Eternals Annual #1 — Writer: Fred Van Lente; Artist: Pascal Alixe
The one thing going for this book is that it also includes a reprint from the original series (issue #7, not that the editor cared enough to include that information here). That Jack Kirby offering, with its jam-packed action, powerful layouts and awe-struck sense of wonder, blows the modern-day main story (ugly art and an impossible-to-plow-through plot ) completely out of the water; mediocrity looks even worse when it’s lying right next to genius.
The Cleaners #1 (of 4) — Writers: Mark Wheaton and Joshua Hale Fialkov; Art: Rahsan Ekedal
Pretty good, actually — the “cleaners” of the title specialize in restoring hotel rooms and other areas that have been the scenes of murders or other slaughters; you’d think that would be boring, but there’s lots of talk about human blood and what a biohazard it is, and of course there’s the requisite serial killer to catch, CSI-style. The writers have done their homework, and the combination of sardonic characterization, science lecture and an unflinching look at human depravity reminded me of Warren Ellis. The art’s OK but undistinguished — the faces, especially, are too generic; I had to look back twice to see if a kid shown late in the story was the same as one shown earlier, and I’m still not sure, while the main character doesn’t stand out at all. That, and a tendency to go overboard with the science information dump, kept me from buying this, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Push #1 — Writers: Adam Freeman and Mark Bernardin; Penciller: Bruno Redondo; Inker: Sergio Arino
Your basic team of covert agents with various psychic powers — there’s a precog, a telekinetic, the “pusher” of the title, who can compel people to do stuff (i.e., “these are not the droids you’re looking for…”), etc. This kind of thing has potential, but here there’s too much overkill — as the story progresses, it turns out that practically everybody has powers of some sort, and that ends up being confusing (who’s doing what?) and diluting the uniqueness of the group into generic-superpower territory. Add in the art — which, as with The Cleaners, is serviceable but nothing more, with too many interchangeable characters — and this becomes easy to pass up.
Sir Apropos of Nothing #1 — Writer: Peter David; Art: Robin Riggs
The title character, the subject of a series of novels by David, is a kind of knight-errant, an amoral wanderer with a sad past, who’s mostly concerned with accumulating riches and protecting his own skin; the comic offers new adventures, instead of adaptations of the novels, so fans will want to get it. The art is better than in the first two books this week — Riggs has an actual style, and a couple of effective splash pages — but isn’t very fluid, or good at communicating movement; there’s a climactic scene involving a huge bowling-ball-like rock and a mysterious tower that probably looked good in the script, but just doesn’t come off effectively on the printed page. Overall, there’s the typical David mix of cynical humor, action and wordplay, smooth but not very substantial; it’s entertaining while you’re reading it, but hard to remember afterwards.
Cthulhu Tales #8 — (First story) Writer: Christine Boylan; Art: Axel Medellin Machain; (Second story) Writer: Matthew Mclean; Art: Drew Rausch
The Haspiel cover is jolting, but has no connection to either story inside; they’re both typical Lovecraftian tales of objects falling from the sky, bringing with them madness, dead zones, etc., etc. The first one, especially, is well-written; its quiet conversations, in the way they both reveal character and communicate horrific information, remind me of Warren Ellis for the second time this week (he’s now been around long enough to have influenced the next generation of creators, apparently); it, like the second story, knows how to end exactly at the climax, leaving the rest to the reader to fill in. The artists offer a nice contrast, too: Machain’s clear line is a counterpoint to Rausch’s more painted, Ben Templesmith-like style. I’ve always found Lovecraft kind of boring — blah blah unknown terrors from beyond space blah blah creeping fear blah blah — but fans of sophisticated, psychological horror should check out this book.
Nightwing #150 — Writer: Peter Tomasi; Penciller: Don Kramer; Inkers: Jay Leisten and Rodney Ramos
This has the Batman: R.I.P. cover dress, but no actual connection to that series; it’s the end to an ongoing Two-Face story, finishing here in a double-sized anniversary issue. I’d hoped that all the death of the last episode (the now-infamous “torture porn” #149) would get resolved here, but no such luck; this is a generic hero/villain battle, with a hard-to-believe menace and the usual vows of vengeance that amount to nothing more than capturing the bad guy in the most cliched way possible: there’s no originality, no wit, no redeeming social value and no reason to buy this comic.
Phil Mateer
