Blackest Night: The Atom and Hawkman #46

I picked up this book for couple of reasons. First off, my knowledge of the characters is probably smaller than the Atom can shrink. Secondly, it’s the only Blackest Night title I’m aware of -aside from Green Lantern- to be written by Geoff Johns the (writer of the main series). So this was my chance to give the tie-ins (which haven’t been too great) a second chance. If you’ve been reading Blackest Night, you should be aware of the fact that the Atom has been one of the leading characters since issue #1. Now, with the announcement of Brightest Day (the follow-up to B.N.) it’s become clear that Johns wants to take at least one of these characters to a whole new level.

The extent of my familiarity with The Atom and Hawkman is pretty much limited to their appearances in a couple of DC’s big events (mainly Identity Crisis). This is part of the reason I found the book to be such a rewarding read. The entry to the book sums up the life Ray palmer in a few pages; showing me that there is more to his life than simply being a man who can shrink and that he was the husband of crazed murderer. Actually, I had never thought about it before this, but I found it rather strange that his rocky relationship appears to be a mirror image of Marvel’s shrinking man Hank Pym (a.k.a. Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Wasp etc.), only Ray isn’t the antagonist.

Anyway the summary of his life is drawn by Ryan Sook. In the opening pages, he does a good job of illustrating the happier moments in Ray’s life. Once this little sequence is over, begging with the title page, Sook’s work quickly becomes much darker and fitting of the blackest Night label. This is where Hawkman and Hawkgirl -both still recently deceased- come into play. Throughout the book though, The Atom along with his own departed wife and Indigo-1 remain the main focus. Sook’s work on the book is top notch and although it doesn’t mach Ivan Reis by creating huge fight scenes involving the entire DC universe, it doesn’t have to. The book does what it intends to, by remaining focused on the title characters. The main story involves The Atom’s introduction to the Indigo tribe, followed by him protecting Indigo-1 as she sends out a message to the other corps.

All in all I really enjoyed the book and gained some good knowledge of a character slowly working his way into the spotlight. While the book is by no means a necessary read for anyone reading Blackest Night, it does add some depth to one of the series main characters. I can see how it would be really enjoyable to longtime fans of the characters or people such as myself, who are just looking to gain knowledge of the characters and have some zombie fun at the same time

I also want to note that although The Atom’s new get-up as a wild tribes-man first looked a little goofy to me. However after this issue Sook’s presentation of it makes it look pretty awesome.

The Authority Book One

Its books like this which are the reason publishers started posting creators names on books. Most comic fans should be able to look at the names of the people who have worked on the Authority and show interest, regardless of what their thoughts on the WildStorm universe are. When you look at the list of people who have worked on the book it looks like a breeding ground for the best of today’s writers and artists.
I know that there are a lot of people who (like I used to) will not pick up a book unless it is branded DC or marvel. However I would hope that the names series creators Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch would allow them to look past any label.

First off take note that WildStorm is a division of DC. Not some small name group trying to make it on their own. Still, it shouldn’t matter. If you’re a fan of either DC or Marvel you should be familiar with the names Ellis and Hitch. More importantly you should be aware of why they are two of the most respected creators in the Business and for good reason.

Ellis’s work on The Authority is set in the WildStorm universe along side landmark series such as Planetary. It takes place after his run on Storm Watch and follows the group on their first two adventures. Starting in StormWatch, Ellis began to create a team of rag-tag Superheroes all his own, by destroying most of the original team and replacing it with characters of his own design. What was left of the team went on to become the founders of the Authority. The group's founder and leader Jenny Sparks “the Spirit of the Twentieth Century” a cigarette smoking bad-ass Brit, who has been alive for over 100 years; Jack Hawksmore “King of Cities" an alien enhanced American who can communicate with cities; Apollo and The Midnighter one of comics first and most colorful openly gay couples; The Doctor a troubled shaman; the Engineer a mentally troubled robot; and Swift a winged woman whois what the X-Men’s Angel should have been. The team is a group of heroes forced to come together in world which needs saving and protection on a regular basis due to the fall of the government funded StormWatch.

However what really makes the characters shine is the work of Brian Hitch. Most Marvel fans will probably recognize his work from the recreation of the cast of Avengers in the original Ultimates series. While I’m not I huge fan of the Ultimate universe I won’t deny the quality he brought to it. I can honestly say that Hitch is one of my favorite artists and helps to make the Authority one of my favorite teams. Throughout the book Hitch provides layers of depth to each of the team’s characters making them just as intriguing as any Marvel or DC character. Along with inker Paul Neary he also brings incredible detail to two of the coolest looking villains around; including a crazed East Asian Terrorist seeking revenge, as well as a devilish looking alien from a parallel universe seeking war. Both of which (along with the team) are given some of the best attention to detail I’ve ever seen in a character. On top of that, He also brings the team to some of the best depictions of, Moscow, London, LA, and Asia ever seen in comics. Each of which brings out what has to be the best work of the artisit atached

The group of heroes travels around in “the Carrier”, some sort of spaceship, shaped like a dog’s nose which serves as their base and drifts around outside time and space granting them access to any place on the planet at anytime via the “door”. This is where Hitch along with inker Paul Neary and colorist Lauren Depuyreally really get a chance to shine, by bringing to life the areas created in the depths of Ellis’s imagination. While Big Ben and the streets of LA are beautiful to look at the unreal subspace in which the characters live is equally impressive. It’s memorably obscure locations such as the “Outer Oceans of Ideaspace” during the spawning season of obsession fish, or the depths of the mind of the doctor which stand out in the book. It is also these ideas such as these in which Ellis is free to do what he does what he does best; by taking reality and warping and twisting it as much as possible while still keeping the characters human.

Let’s be serious though, this is book centered on action. Action which it delivers like few other books out there can even attempt match. Action scenes with one on one fights which the Midnighter has planed out in his head; action scenes with thousands of flying villains being changed to shards of glass and roses by the Doctor; action involving hundreds of fighter plains fighting spacecraft from another universe, action with Apollo flying at the speed of sound; action with men from the 1950’s fighting on horseback; action which lets you feel the rumbles occurring on board the ship. But most importantly action scenes put together so they never miss a beat.

In short the creative minds and ideas behind this book did such a great job of creating their own team that by the time I was through reading it thoughts of Marvel and DC groups and characters appeared secondary. Jenny Sparks the team’s leader is given the title Sparks “the Spirit of the Twentieth Century” and I seriously believe this is a book which can showcase and represent some of the best work in comics at the turn of the century. Now that the team has made its way into this century I am very eager to see what writers such as Bryan Hitch, Mark Millar, Ed Brubanker along with top artists have done with the team and if they’ve been able to reach the bar Ellis and Hitch set so high.

Review Bone: Part One

I finished the Bone one volume edition a couple of nights ago and couldn’t be happier. I read it over the course of about six months and it will now hold a very special place on my bookshelf representing a significant portion of my life.

I fell in love with Bone even before I read it. Over the years I remember walking into comic shops and having a strong interest in the cuddly little character. However at the time I was young and narrow minded. Also, I was probably hesitant because I believed this to be a kid’s book. In truth, it’s no more kiddy than guys wearing tights. So, despite the connection I felt with the character, I would just walk on over to the X-Men books and not know what I was missing. It’s probably for the better though. Because, I’m sure that when I was younger I would not have been able to give it the appreciation it deserves.

Once I got to college I started to take comics more seriously and expand my library, by trying to read the best of everything out there. I started with books like Watchmen, but eventually got to reading things outside of the superhero genre. Bone was on many of the best-of list I looked at. So after I knocked out some of the more famous supper hero stories and saw –with books like Fables-- that hardcore fantasy could work in comics; I decided I would finally go ahead and give Bone a shot. In all honesty the book is far and above anything else I have ever read from any genre or any medium.

When I went to Sand Diego Comic Con last year with a list of a handful of trades and graphic novels I wanted to pick up, Bone was at the top of the list. Ironically Jeff’s booth was one of the first ones I came across. In addition to promoting some of his more recent works (Rasl), Jeff was there selling signed copies of the Bone One Volume Edition. So, I had the pleasure of meeting with him briefly on opening night when things were still relatively quite (for San Diego). I told him how interested I was and that I had read some of the story and wanted to finish the whole thing. I still remember what he told me “well, it’s all right there”.

Think about those words for a second, “It’s all right there”. The one volume edition is a thirteen hundred page epic with a $40 price tag. That’s about the same it would cost to read one sixth of something like The Sandman. There is no question that you will not find a better deal than this on almost any graphic novel and that you’ll probably enjoy it much more. Recently, Scholastic has started printing each chapter individually in color. However, I’ve looked at the books and trust me you’re better off taking the one volume, black and white route. The book was initially published in back and white and that is where much of the fun lies. The beauty of the art is the clean simplicity of it. Jeff’s mastery of drawing and inking the characters is what brings them to life without color. The only possible downside to the one volume edition is its size. As I said the book is over 1,300 pages long so it weighs over a pound. But again, this is just part of the fun. The size of the book helps you realize the depth of the story.

It is so deep, I will have to save the actual review for later. I probably would have been better off reviewing each chapter individually and some things may slip my mind, but luckily, the characters and events in the book will stay with me forever. I will try to finish with this shortly.

