Comic Book Of The Week - The Punisher Army Of One - Review

This trade collects issues 1-7 of The Punisher Vol. 2, written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Steve Dillon with inks by Jimmy Palmioti.

 

This is a follow on story to Welcome Back, Frank, and as such a lot of the elements from that book are still prevalent here, although the main story arc in this trade is only 5 issues long as apposed to the first's 12, which makes for a much tighter and better paced story, one of my criticisms of the first book, that there wasn't enough emotion or jeopardy to hold a readers attention for 12 issues. But Ennis's fun writing and Dillon's almost cartoony drawings just work a whole lot better in this shorter format.

 

The story has a few follow on points and some returning characters from the last book so I would recommend reading that first but it's not like a part 2 or anything so it's not absolutely essential. The story revolves around The Punisher taking on an island of the toughest most dangerous mercenaries on the planet lead by a money hungry, bloodthirsty general, and crazy Punisher violence ensues, it goes from a stealthy jungle attack very reminiscent of the classic Rambo scene to just all out war, and it's all a blast. The only problem I had with this story was the treatment Ennis gave Spider-Man in issue 2, with The Punisher essentially using him as a human shield. When it's The Punisher or any of the other regular characters in this book getting pounded, kicked around or shot I don't mind in the slightest, firstly cause I never really cared for The Punisher, and secondly Ennis has created a world where you don't have to care, he doesn't invoke any emotional attachment to any character and the over the top violence he creates is almost comical so you can't really take it seriously, maybe it's just me being a huge fan of the wall crawler but his sudden appearance then the pummelling he has to take, it just felt distasteful to the character, who doesn't belong in Ennis's world . We all know Spider-Man from his own books where he can and does get hurt and where the reader cares what actually happens to him, so I just found issue 2 made me dislike The Punisher, both the comic and the character for the first time on Ennis's run. But again that could just be me.

 

Also in this trade you get a one issue story about an ex-army buddy of The Punisher going postal and how The Punisher deals with him and a silent issue written and drawn by Dillon which admittedly was the weakest issue so far and ends out the trade on an usually quiet and sombre note. Overall another good fun Punisher book, again entertaining in small doses, just don't expect anything too thought provoking.

 

The next comic book of the week will be Superman Red Son.

Comic Book Of The Week - The Punisher Welcome Back, Frank - Review

This trade collects The Punisher Vol. 3 issues 1-12, written by Garth Ennis, drawn by Steve Dillon and inked by Jimmy Palmioti.

This was the beginning of Ennis's run on The Punisher and boy does it start with a bang, the first issue sets up The Punisher as an absolute bad ass returning to take down crime in New York City, and it really grabbed my attention and made me forget any preconceptions I had about the character I just thought this comic is gonna be fun as hell.

 

 

The story has similarities in dialogue, violence and the absurdity that were prevalent in Ennis and Dillon's Preacher series, which really suit the character of The Punisher. If you've seen The Punisher movie( the one with John Travolta) you can tell this is one of the books the writers got a lot of their ideas from. But this comic doesn't play up the emotion that drives the character like the film does instead this comic is really just about fun, Ennis says as much in the foreword of the trade, and Dillon's slightly simple artwork and bright colours by Chris Sotomeyer really add to the cartoony feel of the book. It's hyper violent but in a playful way, you never feel worried about Frank Castle getting his head smashed in with a fridge door or someone getting striped to the bone by piranhas, it's just funny. I don't know if Ennis is trying to make a comment on the desensitisation of violence or how comics have become to realistic especially in their portrayal of violence. Maybe neither, either way the violence in this comic is so exaggerated I couldn't take it seriously and it just added to the over the top fun of it all.

 

 

The issue covers are done by Tim Bradstreet, one of which is used as the cover for the trade, they portray a much darker,realistic Punisher in direct opposition to Dillon's panel work. The covers create an expectation in your mind of the usual serious, sombre Punisher story, which is instantly dispelled when you start reading, its like Ennis and Dillon are saying 'only joking!' every time you pick up an issue.

 

 

I did fell the story dipped a bit, its' 12 issues long,and without any real jeopardy or emotional drive I found my interest waining in parts. I just thought it would have worked better as a 6 issue series, give or take. 12 issues was a bit too long for what was a fairly straightforward story, and the fun over the top violence did become a little sickly sweet after a while. But all that being said this trade is great if your just looking for a fun break from more serious books.

 

The next comic book of the week will be The Punisher Army Of One.

Comic Book Of The Week - The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1 - Review

This trade collects The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Issues 1-6 along with some supporting text and novelty material. Written by Alan Moore and drawn by Kevin O' Neill.

Again this comic book of the week comes in high regard, written by the now legendary Alan Moore which immediately projects certain expectations on the expectant reader, and Moore's lifting of characters from such iconic and well loved works of classic literature such as King Solomon's mines, the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and twenty thousand leagues under the sea among others only heightens the expectation.

