goshdarnit!

I'm in the middle of a dry period, and I apologize. The blog isn't in very good shape, but I have some backlog posts in here somewhere, so hopefully we'll get to those.

Oh, here's one:

This is from the "One Year Later" arc that the title underwent, in which Black Canary and Lady Shiva exchanged lives. Black Canary went to the training that Shiva was subjected to, while Lady Shiva was an official Bird of Prey!

I love this scene so much, because it foreshadows the relationship between Sin and Dinah, and it represents a HUGE change that'll happen to Dinah -- her adopting Sin!

ADDITIONALLY: Sin is cute.

Guess what I got today. . .

Go ahead. Guess!

Serial for 9-26-08: Superman/Batman #52

It's intensely humid in my dorm, so let's get to reviewin' comics before they get all wrinkly and crumble in my hands:

Superman/Batman #52

by Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Rafael Albuquerque

This is the end of the two-issue arc, and also the last comic I have for this week. I'll try to compensate by going more in-depth.

The l'il villains make their move, and the Justice League and the L'il Justice League have to stop them. Meanwhile: CUTENESS! 

But there's more to the issue than fighting and adoring: it's also a story about innocense lost. The L'il Leaguers on their world were used to tripping up the villains with a banana peel, or trying not to get the Joker's soapy water in their eyes as opposed to acid. L'il Superman sacrifices his life to defeat Doomsday, and every Leaguer sheds a tear.

Was it necessary? Who can say.

Was it told well? Hell yes. It managed to tell The Death of Superman better than The Death of Superman, even.

And on the art side, uh, Albuquerque can draw the men and all that, but I don't like how he draws the women:

Their lips are too full! It makes them look skanky.

I dunno, maybe I just really miss the way Cliff Chiang drew the Canary.

Do I use this image too much?

Whatever, I really like it.

I guess that's it for the review. A pretty poignant comic here, and a very good read. Will #53 be as good? Who knows -- definitely not me, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Hey! Look at me!

Hey there! Hey! Look at me, look at me!

Wait, no, don't look at me. Look at Dinah.

Over at the link, Wizard gives a sneak peek at the coming Black Canary 13" action figure (in her JSA costume).

Overall, I don't like the expression-less face on Dinah, and the holes in her fishnets appear too minute, but that jacket is rockin' and I love her karate-chop action pose.

I won't lie though; this post was just an excuse for me to show you this page, from the four-issue Black Canary mini, written by Tony Bedard and Paulo Siquiera.

That's what you call finesse, people.

Four-Color Bonanza: LIVE from Space, England and Japan

ANNOUNCEMENT! I'm going to retire the "Panel by Panel" and "Cover to Cover" segments. To review the week, we're going to have these Four-Color Bonanzas instead.

Exciting isn't it? I can feel the electricity in my. . . computer.

No covers, no panels (unless I really think it's stand-out). This blog is going to be propped up by writing mainly, and I'd like to try it out. Today we review Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Green Arrow/Black Canary #8 and Bloodrayne: Tokyo Rogue #1.

So let's get ready to rrrrrrreeeeaaaaaddd!

Guardians of the Galaxy #1
by Abnett, Lanning and Pelletier

This was awesome. Great team banter, great dialogue from everyone, strong characterization.

I love Rocket Raccoon's sense of camaraderie, and you can't forget about his wit, and then Gamora is really getting looked at as a character. She's not just "the deadliest woman in the universe," and that gets somewhat explored here, as she talks to Richard Rider. I just hope the two of them hook up, as they should be, eventually.

Some other awesome things are how each character has a role within the team. It's Mantis' job to tend to everyones' mental well-being, as it's Cosmo's job to be their transport conductor, as it's Warlock's job to be the team leader. Drax the Destroyer even has his own different style of humor from Starlord or Rocket Raccoon. The individuality of these characters come out even when they're in the team, and that's the best kind of team book you can write.

