Review Month - The Fearless Defenders - issue 03.

The Fearless Defenders - issue 3.

Writer - Cullen Bunn.

Artist - Will Sliney.

Colours - Veronica Gandini.

Publisher - Marvel Comics.

I have always been a fan of the Defenders and have been reading them since the Bronze Age.  It just seems that they can't get any traction these days.  With the likes of Eric Larsen, Matt Fraction and others they have always struggled and hopped to a cancellation line. They have nearly always had an outsider/quirky edge to them and I think that is what attracts me to them. they are almost a genre on their own. Elf with a Gun and Foolkiller are considered classics at NIA Towers.

So I threw my coin down and accepted willingly their booty. And what booty they flaunted. Not only are they a little strange, but they are all (lets me honest here) pretty fit to boot!

Issue 3 throws us straight in at the deep again and the action is kicking off on the first page after the intro stuff. Valkyrie has tried and failed to gather a team of new Valkyries. Due to her failure the Death Maidens have risen (see issue 1). Along with Misty Knight (still one of the best names in all comics) and a civilian / love interest Annabelle Riggs have set about to sort it out. Hela appears along with the All Mother (wife of Odin - keep up please) and the three heroines with cuckoo in the nest Hippolyta (daughter of Ares) head off on a quest. (Sadly no Dani Moonstar in this issue).

The four are transported to Harrowpoint Island, Washington which appears to be a Crystal Skull style fake town for nuclear testing - except with the twist of having super-hero mannequins. Whilst being watched from afar by a creepy old lady and a Hawkeye rip off they head into a cave. There they find the Death Maidens and we get a kick off again.

I like Sliney's line and really loved the work he did in the couple of opening pages in issue 1. This issue is a bit too packed? And I would like to see his artwork more room to breath. But I enjoyed the art and found it very much in line with other Marvel Now books like Winter Soldier and X-Factor. I have a feeling that it will only grow and inevitably when this book ends he should get snapped up onto another Marvel book straightaway. Certainly an artist that I intend to keep an eye out for.

Bunn writes this well and I found the dialogue especially satisfying later into the book. The opening five or so pages are a little too explanation heavy but perhaps that was needed. He handles the different egos well and I look forward to the next issue.

The book has had some hype recently but I worry that it will get lost in the flurry of press around X-Men and Avengers titles. However a book like this that is probably mid level sales wise for Marvel is a whole lot better than the books that the Distinguished Competition are putting out and I know where the bulk of my money goes every month.

This book will hopefully be given a chance to settle and introduce more members of the team along the way. I am sticking with it. It will be worth a look in trade soon if you didn't pick up the first couple.

NIA.

Cover of the day.

Review Month - ROM issue 58.

Yeah. We all miss him. ROM was a creation of Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema from a short lived toy line.  They crafted a great mythos from a pretty simple looking toy. The comic series well outlasted the toy line and ran for 75 issues.  It is highly regarded by most of those that read it and was reprinted over a number of Marvel UK books in the 1980s (Forces in Combat and the Star Wars comic ran it as a back up for a while).

There has been another peak in ROM The Spaceknight nostalgia with the semi/possible (?) cameo on a wall of the head (in a photo?) of this character in a recent Avengers book. So because of this I decided to give an old random issue a try, having nor read any for quite a few years. I wanted to see if it still had that old magic?

ROM - issue 58 'A Plague of Insects.'

Writer - Bill Mantlo.

Art - Sal Buscema and Mel Candido.

Colours - Ben Sean.

Published by Marvel Comics from 1984.

This story is actually pretty cool and represents a kind of super-hero / alien invasion environmental disaster along with a monster movie. ('THEM' was clearly an influence.)

The issue opens with Ant Man (Scott Lang) flying into an army camp where Alpha Flight are being patched up. They along with ROM and Starshine (his fellow female and sometime love interest co' Spaceknight) have been fighting a Wraith (the big bad throughout the series) Spirit that has destroyed a town. With Alpha Flight out of action Ant Man steps in and he and the two Spaceknights shrink down to battle some infected insects. After an impressive battle ROM and Starshine shrink further to attack on a sub atomic level and Ant Man leaves to 'Warn Humanity.'

Bill Mantlo writes the ever loving fuck out of this book. Sure some of the dialogue is dated but we actually get some great comments and discussions between characters (the Alpha Flight moments are probably my favourites). The book hurtles along at a great rate and it reads like one whole story in the midst of an altogether bigger saga. Every page has me grinning.

The book also reads like an environmental warning long before that was so trendy to write about in books like Brian Wood's The Massive and such like. The Wraith threat takes many forms throughout the 75 issues and in this one it is threatening the planet's eco system. The two Spaceknights and Ant man (who was pretty under used during this period) fight to hold the line against this threat.

Halfway through the book I literally looked up and thought 'Why the fuck isn't this the norm?'. Books should be like this now! (Fuck all that 'lets take 4 years to tell one story')

'.......the screaming of the ants!'

If this book was written today all the message boards and news sites would be going ape shit for it. They need to sort out all the legal BS and get this out in a nice big hardback, followed by an Essential phone book treatment. I would buy both. Giant Wraith ants! (Need I say more?)

The art is also a big part of the pleasure in reading this. Sal Buscema is a master story teller. In the days when double page spreads were not the norm the 'Battle Beneath the Earth Begins' pages are breathtaking. Everyone reacts and moves how they should and many modern artists need to see how masterfully this is done. Sal has always been to me the forerunner of artists like Darwyn Cooke and Chris Samnee. His work is always a pleasure to read.

I am pleased to say that this was not a disappointment and surpassed my expectations. It looks gorgeous, it's packed with story. The team-ups are really interesting. I may well go through some long boxes to find some more.

