It's been a mixed bag for me so far. I really feel the rotating arty teams is doing the Conan book's a disservice as the writer has no chance to develop any chemistry with the artist. Overall, it feels like pretty standard Conan pastiche, which I am kind of meh on. It hasn't felt Howardian or even like the best Conan in comics form, it's just been kind of there and I am really considering dropping it even though I am a big Conan fan, but I wanted to give Van Lente a chance to find his footing. I liked the mini he did well enough but Avenger hasn't grabbed me yet.

-M

Cool, I'll grab some TPBs of the older Marvel stuff instead then to scratch the itch. Thanks

No idea, but I was surprised to see that they're using the Miracleman name on their reprints. I would have thought they'd switch it back to Marvelman, but maybe they figured Miracleman is the one it's better known under in the US?

I just read:

George Perez's Sirens #1
Excellent artwork, as one would expect - always like to see Perez have enough time to do his own inks. As for the story, I think it works well as a first issue. I'm curious about the characters and the hints we're given about who they are, where they've come from, and what's gone before. Too early to say more than that. My main criticism would probably be that there was a little too much technobabble in a sort of the Star Trek NG vein, something that always seems to slow down the story to me and generally turns me off. But all in all, very solid. Looking forward to the next installment.



Grant Morrison's Multiversity #2: Society of Super-Heroes
As with #1, it seemed a bit sketchy to me, but I've come to realise that we can't really expect anything more when there's only one issue devoted to each world. Taking a more positive view, Morrison shows a really deft hand in how expertly he's able to delineate these characters in just the few scenes that can fit into a single issue.

Again as with #1, the artwork didn't come close to matching the quality of the writing for me. I think the artist was going for a clean, almost clear-line stlye, in keeping with the vaguely 30s-era it appeared to be set in, but to me if just looked stiff and depthless. And I think I can follow what the artist was trying to do by depicting the Immortal Man with a continual smile on his face - the sort of happy-go-lucky leading man type you see in a lot of American films of the period - but in execution it came out as an annoyingly self-satisfied smirk rather than the friendly and easy-going smile I hope it was meant to be. On the plus side, I thought his Lady Shiva was well done - his depiction captured the cruelty and disdain Morrison seemed to be going for with the character.

I continue to think that this will read much better in completed form, but as single installments I've found these first two issues a little flat. I think Morrison is throwing these brief glimpses of each different world out there with the idea that later on other writers will pick them up and carry on with them, but the problem is that the main reason they're enjoyable to read is because of the way Morrison writes them, and I don't think many writers out there are capable of doing much of interest with them, even assuming anyone wants to, which is by no means a given.

Yes, I agree with you Berk; I thought they'd go whole hog with the Marvelman name.

Are they two different characters, or two different versions of the same character, like Golden Age and Copper Age ?

I don't think it became Mircaleman until Eclipse announced the reprints in the US market in the 80s and ran into legal obstacles with Marvel, who blocked the use of Marvelman in the title claiming it infringed on Marvel trademarks, thus it became re-titled Mircaleman which is how it was introduced to the American market, so it is the name by which most American consumers know it (which is likely why Marvel is choosing to retain that name-no one has been clamoring on message boards for reprints of Moore & Gaiman's Marvelman, but they have been clamoring for years for the reprints of Miracleman-even though it is the exact same thing).

-M

Are DeConnick and Rios done with Pretty Deadly?

Sampled some new #1 issues recently. Picked up Roche Limit, Wayward (both Image), Sirens, and Butterfly (both Boom). Roche Limit looks very promising -- a mystery/crime story set on a space station in the unspecified future. Butterfly is another entry in the espionage-with-a-female-lead genre, and is not bad, if a little bit derivative in that it borrows the shadowy-organization-sells-out-its-agent trope... but it's well-executed enough that I'll be picking up the next issue. It's written by Marguerite Bennett, who is a Scott Snyder protege. Wayward has some beautiful, manga/anime-inspired art, and wears its Buffy the Vampire slayer influence on its sleeve.

I was a little underwhelmed with Sirens however. I was really looking forward to it, and I did think it had great art. But I found it a little hard to follow, and a little too heavy with the exposition.