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Alright folks! I got just got a letter from the EIC
saying I had 10 hours to deadline or she'd remove my
lungs with a spoon. Time to do reviews . . . some of the
comics I read this month while blasting out isoteric
pop culture references at a speed that would induce
seizures in Wally West. Not all of them came out in
April but are still available. I tried to finish the
Rassl review last month but didn't quite have time.
Rassl #1
Cartoon Books
When I was in my early teens my comic shop owners
would occasionally point things out to me that I might
like. One title they gave me "free of charge on a
reprint of #1" was Jeff Smith's Bone. I read up to
issue #13 but when Bone jumped to Image where it was
almost twice the price of the DC and Marvel books I
was reading, I dropped it. I recently bought The
Complete Bone in trade and have been enjoying it as
much as the issues I read almost 15 years ago.
When I was at Small Press Expo last year I attended
Jeff Smith's panel where he talked a lot about Rassl.
Just the premise of a rough and tough thief who could
steal anything you could imagine by hopping into
another universe to get it for you sounded really
cool.
It's been about a month since I read issue one
(still on sale) and it's still stuck in my head. My
thoughts-- is was not quite what I was hoping. The
story is much darker than the early parts of Bone but
it is still obviously Jeff Smith. This is a strength
in the sense that Smith is a master of facial
expression no matter how cartoony. However, where
Bone was (for the first few arcs anyway) an almost
childlike fantasy world that reads like a love letter
to Walt Kelly and Carl Barks, I found Rassl's world to
more like what would happen if Max Alan Collins teamed
up with 1950s Robert Heinlein. Mixing that kind of
story with that art style seems surreal and
disorienting. Which could be Smith's point. What
makes most noir mysteries work in misdirection. I'm
perfectly willing at least , to let the first arc play
out before making a final judgment.
Grade: B+
Countdown in Mystery #8
DC Comics
Both Countdown anthology series, Countdown into
Adventure and Countdown into Mystery somewhat bothered
me for two reasons. They cost fifty cents more than
most of the DC line and they did a throw back to
the DC books of 40s-70s. Each feature didn't seem to
get the space it deserved. Furthermore, each book
had only one feature I was actually interested in.
In the case of Countdown into Mystery, it was Steve
Gerber's take on Doctor Fate. Most of the time I
almost forgot the Eclipso stories were even there and
had to check the back of the previous issue to make
sure that I had even bothered to read the previous
one.
Sadly, issue seven of Countdown into Mystery was the
last one Steve Gerber finished writing before his
death. He did, however, complete vague plot notes for
how the series should end which allowed DC Comics to
do a great tribute to his memory. They gave copies of
those notes to four different writers and let them
have a go with it.
Adam Beechen's version was delightfully fanish. A
lot of unlicensed cameos by Gerber characters from
various comic companies (mainly Marvel) and couple of
quick jabs at Gerber's treatment by Marvel. This
story was a loving parody of the abrupt ending Steve
Gerber gave to stories when he was forced out of
Marvel in the 1970s.
Mark Waid and Gail Simone both tried to give the
series happy endings. Drunkard Doctor Fate stops the
bad guy, gets his helmet back, gets sober and then
resurrects the girl and all is well. Which is
exactly what the reader was hoping the ending would
be. It was quite satisfying but too perfect.
Mark Evanier's take was absolutely spot on. The
Drunkard Doctor Fate stops the bad guy, gets his
helmet back, gets sober for a few minutes, resurrects
the girl and at least escapes Hell. All is not well
but it is better than it was, because Kent Nelson is
no longer alone. He may get the girl in the end. He
might not. He might patch things up with his daughter
but he might not. He might just go back to drinking.
It's not quite spelled out. It's all up to hope. In
my opinion, this is the closest to what Steve Gerber
would have written if he had the chance. It was
dirty, flawed, honest and human.
Doctor Fate's Grade: A
Eclipso's Grade: C-
Cable #1
To be honest, I only read this comic because my
comic store had so many they were literally giving it
away. I have never liked this character. To me, he
symbolizes almost everything Marvel did wrong in the
90s.
Ironically, I loved Cable/Deadpool. A friend of
mine gave me some issues of that series hoping to
change my opinion of Nathan Charles Christopher
Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Askanisan Summers
the Third. (But you can call him Dot.) It did change
my opinion on a character in the book, and I did buy
all the trades but not because of Cable. (Anyone have
any chimichangas?)
The plot picks up right where Cable's place in
Messiah Complex left off. With him carrying the
mutant baby in a snuggler and going to the future.
Once there, it suddenly turns into a crossover between
the Mad Max movies and Undercover Blues. Well, if
Dennis Quaid was angsty, had father issues and enjoyed
shooting random guys in the chest.
Don't get me started on the art. While not as bad
as his Liefeld days, Cable does look a little off, even
for him. So in short, the dialogue was crappy, the
plot practically non-existent and the art was fair at
best. It was a free comic and I demand my money back.
Grade: F-
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