DONE-IN-ONE REVIEWS: JUNE 1, 2008

[Blake Petit]

With Memorial Day bumping back the shipping this week, we’ve bumped back the Done-In-One reviews a day to give our intrepid reviewers a chance to catch up. So it’s a day later than usual, but the same mix of publishers, creators and genres that make the Done-In-One review thread so much fun!

Bomb Queen V: The Divine Comedy #1 (Image Comics)
By Jim Robinson and Paul Little

Bomb Queen has a problem. New Port City is getting too big. The population is growing and she has no way to feed them. So she enters into some negotiations with the nearest town, Littleville, for a trade deal. Now this town is the antithesis of NPC. In fact it is so damn polite and tolerant that it would make even a Canadian feel uncomfortable. Also there is a group of nerds that are desperate to get famous, so they decide on a plan so hair-brained only a nerd could appreciate it. They will interview BQ. This means they have to sneak into NPC somehow, and they manage to do that in a way only a nerd would even consider. They sneak in with a hero. What I enjoy the most is the little snippets of dialogue from the nerd crew. Things like “retconning”, and “don’t worry its magic” are by far the best. Jim is just slathering on the comic clichés but it works. As does BQ’s growing despondency that even as powerful as she is, she is still beholden to the whims of the government. This book continues to be good grizzly fun.
Rating: 4/5 —Terry Verticchio

Caliber #2 (Radical Publishing)
by Sam Sarkar, Garrie Gastonny, & Imaginary Friends Studios

Whitefeather is living with the disappointment and guilt of having not found the right person for Caliber, but it may be his vision was simply too soon, as Arthur comes back to town just in time for a shooting contest. All the pieces start coming together, including the presence of a mysterious gunslinger named Lake, and a redheaded saloon singer named Gwen, whom Arthur still harbors something of a crush on. On the one hand, the Arthurian parallels are quite obvious and veer close to cheesiness at times, but the story moves briskly towards its inevitable conclusion. The artwork does appear a bit stiff at times, but is well rendered, and the colors have been lightened for greater clarity. This Arthurian western is intriguing and easy on the eyes, making Radical two for two so far.
Rating: 4/5 —Andrea Speed

Dead, She Said #1 (IDW Publishing)
by Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, & Grant Goleash

You may ask yourself why Niles seems to go to the hardboiled detective/grisly horror story crossover so often, but if this issue proves anything, it’s that he does it so often because he’s so good at it. This issues starts off really strong, with our hero waking up dead (and I mean bits falling out dead, not just hungover “I wish I was dead”), and then trying to figure out who killed him. But that’s only the beginning of the questions that need to be asked, as he stumbles upon greater mysteries. It moves well, and brings in all the tropes of a ‘50’s style detective noir, which meshes really well with grotesque horror. And no one brings the horror like Wrightson, whose work is genuinely cinematic and lovely, as well as occasionally gruesome. A dark, fun comic, and a great kick off to a new mini-series. If Niles and Wrightson did something like this every month, I’d buy every single one.
Rating: 4/5 --Andrea Speed

Firebreather #1 (Image Comics)
By Phil Hester & Andy Kuhn

Image Comics has evolved a lot over the years. Most of the original properties are gone, and even those that remain don't get much of a spotlight these days. However, a new wave of creators has done an impressive job of creating their own superhero universe. Firebreather, one of the cornerstones of a world populated by the likes of Invincible, Dynamo 5 and the Noble Family, finally returns in an ongoing series. This issue is Duncan Rosenblatt's birthday, and he's having a little fun with a present from his father. Of course, his father is a dragon, and the present is a training robot that's going totally haywire. This book has the same flavor as those other books I mentioned before -- the concepts are deliciously classic, but the tone and feel of the book is very modern. The dynamic between Duncan and each of his parents is really fun -- Mom is dealing with trying to raise a kid who's half-dragon, Dad is trying to get him to abandon his human side and embrace the dragon. It's superhero fantasy in a whole new way, and it's really great to have this character back again.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Futurama Comics #37 (Bongo Comics)
By Ian Boothby & James Lloyd

