|
|
|
|
Review Date: Friday, June 17, 2011
Here In Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo has decreed that we review the
kick-off issues of two new mini-series that just debut,
one from Marvel Comics and one from D.C. Comics, along
with a fun, new satire title of a well-known science
fiction franchise. So let's get right to it and see
how these three new titles fare: |
|
Mystery
Men #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
David Liss: Writer
Patrick Zircher: Art
Andy Troy: Colors
|
Marvel Comics has just published issue
#1 of a new five-issue limited series entitled Mystery
Men. Set in 1930's Depression-era America, the story
concept introduces some brand-new Pulp-era costumed
heroes to the Marvel comic book universe, while eventually
having these characters interact with the Golden Age
versions of well-known, established Marvel superheroes.
The series is scripted by writer David Liss with art
by Patrick Zircher and colors by Andy Troy.
Issue #1 has two interweaving sub-plots. The first
storyline kicks-off the origins of the Mystery Men
team of pulp-era new superheroes. When cat burgler
Dennis Piper's Broadway star girlfriend is murdered
and he's falsely blamed for the crime, he becomes
"The Operative," trading-in his cat burgler persona
to try and solve the crime. By the end of this first
issue, he's begun to assemble the Mystery Men, as
two additional people get pulled-into the mystery:
his girlfriend's twin sister pilot adventurer and
"The Revenant," a mysterious African American superhero
whose powers seem to be a combination of those of
DC's The Flash and The Spectre. Our second sub-plot
follows the actions of the murderer himself, a deformed
evil humanoid known as "The General," who operates
in two directions. One is the management from his
lair in the brand-new Empire State Building of an
evil secret corporate board of directors. His second
area of activity is within the occult, as he clearly
has dealings with the demonic world in exchange for
wielding the power to cloud people's minds to hide
his deformity and his evil actions. By the end of
issue #1, its clear that the next two steps in this
series are the further assembly of the Mystery Men
team and further advancement of The General's plans
for occult murder and world dominance.
Its incredibly difficult for any comic book creative
team to introduce brand-new hero characters that comfortably
fit into the publisher's existing superhero story
universe. As such, Marvel Comics has achieved the
very rare feat of successfully jumping this creative
hurdle. The three good-guy characters here very comfortably
and credibly fit nicely into the Golden Age Marvel
Comics universe. Writer David Liss explains in a back-of-the-book
letter that he had two goals with this title-first,
to add such credible new characters to the Marvel
comic book world and secondly, to use the plot to
address some gritty historical themes of Depression-era
America, such as racism and societal inequalities
in general. He progresses very well out-of-the-gate
with these goals in issue #1. Blend-in Patrick Zircher
and Andy Troy's highly skilled artistic style and
we've got a very significant and entertaining new
conceptual branch added to the wider tree that is
the Marvel universe.
I couldn't help but compare this new series to DC's
ongoing First Wave event series, which also takes
a pulp-era approach to comic book storytelling. While
I've enjoyed much of what I've read in the First Wave
titles, Mystery Men clearly raises the bar in terms
of delivering high-quality Pulp Era comic book action
and adventure within the framework of a major comic
book publisher's existing story universe. It should
be a lot of fun to see how Marvel weaves its established
stable of superheroes into this new spin on Marvel
storytelling. So whether you're a Pulp-era story fan
and just a standard Marvel Comics fan, by all means
don't miss-out on the premier of this new and worthwhile
Marvel Comics story world!
|
|
Batman:
Gates Of Gotham #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Scott Snyder & Kyle Higgins: Writer
Trevor McCarthy: Art
Guy Major: Colors
|
DC Comics has also just published
issue #1 of a new five-issue Batman mini-series entitled
"Batman: Gates Of Gotham." The series adds a new spin
on the many Batman story universe concepts by proposing
to blend a "secret history of Gotham City" into the
world of all things Batman. The series is scripted
by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, with art by Trevor
McCarthy and colors by Guy Major. Scott Snyder is
also known among us Batman fanatics as the writer
of a very popular multi-issue story arc currently
unfolding in monthly issues of Detective Comics.
