Quick Hits - Third Strike

Another week, another installment of Quick Hits. Up this week is Eva - Daughter of the Dragon from Dynamite Entertainment, Iron and the Maiden #2 from Aspen Comics, Doktor Sleepless - Tesla Boy Gangster #2 from Avatar Press, 30 Days of Night - Red Snow from IDW, Madame Mirage #2 from Top Cow Entertainment, and Infinity Inc. #1 for DC Comics.

Eva - Daughter of the Dragon #1 - I was not impressed by this book, sure I didn't know anything about it before I read it, but it turned out to be Van Hellsing with a chick basically. Eva's Dracula's daughter born from the un-dead. Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein are after some lame ass stone, Frank's monster turns on him and begins protecting the stone. Eva and Frank become a team, then get transported into the future... did I mention the actual villain of the story is narrating the story to a TV production crew that want to turn it into the next Buffy? Must have slipped my mind, much like this book will slip my mind when Dynamite surely makes it an ongoing series. The art was good, there was little to no dialog, and you didn't get the chance to know Eva enough to care about her at all. In fact she kinda comes off like a total asshole that's willing to do anything as long as it results in the death of Dracula. Jo Chen's cover was the best part of the book, I love Jo Chen's art she's great, maybe if she had done the book I would have liked it more but the story was still really bad, so probably not.

Iron and the Maiden #2 - I first covered this book just this week in Worth Every Penny? One nice thing about Aspen I'm hooked on the series but I'm willing to give it another issue. #2 still felt like it was missing panels as well and the story really seemed disconnected and convenient. After like six months Iron's finally wakes up, he's got a beard and a new arm but no one including himself acts like anythings different from when he left. Literally the story picks back up right where it was six months ago and it didn't improve at all. The Maiden is just a little too bad ass for her own good and I stopped caring about the character when she turned out to be stripping at one of Big Daddy's clubs. I don't know why it's every male comic book readers dream to have the leading lady a stripper, but it doesn't do anything for me and really is a cop ou is that they pump books out quick... then leave you waiting for the fifth issue. Well I wouldn't say thatt on doing any actual story telling. Iron's has got 48hrs to make his debt to Big Daddy right or die, and the A-Hole in the purple that snuffed out the Maiden's family has 48hrs to kill Iron's to make his 1 million dollar debt to Big Daddy even. We'll see how issue three goes but the story had better be good, the art was still pretty good and had that strong 90's feel to it which really works with the story.

Doktor Sleepless #2 - Another book I've covered before, feel free to check it out first. There's more of the mystery revealed in this issue, and more mystery added to the mystery. You'll notice that this issue isn't called Future Science Jesus, but Tesla Boy Gangster. I'm sure this is a theme that will continue as the book goes on. It's hard to say what this confusing piece of work is about. Apparently Doktor Sleepless can't look in mirrors for long without the mirror talking back and his real persona John Reinhardt is locked up for some reason. The introduction of the Shrieking Girls was intresting. They are all linked together so whatever one experiences they all experience. There was more societal commentary, and make believe tech talk that would be interesting if people were actually trying this sort of thing. Again I'm not 100 percent sure what the book is truly about but that's the point in reading it, to figure out the story.

30 Days of Night - Red Snow #1 - Let me just say that I hate, hate, hate it when people take their characters and put them in a World War II setting. It's lazy and annoying and even though I love Templesmith's art, he struggles as a story teller. The dialog was rough, the pacing was annoying and I swear he was jumping around telling the same story from different perspectives and was telling the reader. Anyways if you couldn't tell I didn't really care for this book, I was hoping that since it was Templesmith that it wouldn't just be a cash in on the soon to be released movie based off the first series... but that's what it felt like, a cash in. The great thing about the first series was that no one had ever thought of it before, so when this book comes along and says well the Vampires did the same thing in World War II, it's pretty hard to swallow. Unfortunately IDW will never let the series rest and will always be trying to pump something out under the name, and most of them will continue to be junk not worth reading.