When the Aliens for the Ethical Treatment of Mammals decide that Fry and Leela are being worked too hard by Planet Express, they "liberate" them to a farm on a distant planet. Bender, left alone, is suspended from work and comes up with the strangest get-rich-quick scheme he's ever had. The Fry/Leela stuff here is very good -- it's a nice send-up of certain human organizations and gives us yet another classic Leela/Zap Brannigan confrontation. The Bender story starts weakly -- the reasons for his "experiment" aren't particularly funny -- but picks up quickly and winds up taking over the book. This is an issue that feels particularly true to the TV show, with send-ups of everything from the TransFormers to politics, and smaller jokes about anything from Pac-Man to 300. While not are sharp as the show was, it's still sharper than most other humor comics out there. Good issue.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

G.I. Joe: America's Elite #36 (Devil's Due Productions)
By Mark Powers, Mike Bear, Mike Shoyket & Pat Quinn

The G.I. Joe saga we've been following since the 80s is spiraling inwards towards its conclusion. Across the globe, the Joes are taking the fight to Cobra, while Destro struggles to negate Cobra Commander's control of the MARS satellite grid. This issue is pretty much wall-to-wall action -- even the argument over logarithms is exciting -- and Cobra Commander has never been a more imposing, more frightening presence than he is right now. He's truly gone off the deep end and become a master villian, a far cry from the buffoon he often was on the TV show. This is G.I. Joe at its best: thrilling, exciting, and fighting over the highest stakes imaginable. The only sad thing is that there's only one issue left.
Rating: 4.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Hercules: The Thracian Wars #2 (Radical Publishing)
by Steve Moore, Admira Wijaya, Imaginary Friends Studios & Sixth Creation

In this issue, Hercules and his group learn what Cotys was up to and what he expects them to do. He’s a jerk and they’re not thrilled by this, but they follow their agreement. What they learn is that teaching people to fight is easy; teaching them to be decent is the hardest part of all. Although there is action, there’s also quite a bit of fleshing out of the back stories of members of Hercules’s band of not so merry men, and a hint of intrigue added as the foreshadowed bad stuff starts kicking up. Also there’s a nod to the current Iraq war (“Oriental wars always end in disaster”), but vague enough that it could be just a coincidence. The art retains the painted style of the first issue, with a bit more color variation. Grim, bloody mythology given an action movie twist, fans of 300 should eat this one up.
Rating: 4/5 —Andrea Speed

Jughead's Double Digest #140 (Archie Comics)
By Melaine J. Morgan, Joe Staton, Al Milgrom and generations of Archie writers and artists

Although the majority of this book is made up of the usual back-up features reprinted from decades of Archie comics, I'm going to focus just on the new material. The rest, after all, is classic Archie stuff, and you either like it or you don't. Last year, Archie tried a new, more "realistic" look in Betty and Veronica Double Digest. This year, the same creative team is telling a Jughead tale as well. Worried that Jughead is missing out because of his single nature, Archie, Reggie, Betty and Veronica begin scheming to fix him up with Sandy Sanchez. Although Jughead and Sandy are friends, they hadn't considered sparks flying. When the gang puts their plan into motion, however, it may work all too well. "Bad Boy Trouble," the Betty and Veronica story, was fairly serious, about Veronica falling for a troublemaker and getting into a bad predicament. This follow-up, by contrast, is much more lighthearted. While that story drifted into soap opera territory, this feels much more like a romantic comedy, and surprisingly, it works extremely well. Jughead is well-suited to this role and the new character, Sandy, seems to be a decent fit here. Ironically, I don't think there's anything other than length that would prevent this story from being drawn in the traditional style without changing a word of dialogue, but I enjoy it as is. As many of the fans agreed, the "New Look" is fine as long as it doesn't take over the line. As there appears to be no danger of that happening, Jughead's fans can enjoy this new kind of story for what it is.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Legion of Super Heroes #42 (DC Comics)
Jim Shooter and Francis Manapul

In the latest issue, Saturn Girl leads a team into Ultra-Boy's home planet Rimbor to fight the latest Destroyer threat, while recently jailed Invisible Kid meets with his parents, and Brainiac analyzes the threat back home. I have constantly pleased with how much action, humor, and strong characterization Jim Shooter fits into each issue of this title, and while I wasn't terribly thrilled with start on this title, I've really come around and understand what he's doing with the book now. The two main conflicts in this title are the one at home being the growing tension between the Legion and the local governments, and the one aboard being the mysterious, ever-adapting alien threats called simply the Destroyers. I'm really liking the former conflict, the latter threat at this point seems too much an excuse for action, and too slow-moving and under-developed at this point. The action in this title is still hard to match in other comics. Shooter makes great, inventive use of the team's powers, and Manapul really brings that to life. His art work isn't quite as polished here, but that looks to be because of a change in colorist. From a drawing standpoint, Manapul does a heck of a job once again making this book fun, dynamic, and full of character, though having that polished look back would be icing on the cake. Overall, the book was another strong effort from Shooter and Manapul. Its a steadily improving title, and only a couple kinks away from being great.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Ben Lehnsherr