A note about the art: I think Pelletier's curves are too soft for Guardians. Also, I don't think Drax should look that buff. Mitch Breitweiser had a much better design for Drax.

All in all though, a great jumping on point for anyone who thinks that Guardians is nothing but a niche book. You should really Check This Out. It looks like a great team book with strong individuals and equally strong dynamics between individuals. I only wonder if Richard Rider (the Nova Prime!) is going to appear here, because he and Gamora are totally meant for each other.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #8
by Judd Winick and Mike Norton

So, last issue, I was really whiny about the art. It was partly due to the fact that I loved Cliff Chiang so much that I wanted him to stay on GA/BC, and it was partly due to other facts.
That's not the case today. I feel like Norton's done a little polishing on the many things that irked me last time, particularly Dinah's face/eyes, and even the feet. There are still things that irk me, such as Ollie's beard, which is too exaggerated to look realistic, and his hair, which could look better, but I'm glad that Norton is improving himself. That's more than I can say for some other artists.

So if I'm not complaining about the art, what am I complaining about?

It's the Winick. Oh dear god help us all, it's the Winick.

The dialogue isn't too bad in this issue, actually, but that's because it was so scant here. The real problem I have is that the characters aren't getting proper attention. The title is more about Action! and Explosions! and Action-style Humor! then it is about Dinah and Ollie.

I swear, in eight issues, we've had so little character beats. So Ollie is trying to be a father figure. Okay, that was in, what, one issue? So Dinah is kick-ass. That was in one panel??? This is a big problem that I have with Winick's writing. Anyone could be doing these stories; it could be any generic superhero team. Anyone could be teaming up with this dodger guy, and anyone could be searching for Ra's Al Ghul. Hell, Chuck Dixon is writing Ollie better than Winick is, in Batman and the Outsiders. The characters aren't so much the focus as it is the action.

And action is not what I want. And no, neither is explosions or the jokes here. Anyone could be making these jokes. What I want is the jokes that can be told only with Dinah and Ollie. As long as you can tell me about Dinah's penchant for food, or for Ollie's need to be a father figure, or Dinah's technology peeves, or Ollie's sense of superhero camaraderie, I'll be happy. I only want to read about the characters I love, and I want to get the sense that Winick actually knows who these people are.

Is that too much to ask for three dollars?

Rant over. I'm disappointed with this issue, and I'm actually very bewildered why I didn't drop it last issue. If I were you, I'd definitely Run Away from this book.


Bloodrayne: Tokyo Rogue #1
by Troy Wall and Jake Bilbao

You know, for someone who has an innate fear of anything that mews, I read way too many horror comics. Bloodrayne is one of them, focusing on a half-human half-vampire (AKA dhampir) and her adventures working for the Brimstone Society.

In Tokyo Rogue she visits some friends in Japan to get some help against the ancient "gods" who just recently destroyed the Brimstone Society. The Brimstone annex in Japan has also been recently destroyed, thanks to a guy called "Hicharo" and his "samurai immortal," AKA Ayano.

I'm trying to figure out if Hicharo is the villain, but this Lord Noburu guy also seems villain-esque, because he hangs men atop a pit of lava and has a few agents called shrikes who "revel in their talents for creative torture."

Anyways, there's a fight between Rayne and Ayano at a strip club, and yes, THIS is how you do action right. Winick, please take a look at the page on the left.

Rayne fights. Yes, that is true, but that isn't so important as what is revealed in the fight. Namely, Rayne's character. Her wit and her sense of snark. Have you heard of that Winick? A little something called character? HM?

Anyways, Rayne loses, as is mandatory in the first issue, and she finds herself inside a Japanese hondo, and "the last hope for the survival of the Brimstone Society." CLIFFHANGER!

The dialogue is well-done, and although I think Bilbao's covers are hit-or-miss, I'm getting a liking for the way he pencils Rayne.

