Wha...Huh? #1

Brought to you by:
Marvel comics
Artist Jim Mahfood
And a whole bunch of writers currently in vogue at Marvel. And Stan Lee, who is pretty much always in vogue at Marvel.

Wha...?
Over two decades ago (roughly. I forget when it ended), Marvel had a regular series called "What If?" which explored alternate route in the Marvel Universe, such as, I don't know, The radioactive spider had bitten Aunt May instead of Peter Parker. "Wha,,,Huh?" is a spoof of that series. It's filled mostly with one panel or pne page gags, such as "What if President Andrew Jackson had taken Ben Grim's place in the Fantastic Four" and "What if Galactus got food poisoning". OK, both of those gags go on for a few pages, but they are the exceptions.


See you in the funny pages"
Or, in this case, "mildly amusing pages." Reminding me old Mad Magazinesmild chuckles, a few genuine laughs, but mostly just this side (or the other side) of lame. There was a lot of potential here, but the gags just sort of... felt phoned in. Perhaps demonstrating that being a master storyteller or action/pulp virtuoso doesn't mean you can write humor. Hack and slash is easy. Comedy is hard.

I don't kow if it's art...
but Jim Mahfood has curled up in a soft part of my heart. Mahfood is a cartoonist who has done a number of independant comics, including "Grrrl Scouts", "Stupid Comics" and probably most recognized, "Clerks" (as in Kevin Smith's Clerks). His work is loose, frech, and simultaneously fun and edgy, which fits his own humor stylings perfectly. Methinks this book would have been better if egos had stepped aside and Mahfood been given free righn to write the whole thing himself. The only reason I bought this book was Mahfood. do yourslef a favor, go to his site, http://www.40ozcomics.com/ and buy something. I'd suggest Stupid Comics #3 as a good entry point- Even without having read it (I just found out it was out).


You might like it if:
You are into Mad Magazine or are a big Marvel Comics fan. If both apply, this is a must have. Otherwise...

The Final Verdict. Now with brand new grading system!
Fun Silliness: C
Jim Mahfoodiness: A-
Cover Priciness: D+ (3.99)

Back in the Saddle

I will now be the third to admit - I've slacked in a major way on this.
But I'm returning with renewed commitment...for at least two more reviews. Time will tell.
Want to prove me wrong? Come back often, and when you don't see any new updates, give me greif.
Nothing motivates better than grief.

Firestorm #15

Up to Speed
This book does a good job of being accessible to new readers (a rarity these days). This isn’t essential to know, but those who remember teen Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein merging to become Firestorm might want to know that
a. Ronnie Raymond eventually became Firestorm without Prof. Stein’s half of the mix,
b. Ronnie was killed,
c. Jason Rusch, an urban Detroit youth, developed the power to turn into Firestorm when merging with the person of his choice (which was taxing and often killed said person in the end),
d. Turns out Ronnie’s spirit had taken up residency in Jason, and
e. Ronnie "died" again, but not before Jason learned to become Firestorm without merging with someone else.

Word balloon sized summary
Firestorm discovers he’s accidentally ‘created’ a new villain. Who wants revenge. Slugfest ensues.

Who Makes it Happen
Stuart Moore – writer
Jamal Igle and Rob Stull– artists
Published by DC comics.

Genre Bending
Straight up, traditional super hero capes and tights.

What I can tell you without hashing out the whole story.

There isn’t much to tell. The story is very formulaic, Sort of nostalgic – it reminds me of polished, flashy version of comics from the early/mid 80’s, before the comics started ‘growing up’ and taking themselves seriously. Entertaining, but not much depth.

This is near the beginning of a new story arc (part1 ofa 2-part story). The character’s life, work and supporting characters are slowly being introduced. And then a villain bent on revenge shows upfor hispound of flesh. And the requisite battle ensues.

I don’t know if it’s art…
but it’s not bad. Nothing astounding, but solid comic book art. Jamal does an admirable job is giving characters their own distinct look, not cookie cutter faces with different hair to tell them apart. I especially like that Jason(Firestorm)definitely does not have the ‘leading man’ look. Right down tothe so-very-true 18-year-old wienie moustache.

You might like it if…
You miss the"good old days", want some light, check your brain at the door action,or want to get in on a usually decent, standard superhero comic and not feel confused by tons of convoluted backstory (Although there is. Tons of convoluted backstory. But Stuart seems to let you in on just enough to follow along.)

In quantitative terms:
C+. Entertaining for what it is, but it isn’t very much.

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 - Unmanned

This collects the first five issues of the series, published originally in 2002. Might be available at you local comic shop or larger book chains, but odds are you'll have to special order it or hunt around a little.

Word balloon sized summary
A plague has wiped out every male on earth – except one young man and his pet monkey. His quest for survival, love, and an explanation begins.

Who Makes it Happen
Brian K. Vaughan – writer
Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr. – artists
Published by DC comics, under the Vertigo (suggested for mature readers) imprint.