Perhapanauts #2 (Image Comics)
By Todd DeZago, Craig Rousseau & Richard Case

As the Perhaps return from their latest mission, Arisa and Choopie both deal with unexpected visitors. For Arisa, it's two of her oldest friends. For Choopie, it's a swarm of Gremlin-like creatures who want to make him their king. For the Perhapanauts, neither of this is particularly unusual. This is a character-building issue, developing a lot of backstory for Arisa and, also, developing her relationship with MG quite a bit. It's nice to see just what makes the team important to her, why it matters to her. It's not just a job for Arisa. The back-up story, illustrated by Richard Case, delves even deeper into their relationship as we peek into MG's journal entry for the day of their first date. Arisa here comes across as the anti-Lois Lane, perfectly aware that her guy has some big secrets, but willing to let him keep them instead of prying around and tearing the relationship apart. It's not a dynamic you see very much, but it's a good one. Hopefully people are trying this book out and seeing just why it's so much fun.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

Superman/Batman #48 (DC Comics)
By Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Shane Davis

We start this issue with Superman fighting a new Doomsday laced to the gills with kryptonite called the All-American Boy, struggling to save Smallville from destruction, while Amanda Waller imprisons Batman, and tells them she's tired of their type. For me, the two Michaels writing this issue had me riding the fence. There were some good touches with Superman showing to be quite smart despite his lack of full power, and some nice touches into his past Smallville days, in addition to pretty fast pacing focused around a weakened Superman. But Green and Johnson also had some pretty lackluster moments as well, with Waller's speech of her disdain of superheroes feeling completely "been there, done that" in tone, the All-American Boy just not given enough time to make the reader care about the conclusion of the story that becomes contrived, as well as beating home some deeper meaning by examining what makes Superman and Batman who they are that comes off very heavy-handed. That's been done to death, in this title, in fact and I'd like to see this title try to move past reminding us every other issue. Its not done in a way that makes you care about any of the characters involved here. The art, on the other hand, was quite good. Shane Davis, to me, draws like an Ed Benes with more flow. His storytelling techniques were great, and he did some great panel work and action. If I was going to criticize one aspects, its that he didn't sell the wholesale destruction of Smallville as well as the story called for. All in all, great art stuck in the middle of an clichéd, inconsistently decent story that I can't get fully get behind.
Rating: 3/5 --Ben Lehnsherr

Tales From the Crypt #6 (NBM/Papercutz)
By Arie Kaplan, Mr. Exes, Joe R. Landsdale, John L. Landsdale, James Romberger, Jim Salicrup, Rick Parker, Steve Mannion

Two more tales of terror this month. "Jumping the Shark," by Arie Kaplan and Mr. Exes, is the story of a murdered reality show producer who comes back -- naturally -- for revenge. It's a pretty typical Crypt tale, really, with the best stuff being some of the more clever reality show parodies Kaplan conjures up. Far more impressive is the second story, "A Ripping Good Time," by Joe and John Landsdale and James Romberger. In this one, a man finds a timepiece from the Victorian era that seems to unleash a monster from the past. This one is pretty atypical for Crypt, throwing in just a dash of sci-fi with the horror, and its uniqueness makes it a very strong story. The Landsdales deliver and help elevate the issue as a whole.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Wolverine: First Class #3 (Marvel Comics)
By Fred Van Lente & Salva Espin

The launch point of this issue is a little hard to swallow -- worried that Magneto hasn't been seen lately, Professor X sends Wolverine and Kitty to investigate. If you can get past that, though, you get to a pretty good story. As the New Men of Wundagore begin disappearing for no apparent reason, Wolverine and Kitty are recruited to solve the mystery. Wolverine is the archetypal anti-hero, so it's fun to see him playing the pure hero role for a change. Speaking of changes, the book ends on a dandy little cliffhanger. I kind of prefer this book to remain mostly self-contained, but the occasional two-parter won't bother me as long as the story works. Here, it does. Salva Espin's artwork is really great here, crafting believable human/animal hybrids that don't look silly juxtaposed with the likes of Wolverine and the High Evolutionary. I feel like I should keep apologizing to this book. I dismissed it as unnecessary before the first issue even came out. Now I see just how charming a read it actually is.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit

X-Force: Legacy Of Vengeance One-Shot (Marvel Comics)
By Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, and Clayton Crain

This one-shot takes the first three issues of the sold-out new title X-Force, and throws them all together with a new cover and some extras in this 80-page book at less than cover price. When I first started reading this book, I was pleasantly surprised with how well characterization was handled. I underestimated the level of continuity and respect that Kyle and Yost would bring to a book that basically looked like a hack-and-slash title that banked on the Wolverine fanbase. I think a lot of folk have literally been judging this book by its covers, but there's a good amount of depth and character here. There's also a lot of nice, nostalgic parts for the long-time X-fans. Each issue does a really good job of expanding on the last, and reaches all over different aspects of the X-universe, dipping quite a bit into their rich history. The end of this one-shot is a magnificent mesh of lower class X-villains that makes a ton of sense, and shows the two writers do have a long term plan for this title. Clayton Crain's work throughout is excellent, using his digital painting techniques to perfection and it fits this style of book in every way. Some of his action is dangerously close to MAX content, but that doesn't bother me. This collections shows this is definitely an X-title showing some promise, and here's your chance to catch up if you've been missing out.
Rating: 4/5 --Ben Lehnsherr

X-Men: First Class #12 (Marvel Comics)
By Jeff Parker, Roger Cruz & Colleen Coover

This issue gives us a rare spotlight on Angel, as Warren Worthington heads to Brazil to seek his missing aunt. She's not all he finds, though, and the world he enters here is one he may never want to return from. Angel has always been the least dynamic of the original five X-Men, and Parker does a really good job here of giving him some real motivation and personality. He explores the themes of alienation that his wings cause that none of his teammates (at least, not this early on) can really understand. The ending of this book surprised me as well, as this is a title that's supposed to fit "between the cracks" of continuity. If the ending here sticks for a while, though, it'll be hard to fit it anywhere. This isn't a bad thing, but it is a curious one. Colleen Coover returns this month to illustrate a two-page back-up feature in which Warren uses the Danger Room to revisit the moments his mutant powers first manifested. While it's certainly a funny story, it's actually kind of telling as well. As expected, this is a nice, solid issue.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit

Zombie Tales #1 (Boom! Studios)
by Joe R. Lansdale, Eduardo Barreto, Andrew Dalhouse, Steve Niles, Daniel Lafrance, Kim Krizan, Jon Reed, & Pablo Quiligotti

This kick off to the running Zombie Tales series is really very good, giving you three different types of zombie tales, although only one is self contained. The first, “The War At Home”, is by one of my favorite writers, Lansdale, and at first I thought it might be a riff on Bubba Ho-Tep, although it’s not. A severely wounded vet in a veteran’s hospital wakes up to find the hospital under siege by zombies - a losing siege. He and a sexy nurse (it’s always got to be a sexy nurse) briefly team up and escape, but soon find themselves cornered by zombies. Can the wounded veterans pull together and fight off the undead horde? Stay tuned … in other words, come back next issue. (Curses!) This story just hits the ground running and zips by quickly, and Barreto’s artwork has an old style pulp comic feel to it. The second story, Niles’s slightly more cynical “People Person” has a man surviving in post zombie apocalypse L.A., trying to keep his kids safe. It doesn’t help that his wife has become a zombie and wants to have a bite (of him). He thinks he gets rid of her, but did he really? If you guessed the answer’s “no”, you’re right. The artwork by Lafrance has a smooth appearance that plays very well in the more grotesque scenes. The last story, “Spring 2061”, is a twist on the usual formula, with a zombie dominated society, with the minority humans treated as animals. (With Humans in factory farm cages and hung up in butcher shops, it’s not hard to get the pro-vegetarian message, although there’s more to it than that.) There are some Humans living wild in the hills, though, and they’re not happy with the status quo. The art’s rougher here, but definitely atmospheric. A strong start to a new series.
Rating: 4/5 —Andrea Speed