This dialogue is so great that I have to reproduce it for you guys: Rayne is riding a motorcycle with her British friend Severin who says:

Severin: I feel so . . . inadequate.
Rayne: Poor boy. I'll let you drive on the way out if it'll make you feel like more of a man.
Severin: As a matter of fact, it will. So what are we doing here?
. . .
Rayne: I'm going to burst in on the scene and kick some ass. You are going to stay here and do what you do best -- run recon.
Severin: I hate you.
Rayne: You love me. Now be a good boy and do your job.

Hah! This month's issue of Bloodrayne sure was enjoyable. If you like fun vampire action, you should really Check This Out.


The next batch of Four-Color Bonanza will be coming out this week. I got way too many comics today.

On a final note, I'd kind of like some help from you guys. What do you think of the rating system? I hate doing a star system, because a book can do a two-star writing-wise, but if it's full of fanservice, I can't just write that off. Sometimes I read a book that I really like personally and give it three stars, while a book that I pretty much didn't like but was generally okay gets three stars as well! A star system is way too ambiguous unless you're giving a one-star or five-star, and that's just too rare.

Mainly I do the rating system for you guys, so what do you think? What kind of ratings would you like to see from me? Stars or my overall opinion, or what I just did today ("check this out," "run away"), or some fourth thing?

Serials for 4-10-08: Bloodrayne and Green Arrow/Black Canary

The weekly review marches on, kids.

Today we're looking at Green Arrow/Black Canary #7 and Bloodrayne: Prime Cuts #2.


Bloodrayne: Prime Cuts #2 (of 3)

by Chad Lambert et al.

Few comics can adapt a videogame into a comic book well, but I think this issue really works.

There are three stories: 1) Rayne fights ninjas in the first one (the mandatory story) 2) Rayne explodes stuff with lots and lots of buttshots, but the story I wanna talk about is 3) the story from a lackey's perspective.

He's a lackey for the Cult of Kagan, but he's a lackey nonetheless. I thought this was a really smart story, because it took a look at the follower mentality.

These guys are the kinds of guys who followed Hitler, who followed Mussolini, who needed a figure so forceful because they themselves are meek and directionless.

They're cannon fodder basically, but they're sympathetic cannon fodder, and it's really refreshing to see a story from their perspective.

So, overall: despite the many, many butts in the second story, yay for smart writing.

Three out of five Cults of Kagan.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #7

by Judd Winick and Cliff Chiang (<-- i wish)

Look at the cover there. It's gorgeous isn't it? Makes you wanna curl up in a ball of happy right? That little blurb is cute, too, don't you think?

I wish the inside were just as awesome.

In this issue, Green Arrow and Black Canary go to London. After a few nasty fights and bad jokes, they uncover that classic Bat-villain, Ra's Al Ghul, was behind Connor's shooting.

There were some nice jokes in here, particularly Ollie's ineptness at the alien's true identities. The video camera scene, though, seemed really farcical when you consider that Ollie's son is brain-dead. In the previous review, I mentioned a possible bipolar disorder in Ollie. This is totally more evidence for that.

I wish I were kidding. Oh dear god, I wish I were kidding.

This is penciller Mike Norton's first issue. Honestly, it's very disappointing. Let's start the slide:

That's not how you draw Dinah's face. Her eyes aren't that huge, her face isn't that short, and her lips aren't that full. It was so annoying to see this throughout the comic.

The next example is somewhat improved:

I'd like it if Norton could consistently draw like this: Dinah's face is longer, her eyes aren't as huge; her lips aren't too full. There's only one problem here: Dinah's left hand is gripping the katana the wrong way. Her thumb needs to be somewhere.

But wait, there's more. Let's take a look at Ollie:

That's not how he parts his hair.

And no, neither is this:

But at least this is more like it:

As with Dinah, if Ollie could be consistently drawn like this, I'd be a much happier reader.

But the real problem is the feet. These are examples of how the leg does NOT work:

Granted, I have no qualm against the way Norton draws Hal, so maybe I'm just really attached to the way Chiang drew Ollie and Dinah. I miss his art very sorely.