Madame Mirage #2 - Paul Dini and Kenneth Rocafort are a dream team together! This book is so simple yet so effective that I can't wait till the third issue. It was a happy coincidence that it came out this week because on Tuesday I thought to myself, "Hey where the hell is Madame Mirage #2?" that's right I think in numbers, and then there it was! Mirage does seem a little like Hunter Killer, but that's okay because unlike Hunter Killer the art hopefully won't change by the seventh issue and won't be plagued by delays. Rocafort really is the break out talent of this book and if TopCow is smart they'll start pumping out posters and T-Shirts because I've already got money waiting for both. Mirage is targeting another Mobster to take out, the word is that he's trying to kill a celebrity so Mirage is there to stop him. The Dude (Big Lebowski rip off) is there to lighten the humor some more and is really becoming a likable character. The story is action packed and fast paced so I'm not going to tell you much more because it's a quick read and should only take about ten minutes. Mirage gives fanboys a tease changing into different outfits and Rocafort is probably already deciding between Marvel and DC, because I'm sure one of them is offering him an exclusive contract although he may have an exclusive with TopCow for now too. This book is definitely my Quick Hits: Pick of the week.

Lastly we have Infinity Inc. #1 - Let's just call this book what it is, another cash in on the success of 52. I like Peter Milligan but sometimes he's just not the right fit for a book... mostly DC books. Not only is the story pretty uninteresting, it's not very revealing to what the book is going to continue to be about. It relies on the first couple of pages and then the last two pages to hook you and bring you back for issue two. Sadly this book has six issue written all over it before it either gets canceled or re-vamped which means it'll get canceled any ways. If you pick this book up expecting anything that resembled the old Infinity Inc., then don't bother. It only deals with the new Infinity there biological and mental problems after the fallout of Luthor's Everyman Project. The Everyman Project was a genetic experiment that gave everyone super powers that laid dormant within themselves, but Luthor put an on off switch in everyone and then killed a bunch of them because he was mad. I'll be unable to tell you what happens in issue two because I won't be buying it, in fact the art alone was enough to make me not want to buy it ever again. This definitely gets the Quick Pick: Save Your Money choice of the week.

Well it wasn't really a good week for Quick Hits, but then they can't all be winners right? As always their will be more next week and hopefully the new books won't let me and everyone else reading them down like they did this week. Thanks for reading!

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The BOYS - Ten

I've caught up with the BOYS since my review of the trade paper back, and now the latest issue has come out. It concludes the latest storyline mocking Batman and Nightwing and dealing with the gay community and the perspectives that people have towards gay characters in comics. Since it's the conclusion I'm not really going to give you to many details about the actual book but I will tell you about the storyline. Basically The Legend (mock up of Stan Lee) asks Butcher to find out who killed a young gay man who had been seen last with Swingwing a costumed superhero. Swingwing = Nightwing just in case you couldn't figure that one out yourself. Well after going down several wrong paths Hughie ends up steering the team in the right direction and solves the case. I can't say that the storyline was fantastic, but it was still rather good. It seemed as if Ennis was just using it to as kind of a breather from the beginning and to get himself use to the characters again. But I have to say this issue felt really rushed and with both the writing and art.

Not only were Hughie and Butcher the only characters seen, outside of two panels with Mother's Milk, but they just seemed out of character the whole time. It was like Ennis had a good idea and probably could have done more with it at Wildstorm, but now he has to worry about DC suing him so he's pulling back and not giving us the good stuff. As for the art Robertson was very loose on his details and Dynamite doesn't seem to have the inkers to clean up the book and keep the feel the first six issues had. There were also a couple of bad proportions on Butcher, but in general the two men really changed a lot from page to page which distracted from the story and really was just a let down. I understand the Dynamite wants to pump a lot of books out and on time but never surrender quality over quantity you'll lose out every time. Dynamite needs to understand that they're dealing with super stars now, this book has the potential to be huge but it needs to be treated right. Get a better inker and a more consistent colorist for starters that's just good business for you're biggest book out right now. Second let them go at their own pace,
Ennis is a machine and there's never going to be any worries of him running out of ideas to play with and map out, but artist need time to make the book look right and Robertson's relatively new to star-dome so he needs to be put in the right environment to continue producing at the level he was when the book first came out. I'm really hoping Dynamite doesn't screw this book up or I'll be forced only to read the Trades, well my friends Trades at the very most.

I have to say Ennis did a good job of bring to light, how most Comic Companies deal with the Gay community and makes a lot of valid points using Hughie as his voice but next time I hope Ennis won't forget that he still has an accent when he's mad. Next month starts a new storyline and hopefully a turn for the better, the teams going to Russia and I swear Ennis just loves Russia, he seems to take everyone there on their four or fifth story arc, but whatever the man's untouchable right now. Here's some pages but be warned I think they spoil the ending!

