t, it’s just that it would’ve taken some getting used to before I appreciated what it had to offer.

The key thing to take away from Schodt’s introduction is that this was a transitional work for Tezuka. “Swallowing the Earth” is effectively the bridge between the old kid-friendly and kiddie-oriented Tezuka works like “Astro Boy” and “Kimba the White Lion” to the more ambitious and mature works like “Black Jack,” “Phoenix” and “Ode to Kirihito.” As is the case with most works that show an author deliberately trying to stretch and reach to the next level, it’s not entirely successful at everything it tries and it bears the signs that even the author didn’t have any idea where this was going and was making things up as he went along. Fortunately Tezuka is a skilled enough creator to make a story as chaotic as this work, even if it’s not up to the caliber of the other “bricks” of his that I discussed on the podcast.

“Swallowing the Earth” starts out with a mysterious prologue about several shadowy women swearing to fulfill their mother’s wishes of vengeance against men before shifting to showing two Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal in WWII hearing about a beauty of mythic proportions named Zephyrus from their American prisoners. Flash forward two decades and one of the soldiers, Adachigahara, has become a successful businessman, while the other, Seki, has become a bum. Naturally, Adachigahara comes calling on Seki because he needs a favor: He’s heard that Zephyrus is in Japan and he wants Seki’s son Gohonmatsu to spy on her and learn her secrets. Now Gohonmatsu is a friendly, easygoing guy whose strength is matched only by his passion for drinking. He’s also got no interest in sexy women, so he’s not too keen on meeting up with this Zephyrus, who in turn is frustrated by this drunkard who seems to be immune to her legendary charms.

From here, the story follows Gohonmatsu as he winds up being dragged across the globe as various parties want to enlist his help to use Zephyrus for their own means. While Zephyrus herself can’t seem to get this alluring drunkard out of her head, he’s not going to stop her from bringing chaos to the world of men by marketing an artificial skin that allows a person to be someone else to the masses and flooding the world with free gold. Duels to the death, LSD induced couplings with sexdolls, a military coup in Japan, and global catastrophe are just some of the other things that occur along the way in this story.

Now if you’re wondering where Tezuka’s going to go with these plot threads and how he’s going to tie them all up, the answers are, “Lots of strange places,” and “By taking lots of digressions.” While it’s evident that there’s some method to the madness here at first, it’s clear that Tezuka finds some of his plot threads more interesting than others. Otherwise he wouldn’t spend a few engaging, if not quite plot-critical, chapters exploring the possibilities and moral consequences that the artificial skin and sudden discovery of gold bring to a few select parties. Still, it’s not hard to look at the last third of the book, where the coup and catastrophe set in, and think that Tezuka was over-reaching here. These events come at a breakneck pace without a lot of buildup and would’ve had me rolling my eyes at such contrivances if I had been expected to take all of it seriously.

That’s probably the biggest saving grace for a lot of “Swallowing the Earth,” as Gohonmatsu proves himself to be an endearingly goofy, slapstick-prone protagonist from the beginning to (almost) the end of the work. His goofball exterior masks a fierce square-jawed heroism that will go to any length (and through any bottle of sake) to set right. There’s also the fact that since Tezuka was coming off of his “kiddie” period, there’s a lot more of his trademarked exaggerated slapstick humor to be found in here too, which reinforces the fact that you’re not supposed to take a lot of this very seriously at all.

It’s a testament to Tezuka’s skills that even with the goofiness, he still knows when the right time to shift gears is (usually after a chapter break) and change to a more serious mood and not yank the reader out of the work with the sudden shift in tone. These serious parts also seem to coincide with Tezuka stretching himself as an artist, as he does some interesting things with panel layout and focus at several points in the book. Though the story is all over the place to be sure, Tezuka still keeps things spinning along even when things are at their most chaotic and out of control.

So while it’s not his best work, if you’re a fan of the “God of Manga,” “Swallowing the Earth” is still worth a read, if only because it shows him making the transition from the creator he was to the creator he would go on to be. Now if you’re not already a convert, then I’d probably recommend you pick up a copy of “Ode to Kirihito” to see what the man is really capable of, and why he got the nickname he did. By the time you’ve read everything else, this will make a good chaser to those works.

(So John, if you’re reading this, whatever you think of the book, know that he’s done better.)

When this was originally recorded, I had no idea what I’d be doing for the next podcast.  Then I spent the last week re-reading all of Azzarello and Risso’s “100 Bullets” in preparation for the release of the final volume this week.  Just thought I’d let you all know what’s coming next…