Secret Six 1 & 2

Gail Simone's Secret Six was for me the best spin-off from Infinite Crisis (well, a spinoff of a spinoff, namely 'Villains United'). A hilariously disfunctional team, always within an inch of self-destruction or at the very least violent handbags. Gail's character selection was superb: the nihilist, predictable Deadshot; a rejuvenated Catman and his erstwhile lover Cheshire; Scandal Savage providing the risky link to her dad Vandal; new God Knockout; and the insane but polite Ragdoll and his unlikely best mate 'Chuckles' the Parademon. Yes, that makes seven, but some unexpected betrayals and casualties meant that even Mad Hatter could join briefly and still keep the tally at half a dozen. Fanboys were braying for a sequel, so here we have the Six in Suicide Squad mode (albeit without the threat of government sanctioned execution) as mercenaries, aiming to free the mysterious 'Tarantula' from Alcatraz and deliver her to Gotham. Countering this scheme is the elusive mob boss 'Junior', who appears to have had a relationship with Tarantula and wants the object she has stolen from him, apparently a card of some kind but of enormous underworld value. Junior is superb, a truly creepy sort who conducts interrogations from his wooden box, assisted by two preppy Jock brothers from the back room of a gay bar. Following the death of Parademon and the 'ejection' of Mad Hatter, we get a more thoughtful Bane and an as-yet unknown female joining the group. Meanwhile, Batman gets wind of this affair and attempts to scare/bribe the Six away from the job through a rooftop meeting/punch-up with Catman. The Six, meanwhile, have got as far as breaking into Alcatraz...

Gail's plotting is magnificent as always: the pacing of the first issue, featuring the terrifying interview with Junior, intercut with a darkly humorous armed robbery which Catman and Deadshot blunder into, is superbly executed and a lesson in suspense. The team's general misanthropy is highlighted through a disastrous birthday present for Scandal, which ironically reunites her with Knockout on the spiritual plane.

Issue 2 is slightly let down by minor touches for me: Alcatraz is far too easy to break into (although I liked the use of Manta's flying sub): why is it that security guards are always shown chatting and ignoring their monitors? Especially in an ultra-secure prison, with new protocols implemented daily. Given that such a big deal is made of this place, it seems relatively easy to get in to. But then maybe I'm being churlish given the constraints of a 6-issue mini. There is some hilarity with Bane showing his 'ethical' side by not using Bane-steroids but instead smashing Mammoth in the pods with a steel bar, Ragdoll's polite asides, and Tarantula's blasé reaction to rescue.

The Catman/Batman fight is well-paced (although how a recent lardy like Catman can get so many hits in on fight veteran Bats is slightly suspect) and the dialogue is spot-on - Bats trying to appeal to Cats morals, when from issue 1 (having to be reminded to save the store owners) we know he is wrestling with his own moral standpoint.

Junior is partially revealed in a creepy end-scene; teetering on crutches and in a Klan-type hood, appealing for all sorts of nastiness to be visited on our heroes by a subset of Villains United (who I must admit looked pretty mediocre - I'd LOVE to see the Rogues take on the Six, for example).

Major kudos to Nicola Scott's artwork, outstanding draftsmanship for the Gotham cityscape, the facila expressions and nice flowing anatomy throughout.

Overall an excellent mini thus far and well setup for the next installments.

Comic reviews shipping week 29th August

[Reviews from These bleads?]

Superman Beyond: All manner of Grant Morrison bonkersness, plus a lot of references to ALL of his DC comics past and present. I’m still not overly convinced with 3D in comics, but the art was gorgeous. This is a real Final Crisis tie-in as well and seems very important to the main storyline, unlike some of the tie-ins that have tenuous links at best.

Rogues Revenge: this is one of those tenuous FC tie-ins, but it also the pick of the FC bunch as well. Comic of the Week – absolutely top drawer. The Rogues are portrayed as real bad-asses, totally professional in what they do, ruthless, and the best villains out there. Kollins’ art is perfect for these characters. I would buy a Rogues ongoing from Johns and Kollins in a heartbeat.

DC Universe: Last Will & Testament: weird one this. Is this supposed to be a Final Crisis tie-in? It doesn’t have the FC cover design and doesn’t have FC in its title, but it has come out slap-bang in the middle of FC. If it is a FC tie-in then the continuity goofs are off the scale, what with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern all being present and correct. Main story is about Geo-Force (who I normally find one of the most boring DC characters around but this is good) and Deathstroke. Some nice character moments though in a typical Meltzer style. I think it’s probably best just to read this one as a one shot that could be taking place before any crisis-type event.

Superman: after a couple of meh-ish issues Robinson seems to picking up with this. Some nice characterisation of Supergirl, a couple of nice nods to Steel and Bibbo whilst Krypto is fast becoming my new fave! Don’t like the colouring on this book though.

Blue Beetle: Matt Sturges is doing a great job following up Jon Rogers’ stellar run – some great comedy moments and the character development of everyone is carrying on very nicely indeed. I appreciate this title is bound to get cancelled sooner rather than later as I think I’m the only person in the world reading it so I’m just trying to enjoy this goodness whilst it lasts.

Justice Society: This Gog storyline seems to have been going on forever, but when’s it this good who cares?? More great character moments (Geoff Johns’s Hawkman kicks so much ass), and the huge cast all get a moment or two to shine - plus the downside of Gog’s ‘blessings’ are starting to become apparent. Best ongoing team book on the racks.