 

 

The story is mostly set in a London stylized by the industrial revolution, and plays out kind of like a Justice League or Avengers origin story but with characters from classic literature playing the roles of the team members. The story is pretty straightforward, it's only 6 issues long and many are taken up introducing the characters and forming this odd literary dream team. If your knowledgeable on the books the characters and story elements are drawn from there's a lot to find interesting here. But apart from being reasonably familiar with most of the main characters from other TV and film adaptations I had only read King Solomon's Mines and The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes(not even the right Holmes books for this comic) so I constantly felt I was missing out on things, and maybe that's why I thought the plot was a little simple. After a couple of issues I did want to read the source material but by the time I'd finished the book I'd found it hadn't made a big enough impression on me, and any urge I had to do some research for a second reading faded away.

 

 

The artwork by Kevin O' Neill adds a lot to creating the old Victorian look and feel which is prevalent throughout, everything in this trade even stuff outside of the story like creator biographies and credits are written as if the book was published at the time. O'Neills panels really suit the story and some of the drawings have a great illustrative look, and you get a real sense of the character of the world and all the people that inhabit it, but I found the style used here in combination with the muted colour palet, which for the most part is beneficial to the story, can get a bit boring after a while and sometimes it just lacked a dynamism especially in the larger splash pages.

 

 

Overall I'm glad I read The league even if I was a little disappointed, it's essentially a set up story for volume two, which is considered the better of the two and the one that's consistently sited on top 100 comics lists. I can only assume with all the characters introduced and the premise in place, the second story arc will be more focused on plot.

 

The next comic book of the week will be The Punisher Welcome Back, Frank.

Comic Book Of The Week - The Flash The Dastardly Death Of The Rogues - Review

This trade collects the first seven issues of The Flash along with The Flash Secret Files And Origins from 2010. Written by Geoff Johns with artwork by Francis Manapul and Scott Kolins with covers by Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

 

I picked this trade up for a number of reasons; it was cheap, it was the start of a new series, it was written by one of my favourite writers Geoff Johns and finally just flicking through the pages I could see the artwork was some of the nicest I'd ever seen. And that's where I'd like to start this review, the artwork in this book is stunning, a mixture of traditional clean comic book inking with computer added colours and effects over crisp, gorgeous water colours. It really helps highlight the difference in speed between The Flash and everything else, or how Barry Allen sees the world, where things go in and out of focus and blend together, it's top class. Even if the story had been poor I still would have been glad I bought this book.

 

 

But of course with Johns at the helm you know chances are the story's going to be good, and it is, it's really good. It's a murder mystery involving time travel,the 25th century,future versions of characters, there's mentions of Blackest Night and Brightest Day, the past, the present, the future, and it all could have ended up feeling very out there and intangible, but Johns grounds all this potentially confusing or elusive hugeness by giving a lot of play to 'normal' police forensic scientist Barry Allen, normal Central City and it's normal inhabitants, all made feel friendly and familiar by the bright endearing artwork, and this local and safe feel creates a tether between normality and the more fantastical elements of the story so the reader never feels lost.

 

The trade has a Brightest Day banner head on the cover but don't be put off if you aren't familiar with what been happening in The Green Lantern books, it doesn't have any major bearing on this story. This is really an initial set-up to a more recent event called Flashpoint, but again don't feel like your gonna need to buy the subsequent trades or that you need to know a lot about The Flash, I'm confident this story can be enjoyed in isolation. I really liked this trade, I read it all in one sitting, and that included a lot of time savouring the artwork, pick this up.

 

 

The next comic book of the week will be The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume one.

 

 

The Top 5 Avengers Stories

(all these stories will be reviewed in detail as future comic books of the week)

 

5. Avengers Dissembled

 

In essence the last Avengers story,(kind of) and this really initiated a lot of the subsequent big events that were to come at Marvel. Apart from the truly epic battles that build up to the necessary breaking up of The Avengers, it's the aftermath, the looking back at each members memories of great Avengers moments past, and the final few panels that really deliver the emotion.

 

 

 

4. Ultron Unlimited

 

Arguably the Avengers greatest Villain, Ultron, returns, and with a bang, killing an entire nation of people, and that's only the start of the death in this short epic ,a bunch of zombies and a whole heap of robots get killed before the end of the final issue, but there's also the potential for the creation of life, with a twist on how Hank Pym created Ultron. This story escalates all that history between Pym and Ultron and brings it to an emotional and satisfying conclusion and there's also one of The Avengers greatest battles.

 

 

 

3. Red Zone

 

This story got me back into reading The Avengers after Busiek left, it's not as fantastical or earth shattering as some of Busiek's work, instead Geoff Johns brings the Avengers back down to the level of real people and real world threats, which grounds and makes the emotion in this story all the more powerful.