In order to start things off with a bang (and somewhat explain the name of the club) To start lets rewind the clock a week and take a look back at the Marvel’s big event which started last week Siege #1

Review Siege #1

Even if he may not admit to previous errors; with two big events under his belt (House of M and Secret Invasion), Brian Michael Bendis is beginning to learn how to handle big events better. By now, anyone who has been reading Marvel comics for the past couple months is aware of Siege, their latest “small” big event. The fact that this is a short, four-issue mini-series is where Bendis’ experience and criticism first shows. In comparison to past events such as Civil War or Secret Invasion (which produced over one hundred tie-ins), it probably is small. Drawn by Oliver Coipel (who worked with Bendis on House of M), this makes for fast paced, high-octane first issue.

Marvel has dubbed Siege an event “seven years in the making”. As a result of all the recent big events, it probably is fair to say this is true. However does this mean that there is seven years of depth and back-story here? Or is this just another Avengers story? Probably both. Despite the simplicity of the story, with Siege, Bendis has promised to bring an end to the current Dark Reign story line, which began with the end of Secret Invasion and has been a central focus of the Marvel Universe for over a year now. In order to do this it is telling the relatively straight forward story of Norman Osborn’s siege of Asgard; as well as the inevitable destruction of his Cabal (a secret cult of evil masterminds such as Doctor Doom) which has already begun fall apart from within. Another thing Bendis has promised is to bring the Avengers’ “holly trinity” of Cap, Iron Man and Thor back together. So I think it’s fair to say that although some fans may look at this as just another Avengers book, there is a lot it has to live up to. Luckily, Bendis delivers in most all areas.

Anyone who has been reading Bendis’ work on New or Dark Avengers lately should know what to expect. Bendis intentionally gives the book an opening almost identical to the one in Civil War, in order to recreate an “incident”. The opening event occurs with a brief scrimmage between Volstagg and the U-Foes. This was my first real exposure to the U-Foes and although they don’t have any dialogue I was amazed at how well Bendis was able to use them as foot soldiers (despit the dorky name). They operate similar to the Wreaking Crew and when drawn by Copile look a-lot cooler. The unseen masterminds behind this occurrence are key figures Norman Osborn and Loki. After a year of writing Norman in New and Dark Avengers Bendis has a pretty good idea on the way the character thinks. Though he may not have as good a hold on the God of Mischief yet, there is still good interaction between the two characters. From there Bendis brings in the Dark Avengers cast, only a couple of whom get decent time on page. Then, after a few pages of debriefing brings the characters to Asgard (currently hovering above Oklahoma). There isn’t a whole lot of dialogue within the city, or throughout the second half of the book. The characters storm the city and other characters, such as Thor and Balder react. However, the layout and pacing of the action sequences Bendis has scripted manage to speak for themselves.

Part of the reason the battles in this book work so well are do to the art of Oliver Coipel’s artwork. Anyone who read Straczynski run on Thor shouldn’t even question his treatment of Asgard and its inhabitants. Probably making him knows Marvel’s most qualified artist to be drawing this book. Unfortunately, the book only has a couple of pages which can fully capture his treatment of the home of the gods. One of these shots is a beautiful two-page spread that serves as a good focal point in the center of the book. However, Coipel is also tasked with drawing the Dark Avengers characters. While most of these characters, such as Ares and the Sentry look great; others like Ms. Marvel (Moonstone) and Hawkeye (Bullseye) look like they received much less attention and as a result look a little cartoonish. This may be part of Coipel’s style, but in a book focused on a war-of-sorts it can throw things off a little. There isn’t a significant amount of improvement since Coiple’s work on House of M. Nevertheless, the city of Asgard stands tall, works as a great backdrop for the action and overshadows these minor flaws.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are tired of Bendis’ work on the Avengers and don’t want to have to cough up another $3.99 a month, just to see what happens next. Especially if it’s just twenty two pages of pows and ka-booms. As for me, looking back, despite a few dips, I have enjoyed the majority of what he’s done as a whole. But, even I would rather read a good book, full of well thought out dialogue than one full of mindless smashing any day. However, I sincerely enjoyed the book due to Bendis and Coiple’s well thought out smashing. Overall Bendis provides a solid, faced paced book that no Avengers fan should miss. Even though there will be a good number of tie-ins (32 to be exact), adding up to a large amount of cash, this event will stay focused on the Avengers and not pan out into every corner of the Marvel Universe. Could this have just been another Avengers book? Sure, but where’s the fun in that? I know Marvel would much rather make a lot more money from people like myself, willing to buy most the tie-ins. However, if the story stays this strong, I’m willing to give it them.