MattBrady
03-29-2003, 11:45 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DC/pic_lrgylm9cvr_t.jpg" width="190" height="285" align="right">by Michael Sangiacomo
I don’t know about the rest of the nation, but last week Cleveland finally shook free of winter. Temperatures were in the 50s and 60s and the ice and snow that have been around since November melted away like the value of Stan Lee Media stock.
Everything seems better, even the comics.
I enjoyed everything: the second issue of the new HERO; the latest JSA; Batgirl: Year One and Y The Last Man from DC; CrossGen’s Sigil #34; everything in the Ultimate line, especially the latest Ultimates; Brian Bendis’ truly creepy storyline running through Daredevil and Alias; Homage Comics’ Reload #1 with Warren Ellis and Paul Gulacy; Judd Winick’s new age vampire comic from Vertigo, Blood and Water and even the latest Soldier X.
God, I even enjoyed Soldier X! I must have spring fever.
Special mention goes out to the new superhero line from Image. Invincible, Venture and Firebreather are true surprises: solid writing and art, particularly by Jamal Igle in Venture.
Venture is Jay Faerber’s story of a superhero who has worked very hard to do his job in the shadows. He does not mind saving the Earth now and then, or nabbing an occasional bad guy. He just wants to do it quietly.
Along comes a nosy newspaper reporter who wants to make him a superstar and make himself a name in the process. Yet another comic that portrays us hardworking journalists as unscrupulous sleazeballs.
Sigh.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/firebreatherart1.jpg" width="175" height="263" align="left">The cover of Firebreather suggests that the work is cartoonier than it actually is. This will attract some readers and repel others.
The series, by writer Phil Hester and artist Andy Kuhn, spins the tale of the son of a giant dragon and a mortal woman. I don’t know how that could have quite come about, biologically speaking, but what damsels and dragons do in the privacy of their own cave is their business.
Anyway, junior has a face like Fin-Fang-Foom, but is reasonably human-looking. At the start of the series, he’s trying to fit in at his new high school when trouble starts. You know how tough high school bullies can be toward dragon kids. Duncan handles himself pretty well. He doesn’t eat his antagonist, not bad for a dragon. The concept is wonderfully original and executed with just the right, light, touch of humor.
My favorite of the three new titles though is Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker. The high school hero is the son of an iconic Superman-ish hero has hit his teens and has finally developed his own super powers.
The dialogue in all three rings true. After only two issues, I already care about the characters.
Good deal.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DC/pic_lrghero1cvr.jpg" width="250" height="378" align="right">The new DC title HERO is this year’s Resurrection Man, with better sales figures, and hopefully a much longer life.
Back in the simple ‘60s, Dial H for Hero was a trivial little book about a kid who finds a magic dial that allows him to turn into one superhero after another. In later years, the dial were found and used by two teenagers, Chris King and Vicki Grant, and the two - and others- showed up here and there with the dials over the years with some hits and some misses.
Years later, Alan Moore would take the notion of a man with the ability to send his consciousness into a selection from a wardrobe of specialized bodies to amazing heights with Miracleman. But Robby Reed did it first, though not nearly as well.
In the new HERO title by Will Pfeifer and Kano, a kid named Jerry is trying to be a superhero but doesn’t have a clue. He surrenders to some base emotions and dips into the villain category. While the original Dial H series was just teenage wish-fulfillment stuff, HERO is hard-edged and challenging.
And a little scary.
But not as scary as the real world, making a great escapist ride.
Michael Sangiacomo is a statewide news reporter for the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. His syndicated "Journey Into Comics" weekly column on the state of the comic book business, can be found in newspapers and at the Newsarama website. His monthly comic book column appears the first Saturday of each month in the Plain Dealer Arts page and is syndicated through Newhouse Newspapers. He also writes a twice-monthly audiobooks review column covering crime thrillers and mysteries that can be seen at <a href="http://www.audiobookstoday.com" target="_blank">www.audiobookstoday.com</a>
I don’t know about the rest of the nation, but last week Cleveland finally shook free of winter. Temperatures were in the 50s and 60s and the ice and snow that have been around since November melted away like the value of Stan Lee Media stock.