Jack Kirby's monsters!

Monster blog have a superb archive of un-reprinted Jack Kirby 'Monster' stories from early Journey into Mystery and Tales of Suspense. Gorgeous, essential, and free - stop reading this blog and go there NOW!!

New title: Project Superpowers

Alex Ross, king of painted comics, plots and provides covers for a new Superhero team with a firm nod towards the Golden Age. Without giving too much away, issue #0 (why can't they call it #1?) introduces the team, including The Fighting Yank (imbued with the spirit of his patriotic forefather from the War of Indpendence) looking back on a World War 2 mission to prevent the Nazis from reopening Pandora's box, which since the time of the Titans had gradually 're-absorbed' all the sources of badness in the world. This he achieves at a terrible cost...for the full plot, see Wikipedia. Some blatant nods toward Watchmen's revisitation of an aging and scattered super team (including a graveside eulogy in the rain) and their power dynamic, but very enjoyable with the expected gorgeous art from Braithwaite and Ross. Prelude was issue #0 with #1 and #2 available now.
Verdict: 8/10, on the pull list

New title: RASL (Jeff Smith)

Jeff Smith, cartoonist extrordinaire of Bone and Shazam:Monster Society of Evil Fame returns with an altogether darket tale. Bizzarely that's not reflected in the art - few of the lush swathes of black used to great effect in Bone. Smith's quirky, delicate inks may be sparse on the page but still deliver a sense of oppresive heat and seediness, and his action sequences are as dynamic as ever. Beautiful pacing as always, wordless panels and scenes that would make pacing-expert Will Eisner proud. The plot revolves around an unnamed cat-burglar (who may be called RASL) and his ability to time-shift at great physical expense to himself to get away with the goods. Through continued use of this ability he appears to accessed a parallel world and he is being hunted down by a reptilian detective. A promising first issue.
Verdict: it's made the pull list!

EC does it....

The EC archives are magnificent, and once again full kudos to Russ Cochran for his unceasing efforts to bring the greatest comics publisher's work to a new generation. I've just finished Tales from the Crypt #1, drooling over the Al Feldstein cover, the publication notes, and most of all the incredible colouring. This has improved over the original colouring and was Cochran's reaction to what he thought were unsuccesful attempts in DC's archive editions (especially The Spirit hardcovers, which have quite dull inks). The effort put in has paid off; even familiar classics such as "Ghost Ship", "The Thing From The Sea", "Rx....Death" and "Curse of the Arnold Clan" leap of the page like never before. So far so good, and I've duly ordered the Shock Suspenstories (probably my favourite EC).

Then the problems start - having bought most of the EC double-issue reprints of the early 90's, then the single issue reprints of the mid-90's, and now the archives, I'm now twitching over what I'm missing. First, there's the infamous HUGE hardcover, slipcased, hand-sewn deluxe editions, reprinting every EC publication. Long out of print (except for Picto-fiction), scarily expensive, and of course I have most of the comics anyway - *but* these are in BLACK & WHITE, so you can see those gorgeous inks of Graham Ingels, Johnny Craig, Jack Kamen, George Evans, Wally Wood, Bernie Krigstein, Al Feldstein AS THEY WERE DRAWN!!! It's like an EC story itself - a man goes crazy with a terrible craving for all variations of his favourite comics! And then, just when he thinks he can cope, he discovers that the EC archives *also* come in a deluxe, leather bound, gilt-edged ltd edition of 300 SIGNED BY AL FELDSTEIN!! Which will cost £1800+ for all the books!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Crossover review: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul

Score: 7/10.
Total cost of saga: £20 +


Synopsis:
Ra's Al Ghul needs a vessel to return from the dead and targets his grandson (and Batman's 'son') Damian. Meanwhile, the Sensei attempts to thwart these plans using his master assassins and the vital powers of the Fountain of Essence (for full synopsis with spoilers see Wikipedia entry

What's good?
Some fun historical snapshots of Ra's through the ages, decent scraps between Damian and Robin, Nightwing outwitting Batman, generally good art, the insect girls. Sensei's ruck with Bats at the Fountain of Essence is terrific, with a broken Bats refusing to fall, outlasting the Sensei's two minute stamina. The way Bats finds Ra's hideout is novel, using Waynetech echo-locators rather than having had to have been initiated by a 2000-year old monk, or somesuch. The fate of Ra's is well-done, where instead of 'dying' again, he is placed in Arkham under a false identity and kept sedated, thanks to Bruce Wayne's intervention.

What's bad?
Ninjas. When are superhero comics going to treat the common or garden Ninja with respect? Whilst, say, Elektra is always shown as being a master assassin, every other Ninja in the big DC and Marvel titles is typically portrayed as cannon fodder. So whilst you get a moments thrill whenever Elektra is surrounded by the hand, or in this case Wayne manor is attacked by hundreds of Ninja, you just know they are going to be toasted by Nightwing, Damian, Robin, and (ludicrously) Alfred. Also the 'master assassins' that work for Sensei (including Merlyn, the poor man's Green Arrow) are rubbish. Bats goes through them like a knife through butter, with a throwaway comment that the Fountain of Essence must be helping him. A real shame; remember the Deathstroke fight againt the JLA in Identity Crisis? There he had to think of each weakness and how to use the league against each other, nothing as inspired here, sadly.

Should you buy the trade paperback? No.