 

 

 

 

2. Destiny War

Another tour de force from the now legendary Busiek run, originally published as a separate maxi series, Busiek utilises Kang, Immortus, and characters and stories from the entirety of The Avengers continuity like no other writer could. If your familiar with the issues referenced, this is Avengers fan service of the highest quality

 

1. The Kang Dynasty

Another candidate for the Avengers greatest ever villain, Kang the conquer, features in this epic about global conquest, betrayal and most importantly the idea of Kang's final battle. The now ageing Kang has prepared and built this up as his ultimate confrontation against the heroes of this times earth. For me the Kang Dynasty is like Kraven's Last Hunt but on an avengers scale.Truly epic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comic of the week - Squadron Supreme - Review

This is a review of the Squadron Supreme trade, containing issues 1-12 of the Squadron Supreme maxi-series and captain America #314, all written by Mark Gruenwald with the majority of the issues pencilled by Bob Hall and some by Paul Ryan, with one issue a piece pencilled by John Buscema and Paul Neary.

 

This book is almost always mentioned as one of the comic medium's most influential works, so naturally my expectations were quite high going in. But being reasonably unfamiliar with the Squadron, apart from one appearance in Avengers, and the story's somewhat slowish start, it did take me a couple of issues to really become engaged, and to learn enough about the characters to care what happened to them. But after 3 or 4 issues the characters begin to deal with more and more unconventional subject matter, in terms of super hero comics of that time and even now. The story starts to gather pace and real jeopardy, both of which continue to build and build right up to the exquisitely paced final issue and to a conclusion which is not only satisfying but powerfully highlights the unidealistic real world drama throughout .

 

 

 

The Squadron initially comes across as a cheap imitation of DC comics Justice League, Hyperion is a lot like superman, princess power is a lot like wonder woman, the whizzer is a lot like the flash and so on. They exist on earth but not the earth of other Marvel characters like The Avengers or The X-men, they exist in a parallel universe, I like to think of it like the intersection of a Venn diagram between the Marvel and the DC universe. And it's initially fun to pick out the often obvious similarities between the Squadron members and the Justice League. Which is an effective early lure which gradually hooks the reader into a story containing physical and moral implications to risky for a flagship series like the Justice League.

 

If you've read books, like The Authority,House of M, Kingdom Come, or Identity Crisis I'd strongly propose reading Squadron Supreme, this is where all those ideas originated. To many this is the birthplace of the post-modern comic. It was originally published in 1985 so some of the artwork and coloring looks dated and frankly the panels are hit and miss throughout the book, but for the most part it doesn't take away from the story, especially in the second half.

 

 

I'd be a strong advocate for this book especially if you want a little more from your super hero comics, and are willing to forgive and be patient with some dated dialogue and artwork you wont be disappointed. I know this book doesn't get the same amount of recognition as Alan Moore's highly acclaimed Watchmen which was released around the same time, and don't get me wrong Squadron simply isn't quite at the level of Watchmen but in many ways its not far off.

The next comic book of the week will be The Flash-The Dastardly Death Of The Rogues.

 

 

Comic Book Of The Week - Cerebus Vol.1 - Review

This book contains the first 25 issues Cerebus, created,written and illustrated by Dave Sim, which actually ran for 300 issues all written and drawn by Sim, and we can all agree that is a massive undertaking and achievement in the field of comics. I had prior knowledge that some of the later volumes were known to be considerably better than volume 1 but I just thought it was the logical place to start reading and to find out if it was worth investing time and money into this massive series.

 

Sim has said Cerebus began as a parody of Conan the barbarian and other wizards and warriors type stories, and for the first half of this book that is the prevailing theme, there's hard to pronounce races,manipulative wizards and scantily clad warrior women a la red Sonja,all of which are used as examples of Sim's perceived silliness and perhaps one dimensional nature of the characters and stories from books like Conan.

 

 

 

But even towards the second half of this volume you can see a genuine interest building in the odd world Sim has perhaps unintentionally created, his scope for satire broadens to include other comics, with characters like The Cockroach, Professor X Claremont and The Woman-Thing. The stories become more engaging, the protagonist Cerebus becomes more than just a finger to point out the flawed absurdity, more than just a vehicle for satire, he becomes an all to knowing (if not jaded) guide for the reader in this otherwise insane world. But there lies the problem, Cerebus shows only a persistent disinterest in the world he inhabits and the characters he meets, and as a reader I couldn't help feeling the same. Cerebus' occasional moments of Clint Eastwood-esque cool the only thing keeping me reading.

 

 

I know the next volume is supposed to be better and even though i kind of got a taste of that from the last couple of issues in this volume, I still wont be investing. If Cerebus couldn't win me over in 25 issues i doubt it ever will.

 

The next comic book of the week will be Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald.