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Review Date: Friday, July 1, 2011
Here In Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo has decreed that its Back To The
Future Week here in Bongo Congo, so let's review two
new DC comics and one new Marvel comic that star some
of the more historical, long-term A-list superheroes
from the respective publishers: |
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Superman
#712
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Kurt Busiek: Writer
Rick Leonardi: Pencils
Jonathan Sibal: Inks
Brad Anderson: Colors
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DC's flagship original Superman title
is up to issue #712 this month. A page one Editor's
Note explains that due to a production delay, the
scheduled start of a new multi-issue story arc is
replaced in this month's issue with the publication
of a "lost classic" story starring Krypto the Superdog.
The storyline is set shortly after Superboy died
in the Infinite Crisis event and Superman went missing.
This one-issue tale is scripted by A-list writer
Kurt Busiek with pencils by Rick Leonardi, inks
by Jonathan Sibal and colors by Brad Anderson.
The story weaves together two interconnected
sub-plots, one set in the past and one in the present-day.
The past storyline updates the reader on the events
of Infinite Crisis that led to the demise/disappearance
of members of Krpto's extended Superman Family.
The present-day pages detail Krypto's actions in
two respects, patiently waiting for his family members
to return all the while searching across the Earth
and in outer space for his missing human buddies.
Without being a detail spoiler, the story concludes
by coming full circle from the opening flashback
panels, with Krypto settling-in for a long, continued
wait nestled by a favorite toy that he shared in
play with Superboy at the start of the tale. There's
a hopeful note at the conclusion, as the last panel
marks the story close as "Not The End..."
This one-shot filler tale succeeds
as an entertaining issue of Superman in several
respects. First, its provides a nice, simple mid-summer
breather from the multitudes of multi-issue "event"
story arcs that prevail in most of the new comic
production out there these days. Secondly, veteran
writer Kurt Busiek succeeds in adding another quality
story to the inventory of occasional Krypto stories
existing in the DC comic universe. Busiek does an
admirable job of balancing the flashback sub-plot
as a strong support to the present-day Krypto storyline,
helping to make the narrative-free dog-centric scenes
make sense due to the past tense human narrative.
And third, Busiek gives us doglover's a treat by
effectively portraying that wonderful trait of all
dogs, that of unconditional love for their family,
as Krypto patiently searches and waits for all to
be right again in his world.
At times emotional and almost heartbreaking, at times
just a fun and entertaining read, all-in-all this
issue well deserves a positive thumbs-up recommendation
as a mid-summer treat starring everyone's favorite
DC universe superpup!
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Brightest
Day Aftermath: The Search For Swamp Thing #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Jonathan Vankin: Writer
Marco Castiello: Pencils
Vincenzo Acunzo: Inks
Barb Ciardo: Colors
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DC has also just published issue #1
in a three-issue mini-series that follows-up with
DC universe events in the aftermath of the Brightest
Day series events. This particular title focuses
on the search for Swamp Thing and stars everyone's
favorite demon world-connected sleuth John Constantine,
along with Batman and Zatanna. The issue #1 cover
also implies that Superman will be joining the plot
in upcoming issues of the title. The comic book
is scripted by Jonathan Vankin with pencils by Marco
Castiello, inks by Vincenzo Acunzo and colors by
Barb Ciardo.
The kick-off story segment begins
with Constantine being ambushed in London after
receiving a false message from his old friend Swamp
Thing, resulting in his being infected with a swamp-based
life-threatening malady. John travels to Gotham
to enlist The Batman both in search of Swamp Thing
and in search of a cure for the increasingly-viral
infection. Most of the issue #1 storyline progresses
a detailed confrontation between Constantine and
Batman, in which the pair verbally joust as Costantine
works hard to establish credibility and trust with
the Caped Crusader. By issue's end, Zatanna enters
the picture and joins the newly-formed team. The
issue ends in a dramatic bridge to next month's
story segment, as a surprise development regarding
Swamp Thing's identity is revealed which hints of
a possible answer to both Swamp Thing's disappearance
and John Constantine's strange malady.
This new title is a decent and entertaining
addition to the varied Brightest Day and post-Brightest
Day events unfolding in the DC comic book universe.
The combination of Constantine, Batman and Zatanna
provide a unique and fresh mix of characters as
a hero team. I particularly enjoyed the extended
verbal duel between Constantine and Batman, with
the demonic detective more than holding his own
with witty remarks and sharp dialogue, resulting
in Constantine at times actually getting the better
of Batman and ultimately succeeding in adding the
Caped Crusadar to his team. Writer Jonathan Vankin
structures the story with just the right sense of
mystery that makes the reader want to stick with
this tale to see where the plot takes us over the
course of three issues. It should also be fun to
see how Superman fits into this story beginning
in next month's issue #2.
