Panels Without Borders: Eight
ULTIMATE X MEN issue 59 felt like a fill in issue to me, which was a bit of a surprise considering it was introducing a major mutant villain to the Ultimate universe.
Brian K. Vaughan usually writes a great story but here he seemed to be trying to use every Wolverine and Storm clich� going and the plot definitely suffered from it. I mean we have both the Logan fighting in the bar scene and the Ororo using her thieving skills standard scene. Why? These motivations have been greatly overused in the past and I didn�t really want to re-read them again. I do understand the need to introduce the Deathstrike character and her important story link to Storm but this wasn�t the correct way to do it, in my opinion.
The art by Immonen and Von Grawbadger didn�t do much for me either. I didn�t like the mangalike pastiche style: it seemed very static, almost lifeless. The only part where the comic actually moved for me was when Deathstrike split the truck in two but that good moment was a long time coming.
The way Wolverine was drawn particularly annoyed me. The character is supposedly middle aged but there were panels here where he looked like a teenager. I know that the Ultimate universe is a restyling of the original Marvel one but that�s taking it a bit too far.
Like I said earlier this book appeared to me as if an artistic team were called in at the last minute to meet a deadline and a book that I usually like a lot, greatly disappointed me.
Was there anything good about this issue? Yeah the stunningly good cover art, which enticed me to buy this book in the first place.
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LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS number four was published this week and I am a bit sorry to see it arrive in the stores. Not that I didn�t like the book, exactly the opposite I love this title, but because this is the last issue of the current run and that�s a sad thing indeed.
This is exactly the kind of comic that there should be a lot more of: one aimed particularly at and totally accessible by young children.
All my friends who collect comics are sick to death of hearing me going on about how all the companies should be producing product specifically aimed at kids: without youngsters reading comics there will be no future generation of fans.
To be fair there have been several attempts over the years to encourage this market segment but none of them have been as artistically successful as this book, with the possible exception of Herobear.
Mike Bullock and Jack Lawrence do a great job here creating a believable world inhabited by memorable characters and they have been justifiably lauded for it. This title has that extremely rare quality of being able to be appreciated by both adults and children and is destined to be a big hit when it is released in the inevitable graphic novel collection.
Encourage your local library to stock this book and they would be guaranteed a long line of kids wanting to read it, promoted only by local word of mouth.
Its that good.
I hope that it is not too long until we see further adventures of Joey and his four companions but until then buy this all the issues in this series and treat yourself to a wonderful comic experience.
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OMAC PROJECT is shaping up to be a great book. DC have taken enough of the Kirby elements to keep the old time fans happy but have updated it brilliantly.
Issue two of this series focuses on the motivations of both Batman and Maxwell Lord and all the rest of the characters in the book are reacting to them in one way or another.
I find it completely believable that after Bruce realized his mind had been tampered with he would have taken immediate steps to ensure it could not happen again. Since his parent�s death his whole existence has been about control, nothing can be allowed to fundamentally change his life like that again. The building of a satellite surveillance system to spy on metahumans is such an obvious idea now that it�s surprising no one has thought of it before. It fits really well into the Batman mythos.
The version of Batman on show this issue is primarily the detective part of his persona. He knows that someone has taken control of OMAC and is in the process of tracking them down so that he can dispense retribution for Blue Beetles death.
The only false note in the whole story so far is that Batman had not taken enough security precautions and lost control of OMAC in the first place. I just don�t believe it. Wayne is one of the most paranoid persons on the planet and I am certain that he would have thought of this scenario beforehand and instigated some way to prevent this from happening. Perhaps this will be explained further on in the series. I look forward to reading it.
Greg Rucka does everything right here and doesn�t miss a beat and Jesus Saiz art is fine.
This story is interesting and the whole Infinite Crisis is the best crossover series that DC have done for years.
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FOUR number eighteen is also out this week. Of all the Fantastic Four books this is the one that feels like we are seeing them function as a family and it is in that mode that I feel this book works best.
This issue wraps up the Ramades storyline and the day is mostly saved by three generations of Richards male. This representation of various stratums of the family is a rare thing in comics these days and it is good to see real life being reflected.
The rest of the story was good but what I did particularly like was a new wrinkle of the Ben Grimm transformation that I don�t remember ever seeing before in any previous FF story. Its not an easy thing to come up with a new way to do a comic book classic scene but Roberto Aguirre-Sasca manages to do it very cleverly. This writer has been quietly and consistently producing great work on this title and long may it continue.
The art by Muniz and Fridoles is the only thing that lets the side down here but it was sometimes hard to read and some of the facial expressions were downright amateurish.
Panelologist
I have been a science fiction, comic book and animation fan for a very long time. I honestly believe that comics are an extremely vital and exciting art form whose true worth is only now beginning to be recognised in the mainstream media and this appreciation can only continue to grow in the future. I regularly write science fiction short stories and send them off to the magazines. So far their response has not exactly allowed me to give up my day job but I plan to keep plugging away at it..
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