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The Boys - Volume One - Name of the Game

Yeah, yeah, I know another comic review. Seriously this isn't turning into a Comic Blog, it's just all I've had time to do lately is read books. I probably should have tried to see Balls of Fury but then there's always tomorrow. I finally caught up to the phenomenon that is The BOYS. I had bought all of the Wildstorm issues but never got around to reading them, then the book got canceled and I was like maybe I should read them, then Dynamite Entertainment picked it up and I continued to put it off. Especially when they released an uncensored TPB of the Wildstorm issues, I thought why bother reading the single issues I'll just by the Trade. And I did! Great story huh?

Any who, The BOYS, for those who don't know, is a CIA Black Ops group that is in charge of watching the Super Heroes that go unchecked in the world. And why not? The world has a staggering amount of Super Heroes and it would only be a matter of time before someone tried to pull an Authority and take over the world inflicting their rules and rule upon everyone. And that's what The BOYS are there to stop from happening. The big English looking guy on the bottom left is in fact English and his name is Billy Butcher, he's the leader and has more than a personal grudge against Super Hero types. They don't for sure say which Supe it is that his grudge against but it's not hard to figure it out. The Bloke next to him is Wee Hughie, his girlfriend gets smashed into a wall by a Supe and he's left holding her arms wondering what the hell happened. He's new to the team since this is there second go round at this, but this time they don't have any red tape to worry about. Then there's the Female who likes to rip men's faces off and stuff them up their ass... you're not allowed to touch her and I'm pretty sure Hughie will end up having a relationship with her at some point just because they're some pretty obvious clues leading to it, but we'll see. She's there as muscle and it keeps her from killing people for the Mob. Next is Mother's Milk, or M.M. I can't wait to hear the story behind his name. He's a snob and a neat freak, and just a great character. Really he doesn't have enough pages and dialog which is a shame because he's written quite well and is an unusual character in comics today. Finally there's Frenchie, and yes he's French and crazy and that's about all there is to him other than all his dialog is in French and no it's not translated, welcome to the real world.

I would have printed some pages but this book is the most Mature comic book out there and hell it might just be the most mature comic ever written. After reading the Trade I blew through the 3 issues put out on Dynamite and my only complaint is that the inker and colorist was better on the Wildstorm issues. Wee Hughie and the Butcher are the stars of the show, and work well together as partners. Butcher being the Mentor to Hughie. Hughie is brilliantly conceived for the book. How else would you bring someone into this crazy world where Superheroes walk around fucking everything that moves and pretty are photocopies of our real world Celebrities. Well we enter the world with Hughie, who is innocent and has just lost a woman who told him she loved him from the minute she met him. Love is something everyone can relate to no matter how cold they appear to be. So we join Hughie as he learns the ropes, through his eyes we see just how F'd up this world of Super Heroes is. Butcher is an enigma, he's hard to trust from the get go. Even when he's getting the clearance to start up the biz again, the CIA director tells him that he's a bad mother fucker and not in a Shaft kind of way. Yet he's so honest and open with Hughie and he stands up for M.M. when his daughter starts mouthing off to him. Even Hughie can't figure him out, but that's the point. You want to know more about him, and frankly who doesn't like a bad ass dude? Guys want to be him, girls want to be with him no matter how poorly he may treat them.

The book was canceled due to the fact that it depicts Superheroes in a negative light. Really what it's doing is what WANTED couldn't get done, and essentially what Planetary did for the Marvel U, only The BOYS reflects the DCU. Frankly it's brilliant in saying, but not really saying, yes it's those characters. Yes that's Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, but also Beast Boy and the rest of the Teen Titans and the JSA. There is a bit of a problem with the Batman archetype since there's one on the JLA-esc team the Seven, and then in the newer issues another one that is an exact replica of Batman, only he fucks everything including his Butler's ear, a watermelon and a cup of coffee just to name a few. The dialog is fantastic and you really can hear the accents that each character has and get start to read what they're saying so naturally that you forget that everyone doesn't talk like they do. This may not be the book for you if you're not ready to venture out of the perfect world of Super Heroes, but if you are theres no reason you can't enjoy both sides. Without Superman and Spider-Man, we wouldn't be able to have books like this. Time will tell if this book is responsible for being another Watchmen, in which every book for years to come has to have an anti-hero. More than likely there will be a few copies of it with their own original take but this book really will truly go down in comic history for being just being that fucking good, and for just being fucked up.

Written by Garth Ennis and Art by Darick Robertson

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