Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1

from: Big Damn Heroes (Entertainment)
Added: 2008-05-14 09:19:56.0 | comments: 0

Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1 (cover)

Oh my, where to begin?

My first observation is that it looks like Jon Favreau knocked the script for this puppy out in about thirty minutes. There are around sixty lines of dialogue gracing twenty-one pages, which wouldn't be a disaster if that dialogue weren't so incredibly bland. In fairness to Jon, I doubt he'd claim any great facility with writing for this medium, but... "Leaping lizards!" Really?

As for Adi Granov's art, well, I loved his work with Ellis on the Extremis arc of Invincible Iron Man, but this stuff hovers somewhere between mildly attractive and fugly. It doesn't help that his own storytelling deficiencies fall under a spotlight when he's working with someone like Favreau.

And a note to Marvel: to spare me the momentary confusion, the next time you decide to release an out-of-continuity mini, tell me it's out-of-continuity at the outset. Some of us don't read Previews, y'know.

Favorite SNL Stuff

from: Big Damn Heroes (Entertainment)
Added: 2008-04-10 15:27:22.0 | comments: 0










It Was The Freshment Move I'd Ever Seen...!

from: Big Damn Heroes (Entertainment)
Added: 2008-04-10 11:59:27.0 | comments: 0

I owe Kanye West something for posting this. It's like someone took a video camera and barfed pure awesome all over it.

Wonder Woman #1-18

from: Big Damn Heroes (Entertainment)
Added: 2008-03-24 07:05:35.0 | comments: 0

Generally speaking, Wonder Woman isn't my thing. Never has been. Outside of the first dozen or so issues of the '80s Perez reboot, I've barely paid attention to her title.

WW just never seemed to have a personality. Like most of DC's big-name characters of the day (with the exception of Batman), she always seemed to be defined more by powers and gadgets than by the traits of the person behind the costume. In fact, she was one of the worst of the bunch, given that her powers were bland and her gadgets were goofy. Perez prettied everything up by adding a thick layer of mythology to the book, but it was still empty at the core. Blah.

Seemed like a shame to me, and after reading through the current run of her new series, I guess other folks agreed.

Allan Heinberg actually made that lack of character the centerpiece of his arc, but stumbled badly in the execution. "Who Is Wonder Woman?" was a great question to ask, and to his credit, Heinberg seemed to be more interested in setting up a way to explore the question than to definitively answer it. Unfortunately, the good ideas (new romantic interest, new motivation, depowered Diana) were overwhelmed by the bad ideas (paper-thin spy job, the Kentian glasses) and the cluttered plot that seemed more like an excuse to trot out the entire rogue's gallery than the frame for a coherent story.

After a couple fill-ins, Heinberg was followed by Jodi Picoult, who offered up an even more scattered story than her predecessor. The high points were the small moments... Diana adapting to her new life, and the flirtation with Tresser. The big moments, on the other hand, were kind of a disaster. Picoult gave us a villain with all sorts of confusing statements and motivations, a take on Tom Tresser that abruptly changed him from a Standard Cocky Guy to an Enormous Dickhead, and some strikingly awkward pacing. To her credit, I doubt things would have been nearly so bad if Picoult hadn't been forced to tie her arc into the Amazons Attack event.

Thankfully, with the latest arc, Gail Simone has come to the rescue. A lot of people have been excited about the fact that she's the first woman to be the series' ongoing writer, but I'm more enthused by the fact that she knows how to write comic books.

Simone seems to synthesize the best bits of what has come before into a book and character that is, at long last, interesting. Her Wonder Woman is powerful and confident, but without the air of pomposity that too many writers use as a substitute for characterization. She has a sense of humor, and an even greater sense of charity. Simone's Diana Prince, meanwhile, is the most comfortably human in the new series short lifetime... still learning the ropes, but not quite so awkward as Picoult's version.

It's in the storytelling, though, where Simone shines most brightly. She knows how to implement her ideas. The pacing is fluid, and she manages to pose questions, answer them, and still leave things open for further elaboration. I suppose there's nothing particularly innovative going on, but sadly, quality craftsmanship is all-too-rare these days, and Ms. Simone deserves a full measure of praise for delivering.

Everything isn't perfect, of course. The Dodsons' art is sometimes (seemingly?) at odds with the writing. For example, the text repeatedly suggests that the members of The Circle are rough-hewn, ugly women, while Terry D.'s renderings of them would have to be some of the most beautiful ugly chicks the world has ever seen. I suppose it's possible that the "ugliness" of The Circle is entirely self-ascribed and has more to do with their collective sense of inferiority than actual appearance, or perhaps it's just a case of being compared to the rest of a race of fantastically gorgeous demi-goddesses. Either way, it was a detail that jumped out at me.

So what's the overall verdict? I'd suggest folks pick up Heinberg's arc, just to get a firm grasp on the new status quo. Despite a handful of quality moments, it's probably best to skip Picoult and the fill-ins entirely, and head straight to Simone. You won't know exactly why Hippolyta is locked up alone on the island, but that's about all you'll miss, and you'll be spared some rough characterization.

As for me, I suddenly find myself looking forward to new issues of Wonder Woman. Whodathunkit?

Avengers #1

from: Big Damn Heroes (Entertainment)
Added: 2008-03-09 11:53:49.0 | comments: 0

Y'know, I've probably read the Avengers' origin a dozen times over the years, but this is the first time I've spent time actually paying attention to how the thing is constructed. Behold my observations, ye vaguely interested, and despair.

I have to pause here for a second. A circus. Where the owners congratulate themselves for having the good luck in hiring this magnificently strong robot to star in the show. Why do they believe the Hulk is a robot? Well, obviously, no non-robot could be that strong!

Because y'know, a super-strong green guy with a bad attitude is too impossible to comprehend. But when a super-strong green robot walks up to your circus in the middle of New Mexico and suddenly offers its services as an elephant juggler, shit son, that's just good bidness.

Now where were we?