The Last Fantastic Four Story — Writer: Stan Lee; Artist: John Romita Jr.
The first time through this, I just kind of rolled my eyes — oh, great, late-period Stan again — and felt like the rhythm was off, and the story was too basic. The second time through, though, I began to appreciate it more; he’s really keeping his finger off the Irony Button this time, unlike with all those Stan Lee Meets… books, and the third-act twist, where Reed makes the impossibly-moral decision to save the race that’s been trying to kill them, is presented straight, as simply the kind of thing that heroes do. That’s old-school Stan, and you’d never see it in a modern comic (other than deliberately-retro ones like Godland or some of Alan Moore’s stuff), because the writers just couldn’t present it without winking. Stan can, though, just as he can offer condensed storytelling (the concepts flash by as fast and matter-of-factly as in… well, a Kirby book) and captions like “So indescribably powerful is the Torch’s nova blast that the entire city glows as though bathed in the light of a thousand suns!” Romita Jr.’s art is solid, and mostly up to the job, too (although the way the main villain is colored and posed somehow makes him look like an old guy in his bathrobe, wading in water). Bottom line: at 48 pages for $4.99, is this book worth buying? Oh, yeah — and, despite its flaws, it’s got enough going for it to be the book of the week.
Action Comics #855 — Writers: Geoff Johns & Richard Donner; Artist: Eric Powell
Whoever thought of Powell as the guest artist for a Bizarro arc should get a cookie, because he’s an inspired choice; he reverses the polarity of the Silver-Age Bizarro, who was cartoony with a hint of menace, and gives us a Bizarro World that’s menacing, but with a hint of the absurd. Trying to fit this story into current DC continuity will probably make your head explode, but if you’re able to just relax and enjoy it (and not compare it to the Morrison/Quitely Bizarro story of just a few months ago, which went in a completely different direction), you’ll have a good time. Best line, as the inhabitants of the square planet see Superman for the first time: “He am Bizarro Bizarro!”
Fantastic Four #549 — Writer: Dwayne McDuffie; Penciller: Paul Pelletier; Inker: Rick Magyar
Conclusion of a Frightful Four trilogy, although it moves right into the Next Big Crisis by the end, and it’s the second FF book worth buying this week. I think the phrase for this is “rollicking superhero adventure,” which is precisely what classic FF stories should offer, and McDuffie and Pelletier are doing a very good job of it right now.
Knights of the Dinner Table #130 — Creators: Jolly Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson & David Kenzer
I don’t mention this one much, but I’ve been buying and enjoying it for years, even though I’ve never, ever been in a role-playing game. Still, for well over a decade it’s used its limited computer file of manipulated images to create a careful, character-driven little world of vivid gamer archetypes and epic gamer strategy, and it’s worth checking out.
Local #10 — Story: Brian Wood; Art: Ryan Kelly
Watching an early 20-something bar-crawl toward a breakdown while pondering the latest tragedy in his dysfunctional family? You can’t get much more indy than that, eh? Fortunately, Woods only does this occasionally, and here it’s with the main character’s brother, not her. He wisely suggests in the afterward that readers pair this darker issue with issue #9’s more optimistic one, and in fact we won’t be able to evaluate Local properly until the last two issues come out and we can see how the whole thing hangs together, but I think we can forgive him a little over-the-top emo psychoanalysis here; I’m still buying it.
Hellboy: Darkness Calls #5 (of 6) — Story: Mike Mignola; Art: Duncan Fegredo
Penultimate issue, with a whopping big cliffhanger. Why are you not reading this book?
True Story Swear to God #8 — Story & Art: Tom Beland
This one, too — providing that you like cartoony true-life autobiographical stuff, which it delivers with consistent humor and even, sometimes, wisdom.
Usagi Yojimbo #105 — Creator: Stan Sakai
…and a third book you should be reading, perhaps this one most of all. It’s a great comic, visually and in its grasp of character and setting, and if I’m boring when I talk about it it’s only because it’s great every month. This issue is ramping up a major, long-running storyline, so it may confuse new readers, but even they should be able to appreciate its many charms.
Phil Mateer
