Tuesday’s over! Wednesday’s here! It’s time for SDCBR!
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All-Star Western 29
I’ve bought this every damn month since September 2011. I
bought every one of the 70 issues of the Jonah Hex series before that and I
still can’t type the name Jonah without slowing down and doing it with one
finger and then still getting it wrong.
When I picked up this issue to read it, a few pages got
stuck together and it opened at an ad for a videogame. I couldn’t tell. Anyway:
guest artist this month which is a bit of a wrench, both visually and
emotionally as the usual Moritat pencils and inks are one of the main reasons
for sticking with ASW. Writing’s a bit odd, there are narrative captions that
keep changing tense so you’re never sure what’s happening or happened or will
happen. Also, characters sometimes use contractions in speech and sometimes
don’t, so there’s a disconnect as you try to reconcile the differing patterns.
And here’s a thing, a small thing but one that sticks in the
mind and the craw: throughout this run, Hex has been drawn to resemble (on his
good side) a youngish Clint Eastwood. Here, he’s more like a Thunderbirds
puppet, or maybe Davy Jones out of The Monkees after a crash diet.
Very pretty cover, though, as is the case with most issues
of ASW and of Jonah Hex before it: this month it’s by Darwyn Cooke who counts
as One Who Can Do No Wrong, Not Even That Watchmen Thing in my book.
You do realise, I hope, that one of the small pleasures in
my benighted life was to sit on a Sunday afternoon, full of good lunch, and to
read a pile of comics, maybe two or three week’s worth. Nowadays I get in on a
Tuesday, put a pizza in the oven and read what I’ve brought home straight away
so as to share my forensic insight with you. Appreciate my sacrifice, mofo.
Silver Surfer 1
So looking forward to this. Great character who’s not been
able to hold down his book for years, great creators. On the down side, Mike
Allred seems to be a very binary taste (can you have binary taste?) in that
some folk love him like I do, some can’t stand him (</Lina Lamont>), at least not on ‘straight’ superhero
stuff, and FF didn’t exactly set the
shelves alight, did it?. Also, word from the shop punters is that the only
Surfer that’s really worked is the original ‘Oh Woe Is Me I Am Alone’ Space
Morrissey version, and the new try looks like it goes for a more Doctor
Who vibe, what with there being a young
companion along for the ride, and the ‘Anywhere and Everywhere’ tagline. Dan Slott, though? Started me reading
Spider-Man again after a twenty-year estrangement, and I loved his Great Lakes
Avengers stuff. So, everything looking hunky dory from this viewpoint. Here goes.
Ha! Doctor Who
opening! FF 48 was twelve years
ago! The two kids are named Eve and Dawn, probably because it would be dumb to
call them Midday and ClosingTime. Allred draws pretty women. The Surfer looks a
bit off. Can’t put my finger on why.
The Incredulous Zed. The Impossible Palace. Definite Doctor
Who vibe going on here. Microsmic versus
Macrocosmic. Trivial everyday concerns
- the thread count on sheets and Vegan catering - versus the giant planetary fear of
Galactus.
Ooh! Cabin In The Woods
moment! I love Cabin In The Woods.
It’s the eyes. That’s why the Surfer looks off, the eyes are a bit over-kohled.
The Never Queen. And a mysterious girl who is the most
important person in the Universe.
Oh yeah. Definite Doctor
Who vibe.
Back for the next issue? Ah, why not?
Superior Spider-Man 30
You know what? I don’t like Spider-Man 2099. I don’t like
his costume, or his ridiculous expletives (‘Shocking’. ‘Bithead’. Just say what
you want to say, man. Surely in 85 years the language has evolved?). Slott’s
only plotted this issue, and his dialogue’s been one of the best things about
SSM.
Anyway, what you’ve been expecting to happen for the last
thirty issues happens here, maybe a little earlier than you’d expected.
Certainly an issue before I’d expected.
And there’s a big ol’ hint that the big bad isn’t who you think it is (in fact
it’s more than just a hint, if I’m reading it correctly). There’s a big
two-page spread where you can say “I know that issue” or maybe “I have that issue” if you’re a millionaire.
Oh, and there’s a full reprint of the recent Black Widow #1
in the back, so that’s nice.
Hawkeye 18
An Annie Wu issue, which means a Kate issue, and Kate issues
are always fab because Kate is fab and so is Annie Wu. Shit gets real here as
the Cat Food Man gets a name (And what a name it is for us old bastards) and
some very bad things happen.
It’s an obviously Fraction comicbook, lots of disjointed
dialogue that sounds realistic but isn’t (and if that sounds like a diss, it’s
not: writing dialogue compact enough for the comics page but which carries both
information and characterisation and still carries any resemblance to natural
speech is bloody hard. Fraction does it better than most).
The thing is, Hawkeye
– whether Kate or Clint orientated – has always been the Marvel Comic you could
read without having to know about lots of other Marvel Comics. That’s why I’ve
been able to recommend it, in both pamphlets and trades, without reservation,
to everybody, comics bod or civilian, who walks into the shop. He’s a guy (and
she’s a gal) who shoots arrows. No costumes, no superstuff. Even when the book
has tied into the rest of the line, your casual reader’s never really needed to
know who those women were who turned up with cards on their heads, or what Kate
had done outside of this book. Now, suddenly, there’s costumes turning up,
albeit only for one panel, and even though it’s not essential to know who Cat
Food Man was/is it’d be pretty handy if you did.
Still, despite minor reservations creeping in, a solid,
enjoyable – no, delightful – book.
Time to stack up some z's now, so tomorrow I can wake up and realise with creeping horror what I've done. Really ought to write these books' names down on a notepad so I know who they are in the morning.
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