Thus far, I'm really disappointed with this issue, but that might be because I'm suffering from Cliff Chiang withdrawal.

What do you guys think? Could Norton stand some sharpening of his talent, or am I just pulling things out of my posterior?

It's been known to occur nine posts out of ten, you know.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

-ooooooooo-

-ooo-

-oo.

Did you see the solicitation for this month's Green Arrow/Black Canary (issue #7)?????

It says -and I quote- "Art and cover by Cliff Chiang." May I repeat: "by Cliff Chiang."

And have you seen preview pages for this month's Green Arrow/Black Canary?

I wish I were, Zinda. I wish I were.

The solicits, they lied! I feel so betrayed. Although it is a great twist who the aliens turn out to be. . .

. . . I never got to say goodbye to Mr. Cliff Chiang. Mike Norton doesn't stand a dime up to your Dinah there. It's really disappointing.

Now if you excuse me, I just. . . I just (SNIFF) need to find someplace to, to cry. . .

What Black Canary Will Do to You if You Miswrite Her:

. . . this for one:



and then. . .



. . . so tread carefully and respectfully, Mr. Winick.

That's all for today, so I guess there's nothing left to say except. . .

A FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD NOTE: No reviews this week, sorry guys. I wanted to get Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #7 and X-Men: First Class #10, but I'm saving them for next week. That, and, I've never reviewed those books on the blog, and I don't wanna just jump right in.

Panel by Panel: Deciphering the Winick Code in GA/BC #6

Usually, I make "panel by panel" posts on comics that I really like, or that I really just despise.

Today's is kind of strange; it's kind of an exception.


Green Arrow/Black Canary #6
by Judd Winick and Cliff Chiang

And that exception is due to The Winick. I can never get my hand precisely on his writing. It is absolutely an enigma; sometimes he can just hit it, really get these characters, but sometimes he is just awful, awful, awful.

And this issue was a great example of that. Case in point, Winick really doesn't understand how people talk at times -at times. Does this guy need some kind of coach or something, because sometimes - sometimes - his lack of realism in the dialogue is truly terrifying.

"Heavy duty, mondo, butt-kicking SURVEILLANCE. . ."

How can you be kicking butt when you're surveying the area???? "Mondo?" "Mondo"???? Are we ten years in the past now???

"OLIVER. . . MY LOVE. . . You are going to HAVE to push back that OCEAN OF RAGE -- that MONSOON OF EMOTION that kicks around in your body like a RABID BEAR on STEROIDS."

HUH?? Wha. . . wha. . . HUH??? Where are we? Is this still Dinah? Ocean of rage???? Monsoon of emotion?!?! RABID BEAR ON STEROIDS?!?! Is this the same woman who said (and I don't agree with either quote),

"Huh, so THAT'S why he couldn't JUMP MY BONES? Not even ME?" (or something like that.)

Winick, why do you do this? Why do you make such inappropriate dialogue? Is it because you've never heard any real person talk before? Is it because you want to get back at Ollie and Dinah? What have they done to you? Is it because you've never spoken to a real person before? Is that it? Do you just need a friend, Mr. Winick?

So there: Winick seriously needs to work on his dialogue. That's what I find extremely flawed in his writing.

Yet he has so much fun with the dynamic between Ollie and Dinah! It made me endlessly happy to try to figure out the opening scene, in which a Russian arms dealer (and his "accountant") are talking to vendors of the "cloud" (it's really a ship) that shot Connor:

Guess who they are.

Go ahead, guess!

The two turn out to be (Ollie and Dinah!) fishing for clues of the ship! They eventually get discovered, but not before causing a ruckus, kicking some mobster tail and then jetting it! It's fantastic; this is the kind of stuff I expect from a GA/BC team-up!

And then back to the bad.

<-- Is Oliver bipolar or something? This really worries me. Is this the real Oliver? Why does he get so angry about this? He makes a similar outburst in issue #4, when he is a complete jerk to Hal about extracting the bullet from Connor, so it appears that Winick is trying something.