Issue #1 is sub-titled "A Bridge To The Past" and
literally takes the title to heart, providing us with
a tale that flashes between past and present as it
focuses on three famous bridges in Gotham City. The
past segment of the tale focuses on the 19th century
origins of the bridges, as Bruce Wayne/Batman's grandfather
Alan Wayne creates the three river spans in partnership
with the Elliotts and the Cobblepots, ancestors of
Batman's archfoes Thomas Elliot/Hush and Oswald Cobblepot/The
Penguin. In the present-day plotline, a mysterious
foe blows-up the three bridges and threatens "the
founder's families," leading to an unlikely alliance
between Batman/Dick Grayson and The Penguin against
the attacker-with-an-historic-agenda.
Its always fun to come across a new mini-series that
adds a fresh perspective to the well-known elements
of a popular hero's world. Add this new title to the
list of series that succeed on that count. The historic
element is very creative, allying the grandfathers
of today's trio of adversaries; I particularly got
a kick out of The Penguin's willingness to grudgingly
cooperate with Batman, valuing their joint family
history over today's situation. A hats-off is also
due to the artistic team for presenting a unique artistic
format that's perfect for conveying the mix of Victorian
Gotham that co-exists in both the past and present
sides of the storyline. So by all means get in on
the ground floor with issue #1 of this new and very
entertaining Batman mini-series.
|
|
Space
Warped #1
Publisher: Kaboom!
Herve Bourhis: Writer
Rudy Spiessert: Art
Mathilda: Colors
Dan Heching: Translation
Kevin Church: Americanization
|
Kaboom! comics, the children's division
of Boom! Entertainmnet, has just published issue #1
of an American edition of an overseas-produced parody
of Star Wars entitled "Space Warped". The creative
team includes writer Herve Bourhis with art by Rudy
Spiessert and colors by Mathilda. The Kaboom! version
of this title was assisted in production by translater
Dan Heching and with "Americanization" by Kevin Church.
This Stars Wars spoof faithfully follows the main
events of the very first Star Wars movie. The idea
here is to re-present the plotline in a low tech satiric
manner. Instead of robot droids we have two human
"druids," instead of hover cars we have ox-drawn carts,
instead of a death star we have a bad guy's castle,
etc. Names have been changed also, so Princess Leia
is now Lady Leica, Darth Vador is Lord Salvador, Obi
Wan Kenobi is Bernard The Mad Monk (you get the picture).
By the end of issue #1, the story has progressed to
the point equal in the original tale at which our
friends link-up with Harrison Ford and Chewbacca to
begin the outer space segment of the first movie adventure.
While the first few pages of this storyline unfolded
a bit slow and in a somewhat confusing manner, by
page four I was hooked on this extremely funny and
original retake of the classic Star Wars movie #1
tale. It was a brilliant and just plain fun move to
place the well-known story in a primitive low tech
setting. The result is a series of hilarious riffs
on the well-known movie scenes. Without being a detail
spoiler, my favorite touches in this retelling include
this comic's version of "The Force." as well as the
bust-a-gut retelling of the original scene in which
Luke and Obi Wan find that the Imperial Stormtroopers
have killed Luke's aunt and uncle back at the ranch
on Tatooine (sounds potentially unfunny, but it really
does work).
The satire here is sharp and funny, but without coming
close to the edge of snarkiness or staleness abyss
that some Mad Magazine-style satires sometimes fall
into. So by all means, grab at copy of Space Warped
at That's Entertainment, and "May The Farce Be With
You!"
|
Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to tell
us what upcoming comic or superhero movie you most anticipate
seeing. And our winner is (drumroll, please),,,Mike Dooley.
While Mike tells us that he's a big fan of such heroes as
Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America and The X-Men, he's
being non-traditional this summer and most looking forward
to the upcoming film "Cowboys and Aliens," the science fiction
western starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, based on
Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 graphic novel.
Mike writes that while the comic book has never appealed
to him, he feels that the premise could be perfectly suited
for the big screen. A bold and cutting-edge choice, Mike-we'll
all know whether we agree with you or not after the movie
hits the theatres on July 29! Congrats to Mike for winning
our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!
New
Contest Announcement!!!
Let's try another trivia contest for this
week. E-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
with the answer to the following question: What is the one
letter of the alphabet that is not included in the names
of any of the 50 states in the U.S.? As always, in the event
of multiple correct submissions, the winner of the first
prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainmnet will
be chosen via a roll of the dice.
That's all for now, so have a great comic
book reading and summer blockbuster movie viewing week,
and see you again next week Here In Bongo Congo!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|