Everything seems better, even the comics.
I enjoyed everything: the second issue of the new HERO; the latest JSA; Batgirl: Year One and Y The Last Man from DC; CrossGen’s Sigil #34; everything in the Ultimate line, especially the latest Ultimates; Brian Bendis’ truly creepy storyline running through Daredevil and Alias; Homage Comics’ Reload #1 with Warren Ellis and Paul Gulacy; Judd Winick’s new age vampire comic from Vertigo, Blood and Water and even the latest Soldier X.
God, I even enjoyed Soldier X! I must have spring fever.
Special mention goes out to the new superhero line from Image. Invincible, Venture and Firebreather are true surprises: solid writing and art, particularly by Jamal Igle in Venture.
Venture is Jay Faerber’s story of a superhero who has worked very hard to do his job in the shadows. He does not mind saving the Earth now and then, or nabbing an occasional bad guy. He just wants to do it quietly.
Along comes a nosy newspaper reporter who wants to make him a superstar and make himself a name in the process. Yet another comic that portrays us hardworking journalists as unscrupulous sleazeballs.
Sigh.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Image/firebreatherart1.jpg" width="175" height="263" align="left">The cover of Firebreather suggests that the work is cartoonier than it actually is. This will attract some readers and repel others.
The series, by writer Phil Hester and artist Andy Kuhn, spins the tale of the son of a giant dragon and a mortal woman. I don’t know how that could have quite come about, biologically speaking, but what damsels and dragons do in the privacy of their own cave is their business.
Anyway, junior has a face like Fin-Fang-Foom, but is reasonably human-looking. At the start of the series, he’s trying to fit in at his new high school when trouble starts. You know how tough high school bullies can be toward dragon kids. Duncan handles himself pretty well. He doesn’t eat his antagonist, not bad for a dragon. The concept is wonderfully original and executed with just the right, light, touch of humor.
My favorite of the three new titles though is Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker. The high school hero is the son of an iconic Superman-ish hero has hit his teens and has finally developed his own super powers.
The dialogue in all three rings true. After only two issues, I already care about the characters.
Good deal.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DC/pic_lrghero1cvr.jpg" width="250" height="378" align="right">The new DC title HERO is this year’s Resurrection Man, with better sales figures, and hopefully a much longer life.
Back in the simple ‘60s, Dial H for Hero was a trivial little book about a kid who finds a magic dial that allows him to turn into one superhero after another. In later years, the dial were found and used by two teenagers, Chris King and Vicki Grant, and the two - and others- showed up here and there with the dials over the years with some hits and some misses.
Years later, Alan Moore would take the notion of a man with the ability to send his consciousness into a selection from a wardrobe of specialized bodies to amazing heights with Miracleman. But Robby Reed did it first, though not nearly as well.
In the new HERO title by Will Pfeifer and Kano, a kid named Jerry is trying to be a superhero but doesn’t have a clue. He surrenders to some base emotions and dips into the villain category. While the original Dial H series was just teenage wish-fulfillment stuff, HERO is hard-edged and challenging.
And a little scary.
But not as scary as the real world, making a great escapist ride.
Michael Sangiacomo is a statewide news reporter for the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. His syndicated "Journey Into Comics" weekly column on the state of the comic book business, can be found in newspapers and at the Newsarama website. His monthly comic book column appears the first Saturday of each month in the Plain Dealer Arts page and is syndicated through Newhouse Newspapers. He also writes a twice-monthly audiobooks review column covering crime thrillers and mysteries that can be seen at <a href="http://www.audiobookstoday.com" target="_blank">www.audiobookstoday.com</a>