I seriously don't think this is a healthy sign of Oliver's character, or a real part of Oliver's character. It doesn't fit with all of his past portrayals, and this is severely disturbing me.

This outburst leads Dinah to try to comfort Ollie, and that utterly heartwarming scene that just tore my heartstrings.

I mean, it just provoked a monsoon of emotion from me, and I couldn't control my ocean of sympathy for the two.

All mockery aside though, it was nice to see them feeling warm for each other.

Which brings us to Dinah's role in the comic as a whole. Ever since Ollie came back, it's been the All-Ollie Hour with Dinah occasionally coming to support him and tell him that he's a good man - so she's basically a side character.

I can see why so many people have no faith in Winick's writing, but then we see this delightful three-panel sequence of Ollie and Dinah being chased by a ship:

Arrowcar, arrowplane, dumpy van, whatever it is, you can drive it, Ollie, but motorcycles? I think you better leave that to Dinah.

So they eventually beat the ship that's chasing them, and they find out: ALIENS! ALIENS shot Connor!

Okay, first get the initial "Uh. . . What?" out of your system. These aliens aren't established aliens in the DCU, so why could they be here?

My theory is that the aliens are somehow tied into Final Crisis, which'd be a damn shame, because I hate when mega-events interfere with my books. There is, though, the big, big chance that I'm wrong and Winick has something else in that dialogue-murdering (I kid, I kid) mind of his.

But I can't get a handle on your writing, Mr. Winick. You write some great moments and some great action, yet you need serious help with crafting dialogue. You drive your plots with catastrophe after catastrophe yet you make sure to emphasize the humanity of these heroes. You are so confusing.

You're spinning me around and around in circles, Mr. Winick.



Circles.

A little note about the art:

Cliff Chiang is back! Fantastic!

I'm really sad that next ish will be his last, and I wish this would have been one of the books that he helped shape a la Hester and Smith on Green Arrow or Simone and Benes on Birds of Prey, but at least we'll get covers from him, right?

There were two changes I noticed over the months: Cliff is drawing eyes more realistic and less over-cartoonishly, and he's working on his cheeks more to make them seem less baby-esque. It's great. There's also a distinct age difference between his Dinah and his Mia, evidenced in their different cheek sharpness, which was great to notice, and. . .

. . . and is it just me, or did Dinah become a lot prettier (if that's possible)?

Aw Dinah, there's no need to be shy. It's part of the blog, after all!

If you guys want me to give this comic a numerical value: speak up!

I'm not sure if a number will do Winick's strange writing, but I'll sure as hell try!

Or maybe you have something to add, it's the same: don't be afraid to speak up!

Cliff Chiang!

God, I love that cover.

Anyways, since the blog's inception, you may or may not know that I'm a fan of Dinah's and Ollie's marriage, and their subsequent title, Green Arrow/Black Canary, or Black Canary/Green Arrow. (Whatever floats your boat.)Whatever reservations I have about the title (Winick's less-than-original plot points, over-the-top dramatics and unrealistic dialogue; his focus on Oliver ever since they came back from Themyscira), it can still deliver some damn good lines, and it's always about the person behind the mask.

A bigger force for the book, though, would have to be Cliff Chiang, Mr. Art Guy.

So you can imagine the fright I was in when Comic Addiction told me that he was going to leave the book! Some guy called Mike Norton is coming on, who has Blue Beetle under his belt art-wise. He actually has a blog, if you want to check it out, but it doesn't update too often, and there are only some scant selections of sketches there. Interestingly enough, he's drawn Gravity for the MarvelNext series, as well as a part of a Hack/Slash one-shot.

Call me a purist, but I'm gonna miss the hell out of Cliff Chiang, and I hope he enjoys the hell out of his next project. It must've been some hard work to pencil and ink 22 pages in four weeks. Considering the man's pedigree of Beware the Creeper and Doctor Thirteen: Architecture and Morality, I'm sure his next book'll be a blast.