So a definite thumbs-up recommendation to add this
fresh and interesting limited series title to your
mid-summer pile of beach-reading new comic books!
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Ultimate
Spider-Man #160
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Brian Michael Bendis: Writer
Mark Bagley: Pencils
Andy Lanning & Andrew Hennessy: Inks
Justin Ponsor: Colors
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The latest "death of our favorite
superhero" storyline wraps-up its five-part story
presentation with "Death Of Spider-Man: Part 5"
in issue #160 of Ultimate Spider-Man. For the uninitiated,
the many "Ultimate" titles published by Marvel provide
very interesting alternative character histories
of some of the most well-known Marvel heroes. Significant
alternate Spider-Man elements in this title include
re-booting Peter Parker/Spidey and friends back
to their original high school-aged roots, along
with the key premise revision that everyone near
and dear to Parker, from Aunt May to Mary Jane and
back again, share in the knowledge of Parker's superhero
identity. The Death Of Spider-Man event series is
scripted by veteran writer Brian Michael Bendis
with pencils by Mark Bagley, inks shared by Andy
Lanning and Andrew Hennessy, and colors by Justin
Ponsor.
This concluding story segment consists
of a single issue-long mega-battle scene. Having
been seriously wounded by a crazed Green Goblin
in last month's issue, Parker must now confront
the killer supervillain literally in his home neighborhood
in front of Aunt May's house. As the action unfolds,
Spider-Man is forced to desperately juggle two efforts
with split-second precision: trying to fend-off
the Goblin's fianl push to kill our hero, while
also attempting to protect his various friends and
loved ones who stand smack in the path of harm's
way. Various fellow teen heros and Spidey family
members try and fail to help our hero. In the end,
as expected, Spidey/young Parker seemingly stops
the villain while also seemingly bleeding-out and
expiring from his Goblin-inflicted wounds.
I say "seemingly" in the story summary
because as all good fanboys and fangirls know, no
hero is ever permanently expired in any of the periodical
"death of our favorite hero" comic book publishing
events. But that's o.k., because none of us really
want to lose our heroes; the fun of these situations
is seeing how the creative team that's assigned
the task eventually resurrects our hero and explains
the supposed demise in the first place. In that
respect, this part five conclusion is both entertaining
in its own right and provides a nice first act to
the second and third acts of the play, the respective
"coping with Spidey's death" and "hooray, our hero's
back" segments of the story. A particular hats-off
in issue #160 is deserved for A-list writer Bendis,
who stretches out of his writing comfort zone with
a tale light on his usual detailed dialogue and
philosophical character rambling and heavier on
old-fashioned Marvel Comics battle action. The result
is a nice throwback style of storytelling that fits
perfectly with entire "back to the future" teen
years reboot of Spidey in this particular Ultimate
comic book title.
So we're three-for-three this week, with another positive
thumbs-up recommendation to add this entertaining
and just-plain-fun issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to
our growing pile of new comic books to read on that
beach blanket!
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Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest asked you to correctly
identify what the initial "S" stands for as President Harry
S. Truman's middle name. We had quite a few correct entries,
so via a roll of the dice our selected winner is (drumroll,
please)...Erin O'Connor, who correctly tells us that the
S stands for just that, the letter S! Truman's parents chose
the letter S to honor both of his grandfathers, Anderson
Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. Single initial middle names
were a common historical practice among Scot-Irish immigrant
families to America. The Bongo Congo panel of contest judges
have also decided to award a second, honorary contest prize
to Christian P. Mock, who is the only contest entrant who
has the same name situation; Christian tells us that his
folks also couldn't decide which grandparent to honor, thus
giving him the middle name of the letter P! Congrats to
both of our winners, who each receive a $10.00 gift certificate
to That's Entertainment!
New
Contest Announcement!!!
Let's take a break from trivia this week
and have a comic/animation-related contest challenge. The
Bongo Congo panel of contest judges was recently watching
an episode of this past season's The Simpsons and was impressed
how the writing quality of the show has maintained its strength
over the many years of the show. As such, your challenge
this week is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
telling us which episode of The Simpsons is your very favorite
episode, and why. As always, our selected first prize winner
will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to our favorite home-away-from-home,
That's Entertainment!
That's all for now, so great a great
Fourth Of July comic book reading week and see you again
next week here In Bongo Congo!
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