NIA

Review Month - The Shadow issue 11.

The Shadow - issue 11.

Writer - Victor Gischler.

Art - Aaron Campbell.

Colours - Carlos Lopez.

Cover by Francesco Francavilla.

Shadow created by Walter B. Gibson.

Published by Dynamite Comics.

I luckily got the Francesco Francavilla cover. He does a lot of the variants for the Dynamite titles and I always try and get his versions if possible. This is another great one.

This is the last issue in the Spanish Revolution storyline that features George Orwell as a character. The Shadow along with Miles Crofton are facing the final gunfight at an old castle. Whilst Orwell and Crofton face the army and a tank, the Shadow faces off with the masked Black Sparrow (the henchlady of El Ray.) After a climatic fight she is pushed from the battlements by the Shadow.

I have to say that this is possibly the best written Dynamite book I have read thus far. It opens on a gothic narration and we discover the true nature of the pretend king. Quickly the action switches to Orwell and Crofton mid battle, bullets and bricks flying. The dialogue remains cool and interesting but retains the feel of the era. When asked by Orwell what they should do Crofton replies:

'Shoot bad guys. Find the boss.'

Saying that however the book is not just about being cool in the 1930s. It has been written with a real mind to language. It has a certain poetry that seems in homage to the presence of of Orwell as a willing participant. It has a romantic feel for the era with a cool and melancholy track listing. As i was reading it I began to wish that it had been produced in black and white.

'I hear fate laughing.'

As we scale the castle you can hear the far off laugh of a cackling Vincent Price. The dialogue and the narration sparkles with both cool and profound. Gischler is never afraid of the brutal, the push from the tower shows us the difference between some of the pulp heroes and some of today's less violent superhero crowd.

The true climatic scene (more so than the appearance of a tank) is the fight between The Shadow and The Black Sparrow. they circle each other in a really well crafted sequence. Throwing words and blows at each other. You never know who will come out on top. Stoic, romantic, violent drama bristles off the page. The Shadow gains the upper hand and after a tender moment pushes the woman from the battlements. Two words echo on the two pages 'No' from the Sparrow and a ghostly 'Lamont' from future times.

'I am just fate's trigger man.'

Really great writing. The art communicates and flows with beauty. I absolutely loved this issue.

It ends on Orwell sitting at his typewriter and staring out of his window. You know he is thinking of his adventures with the Shadow.

Buy this book!

NIA.

Little blue men?

Rings and Mercedes?

Review Month - Hellblazer issue 260.

Hellblazer - Issue 260.

'The Long Crap Friday.'

Written by Peter Milligan.

Art by Simon Bisley.

Published by Vertigo.

Before we begin. If you are not from London this may be a little confusing. If you think Don Cheadle, Dick Van Dyke or Keanu Reeves makes a convincing Londoner please skip this page. Otherwise rent Snatch and then return? Many thanks.

Plus, it might help if you rent The Long Good Friday. The movie and this comic don't have much in common (apart from some upside down torture). But it's a pretty good London crime and gangster flick nonetheless.

John Constantine the crafty scouser is on the run from the police and some London gangland characters for seriously injuring a gangster's daughter who he got close to. Said daughter is in a magical coma and they kidnap Constantine's mate Chas and torture him. Our hero comes to save his mate and in the process wakes (magically again) the gangster's daughter who now has one over on him.

I have a few unread issues of Hellblazer that have sat there for a while waiting to get read. So I thought that this was as good an opportunity as any to have a gander at what I have been missing.

I have been reading the character since his introduction in Swamp Thing. There have been highs and lows but I have pretty much stayed true.

As we all know. Hellblazer in its current form has ended it's long run with Vertigo Comics. He has been pulled back into the New 52 DC Comics Universe. Initially in Justice League Dark and now in his own title called Constantine (excellent, party on). I have to admit to not reading these books. I was saddened by the Vertigo cancellation but as with most things in comics you learn to just sigh and move on. There will hopefully be a future for Vertigo, so you never know, he might pop up again.

In reading this issue you do kind of get a feeling that we are in the sunset of the series. The book is plotted well and the story serves it's purpose. It gets us from A to Z successfully. It has a horror edge and it is familiar Hellblazer territory. John seems to be the same character he always was. Milligan is always thematically the absolutely correct writer for this sort of non superhero book.

But.

The dialogue is pretty clunky in places and seems a bit fake cockney. (I don't claim to be a cockney but I was born and brought up in a London borough so I feel that I can say that it is trying a little too hard). This is recognised by a barmaid who even makes reference to a 'Little wanker with a Guy Ritchie fixation.'

Is this a tribute by Peter Milligan to the likes of Danny Dyer, Eastenders, Vinnie Jones and the Ritchie Clan? Possibly. It may be that my narky criticism is a result of some carefully planted wind ups by Milligan. I hope so.  I normally love his writing and it would be a shame that this was written without irony.

I suppose only the writer could answer that because I sure as Tilbury Docks can't.

(See what I told you about Londoners).

I have to admit to being a little disappointed at the art. Normally great at covers Simon Bisley seems to be under performing here? Some of the shots of the dirty London streets look gorgeous and credit is due there but the actual faces seem a little similar and we kind of get two versions of John himself. At one point he almost looks like a yuppie? Speaking of yuppies I got a real Thatcher's Britain 1980s feel about this book (never an altogether bad thing as there were some great comic during those brow beaten days). But it may date it to an American reader?

I think my answer is that the book was (in a book with normally pretty high standards) good enough. I am gonna dive back into some more books and see how we get on. I might even try the New 52 book (I said might).

I am cattled so off for some Britneys.

NIA.

Cover of the day.