The Muppet Show: The Comic Book #1 — Writer/Artist: Roger Langridge
Langridge has finally brought me around to this title: he’s done a few mini-series with the characters already, and for someone with fond memories of the TV episodes (no, not Sesame Street: the classic Great Britain-located prime-time production) the personalities are all dead-on, and the sophisticated humor, slapstick and heart are all there. Here, he’s got his cast of entertainers on the road (their theater having been destroyed in the previous series), and the traveling-stage-production bits are clever and funny; this is a sophisticated, very high-quality comic book, made all the more remarkable by its accessibility to readers of all ages.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #31 — Writer: Joss Whedon; Pencils: Georges Jeanty; Inks: Andy Owens
Whedon provides the script, and there are the usual satisfying character interactions (Buffy/Xander and Willow/Buffy, especially) and plot developments (Buffy with (temporary, one assumes) super-powers). The best thing about the comic is that it can do effects (giant primary-colored Tibetan goddesses, clashes of massive armies, casts of thousands) that would never have been possible for the show, and it’s fun to see the creative teams stretch out and go wherever their imaginations lead them; the continuing best-seller status of this book, and its legitimacy as part of the Buffy canon in the eyes of its fans, shows just how easily comics are now accepted as just another pop-culture medium.
Alan Moore’s Neonomicon Hornbook — Writer: Alan Moore; Art: Jacen Burrows
This is a nine-page preview to the sequel of Moore’s The Courtyard, a Lovecraftian tale wherein a police detective investigating some cult murders ended up learning the language of the Elder Gods, and it drove him… well, the world thinks he’s insane, after his three mutilation murders, but he thinks he’s just teaching his victims the true state of the world. Here, years later, he’s in an institution for the criminally insane, and is visited by two other detectives. Their conversation doesn’t go well, since all he speaks is Cthulhuian, and presumably Very Bad Things will happen later. As a bonus (and to justify asking $1.99 for a nine-page story), Moore’s script for pages two through five is included, and his writing is as famously-detailed as ever. Writers probably shouldn’t try to duplicate his style here, but aspiring artists could do worse than to read the script first, try to pencil the pages, and then match their output to Burrows’s solid, deceptively-simple results.
Daytripper #2 (of 10) — Writers/Artists: Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba
I’m a little less enthusiastic about this issue than the first; if every single episode of this book ends similarly, it’s going to be a long, depressing trip. On the other hand, the art is as gorgeous as ever (with the William Messner-Loebs influence continuing to be the most surprising thing about it), and the exotic-to-readers South American locale is just as fascinating; there’s definitely nothing else like this book on the stands right now.
Batman: The Widening Gyre #4 (of 6) — Writer: Kevin Smith; Pencils: Walter Flanagan; Inks: Art Thibert
The Sienkiewicz Joker cover would be good (heels and boxers is a fashion faux pas but a nice touch), except that the Joker never appears in the comic — the villain is, of all things, Crazy Quilt — and that’s cheating; it descends into bait-and-switch tactics, and is sloppy editorial management. The comic itself is the standard Kevin Smith stew, as Bruce continues to deal with a new costumed “hero” (in quotes because there’s some heavy-handed hints that it’s not going to end well), and a love life that’s way too much of a good thing. As always with Smith, a couple of things made me wince (the last-page development, especially), but they’re balanced by his genial, fan-centric style; it may be junk food, but there’s a little nutrition underneath it all, and it’s very hard to resist.
Amazing Spider-Man #617 — Writer: Joe Kelly; Art: Max Fiumara; Javier Pulido
Featuring the Rhino (two, actually, sort of), and although it’s part of the Gauntlet storyline, it works perfectly OK as a stand-alone story — a good one, too, as Kelly is one of the better Spider-writers right now, with enough gravitas to create a story with a relatively inobtrusive but effective theme, complicated but clear characters, and a feel-good ending (well, except for Madame Web and a cattle prod, but that’s gonna get dragged out all year, so let’s take what we can get).
DMZ #49 — Writer: Brian Wood; Art: Riccardo Burchielli
Entering its fifth year, by its original creative team, and it’s a tribute to Wood that he’s still able to keep the action fresh, including game-changing developments to both Matty (who, under duress, sets something soul-crushingly bad into motion), and the NYC DMZ and its inhabitants. All the while, he uses the near-future plot to make even-handed, clear-eyed points about modern urban war and politics, and their effects on everyday people forced to do extraordinary things to survive.
Stuff I read and liked enough to buy, but don’t have much to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you’re interested:
The Marvels Project #5 (of 8) — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Art: Steve Epting
Secret Six #17 — Writers: Gail Simone and John Ostrander; Art: J. Calafiore
Invincible Iron Man #22 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Salvador Larroca
Strange #3 (of 4) — Writer: Mark Waid; Art: Emma Rios
PunisherMax #3 — Writer: Jason Aaron; Art: Steve Dillon
Gold Digger #113 — Writer/Artist: Fred Perry
Phil Mateer
