Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #92

Uncle Scrooge #380 — Writers/Artists: Various
A full-length Rosa story from 1993 (plus a back-cover pinup), a handful of Barks one-pagers, and four tales from other creators (mostly Dutch), at least two of which are well above average. Not bad for your $8, especially if you don’t already have the Rosa tale, or if you know any little kids who’d like these read aloud to them (thereby corrupting them into lifelong comics fans).

Young Liars #8 — Writer/Artist: David Lapham
I’m increasingly disappointed by this book, which started out as a slice-of-life story with a few fantasy undertones, and has now morphed into an incomprehensible, full-gonzo space invasion thing, involving (pace David Bowie) actual spiders from Mars. This kind of thing can work if it’s very carefully plotted, and if you can root for the characters, but here everyone seems increasingly unlikable, and plotting is not one of Lapham’s strong points. One or two more issues, and if it doesn’t get better I’m jumping ship.

Secret Six #2 — Writer: Gail Simone; Penciller: Nicola Scitt; Inker: Doug Hazelwood
Catman versus Batman, mostly, although the other characters get screen time, too. Simone’s strength is character; most of the Six are unrepentent bad guys, but they’re understandable, fully-drawn people, and the reader ends up finding it easy to root for them. If you liked John Ostrander’s ’80s version of the Suicide Squad, you should be reading this comic (I did, and I am).

Action Comics #870 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciller: Gary Franks; Inker: Jon Sibal
This is the conclusion of the Brainiac arc, and while Johns and Franks continue to deliver a mostly smooth, well-drawn story, I’m bothered by the sloppily-convenient power levels of the antagonists: sometimes Brainiac can shrug off Superman’s punches, and sometimes they’re effective, solely according to the demands of the plot. The other item of note here is the death of a character; it’s been widely reported, but I won’t spoil it, except to say that it doesn’t seem to serve much purpose. (I’m reminded of reading Superboy in the ’60s, back where the deaths of the soon-to-be-Superman’s parents were part of continuity, and were there to teach Clark Kent a lesson that even a ten-year-old could grasp: that he wasn’t God, and couldn’t do everything, no matter how much he wanted to. That’s a great example of a death being a significant step in the maturing of a character, exactly the opposite of the meaningless fate of the character here.)

Crossed #1 — Writer: Garth Ennis; Art: Jacen Burrows
A quickly-dwindling group of survivors tries to avoid a plague that’s changed most of the population into grinning psychopaths, evil and violent, but still capable of thinking and communicating (which, of course, makes them considerably worse than your regular slow, mindless zombies). The “crossed” of the title refers to the plague’s symptoms, which include a cross of lesions across the faces of its victims; the way they leave each other alone, but work together to eliminate anyone outside the infected group, makes me wonder if Ennis is going for religious allegory here (i.e., the Crusades, the Salem witch trials, etc.). Burrows has some trouble rendering easily-distinguishable faces (both his men and women tend to look alike), but he’s good at delivering the horror — and, as always with Ennis, there’s at least one over-the-top scene, a two-page splash involving a gamer who’s sure that he can defeat the bad guys if he can just discover their weakness, but finds that “real” life just isn’t as convenient as D&D. Overall, this is affecting and brainy enough to lift it above the standard zombie book, and make it worth reading.

B.P.R.D.: The Warning #4 (of 5) — Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi; Art: Guy Davis
Most B.P.R.D. mini-series involve a few issues of apocalyptic foreshadowing, culminating in an explosion of violence. We’re at that point with this arc: lots of action, with giant monsters and weird organic robots and vast underground caverns, all drawn in Davis’s gloomy, Gothic, effective style.

Invincible Iron Man #6 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Art: Salvador Larocca
Fraction’s good at setting up stories, and figuring out what works with his super-characters; he goes for the iconic and the archetypical, and his Iron Man has taken the best of the movie and the regular comic, and combined them into an accessible, exciting story. If he has a weakness, it’s in conclusions; here, the twist was easily telegraphed last issue, and the resolution is less exciting than the events that led up to it. As a package, though, this has been a good first arc, worthy of a book that’s suddenly become one of Marvel’s franchise comics.

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 Goon #29 — Writer/Artist: Eric Powell

Knights of the Dinner Table #143 — Creators: Jolly Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson and David Kenzer

Phil Mateer

About Phil

With 40 years of experience in comic reading, collecting and reviewing, English Professor Phil Mateer has an encyclopedic mind for comics. Feel free to ask Phil about storylines, characters, artists or for that matter, any comic book trivia. He will post your questions and answers on the AABC blog. His knowledge is unparalleled! He is also our warehouse manager, so if you are looking for that hard to find comic book, ask Phil!
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