Issue 7'll be Chiang's last issue on interiors, after which Norton'll take over. Don't worry though, we'll still see gorgeous covers for GA/BC from the guy, and if you wanna check anything out about him, you should go ahead and visit his blog.

Green Arrow - A Real American Hero

The DC Universe is pretty big, but if I had to choose just one character to follow, it'd be Oliver Queen, AKA Green Arrow.Why? He's the most human of them all; he's flawed, to be sure, yet he is pure competence with a bow and arrow. Kevin Smith once said,

"I wanna read about a guy for whom nocking and firing 10 arrows in 10 seconds is a breeze, but being a father to his children is mountains tougher."(or something like that).

That's who Green Arrow is to me, and I love him for that.

But we shouldn't neglect to mention his past. This is a man who's been through a lot, and it's absolutely beautiful to see how he evolved as a character. Most superheroes, they have their origin that definitively changes who they are, and then that's it, but our guy Oliver here, he's had even more growth.

He was a playboy to whom glamour meant everything, to whom it was mere "fun" to have an Arrowcave and arrowcar.

He became a self-made man who learned to live by principles and morals.

He was the first person to swear at a JLA meeting. I ran into a great quote which read something like,

"Sometimes it seems like all these capes are good for are fighting OUTER-SPACE ALIEN INVASIONS."

It spoke volumes about Ollie's need to bring superheroics to a pedestrian and down-to-earth level.

Yet he retained his irresponsibility and frivolity. That kinda stuff doesn't just go "poof" with a single trip to an island, you know. His "handling" of commitment was almost nil, as he was falling in lust here and there, hurting Dinah, the Black Canary, each and every step along the way.

Until he reached the inevitable: he became an illegitimate father to one Connor Hawke, which forced him to look at his life and try to redeem it all, from betraying Dinah's love to fathering his son.

Whether it's a bleeding heart liberal, a hopeless flirt, a striving father or a flat-out superhero, Ollie gets as layered as you can get.


(This is the part where I tell you something relevant right now:)
So WHY is it that his appearances in the DCU are inconsistent? WHY must you put him in French Guiana in Batman and the Outsiders #4 yet keep him in Star City marrying Dinah in Green Arrow/Black Canary #5? HOW can his mentality possibly be the same in both issues, and HOW can he appear in two issues in completely different mindsets?

For those not in the know, Dixon in Outsiders did NOT treat Ollie's characterization well. In said issue, Ollie irrationally judges Batgirl as a cold-blooded murderer and impetuously gets into a couple fights with her. Then he (this is the worst part) obeys Batman's command.

I'd expect this inconsistency of someone like Wolverine or Spidey, because they're so darn popular, but why Ollie? I know that I'm acting irrational; I know that I'm not being objective; I know that I'm taking a fannish idealistic point of view, but I'll be damned if I ever put my role of critic over my role of fan, because that just invalidates the fun of reading comics.

As a fan, it absolutely terrifies me to see Ollie in Star City mourning for his son. . . and then all of a sudden he's in French Guiana chucking arrows at Batgirl! It's as if one of my favorite characters is acting behind my back, living a second life separate from the one I'm reading!


. . . so WHY do you have to needlessly shoehorn Ollie into a book where the writer merely uses him as a plot point? He deserves more, dammit!

These are just my opinions. If you enjoyed Batman and the Outsiders #4, more power to you, and I'm not saying it's bad or anything. Irrational as they are, foolish as they are, I wouldn't have anyone else's opinions, and I will always respect yours (unless you think Loeb's Ultimates is a work of beauty.)

So, maybe to temper all this anger, this newsarama article says that Oliver was introduced into the book "for a very definite reason." Hm. Well, there you go.

And that is why Ollie is awesome, and how I think he should be awesome-er. If you have anything to say about this, feel free to speak up.

P.S. To see how Ollie rates on Rachelle's "Rating the Super Hunks," go here. Those series of posts were pretty much my entryway into the DCU.

I don't know if that's a good thing.