Genre Bending
Apocalypse lite. The grit and trauma of a world turned upside down, without much of the grit and trauma. The story takes itself seriously without getting intense.

Character studies
Yorick. The last man on earth. A fun character. A man with tremendous responsibility and zero common sense. He keeps the tone light and provides some comic relief. Unfortunately, his flippant and generally short-sighted attitude in the midst of the probable extinction of humanity make it a little hard to suspend belief.

Ampersand. The last non-human man on earth. Yorick’s not so helpful helper-monkey-in-training. A great plot prop. And you can never go wrong with monkeys.

Agent 355. Sort of a "secret agent Shaft". Minus the, um, shaft. She makes a great foil for Yorick. Which is good, because by herself she’d come across as generic.
Which is the problem with all the other female characters (which accounts for all the character, I guess). They are either one dimensional for the purpose of moving the plot or uninteresting. But this is only the beginning. The cast starts growing an extra dimension or two once the foundation is laid (meaning, in subsequent volumes of Y: The Last Man).

What I can tell you without hashing out the whole story.
This collection feels (appropriately) like act one of a three act play. We are introduced to situation, the conflicts, the main players and how they relate and what problems they are going to cause for each other (or themselves). Vaughan does a great job exploring the ramification of 51% of the populace dying. He covers, among other things, how the change affects politics, survival, transportation, group dynamics, identity, science, cult evangelists and more. And he continues to develop the world through the story beyond volume one.
Surprisingly, Vaughan shies away, at least for now, from the obvious shake up of the one man on a world full of women scenario: sex. And by not getting hung up on that pesky issue, we are allowed to explore other less predictable, more intriguing territory - such as how the US government survives and continues to operate (this was written pre-Condi. And, ya know, it’s fiction)
and a quasi-religous cult of harsh, new-world-feminism taken to the extreme (a group that especially un-fun if you are the last man standing).
Oh, and the book uses a narrative devise in which the story is told moving forward and backwards in time. This could have been used to greater effect, but does at least provide for some good foreshadowing teases.

I don’t know if it’s art…
Generally, I don’t like to speak of a comic artwork as a separate entity from the story. Comic art is an essential story-telling tool. You can have great visual story telling with very lousy drawing, or superb illustration that fails utterly and conveying the events.
But since it’s the sort of thing that everyone wants to know…
The artwork is pretty standard stuff. Nothing extraordinary. Very clear and straightforward. This is typical of many books published under DC’s Vertigo imprint – because the story styles tend not to lend itself to high-action, but are more cerebral or character driven in nature. The covers from the original issues, painted by J.G. Jones, sprinkled throughout the book and on the collections cover, are well conceived and intriguing.

Non-Comic Book Trivia
If the events of this book ever happened, this book would not be published. Like pilots and mechanical engineers, women are sorely underrepresented in the comic book industry.

In quantitative terms:
B/B+ Worth a read. But not going to the top of my list of recommendation, except to those who already read comics and may have missed it.

A few comments before diving in.

Before jumping into my first review I’d like to take a moment to outline where I intend to head and what you can expect. Though the course of even the mightiest river can change, so don’t be surprised if this little trickle diverts.

As much as I can avoid it, I’ll not be preaching to the choir.
That is to say, I’m writing these reviews to be accessible to and for the primary benefit of those who are non-readers or infrequent readers of comics. I’m aware that this will likely be a minority of my audience. Comic fans can enjoy the reviews just as much. I’m just going to avoid fanboy references and discussions that can be followed only by the initiated. Or at least when I bring them up, I’ll provide a little initiation.

The books chosen for review will probably lean towards the better end of the spectrum.
This is no accident. One of my hopes is to provide a positive introduction to the medium. Hopefully guiding people towards looking into something that priques their interest. If you’re trying to convince someone that Bill Cosby is a pillar of comedic talent, you don’t show him Leonard Part 6

I will try to post at least one review a week.
Ideally, that one review will come from that weeks purchases. Comics are published on a weekly basis (rather, every week, a new batch of comics is published. From one issue to the next of a particular series is usually a month). Unfortunately, it is likely that my review will seldom be of a newly published book. Most comics are of a serial nature. Presenting someone with a random issue of X-Men is much like sitting someone down partway into an episode of 24. They might enjoy it. But they also might be turned off - unable to fully appreciate it nor be able to follow the complex story and relationships. I don’t want to bewilder a potential fan, so I will often default to reviewing a collection that has been published in a continually available format (a.k.a. a trade paperback).

I will occasionally spout off an essay on some comic related concept or issue.
Just because I can. And in the interest of educating those who might be interested. Or provoking a flurry of comments.

I will eventually settle into a format.
But it might take a while to find one that I feel is both concise and qualitative. It’ll be an organic process. Bear with me.

I will make plenty of typos.
Deal with it.