Post by commond on Sept 8, 2024 5:05:01 GMT -5
Some reviews:
The Prisoner: Shattered Visage -- this was okay but felt inconsequential to me and didn't add anything to the legacy of the show. The best thing about it was the art.
The Demon #1-26 -- one of the darlings of Direct Currents, I suspect because editor Dan Raspler pushed to have the cover artwork included in each issue. Then again, Raspler edited books always had striking covers so he may not have had to push so hard. This is a fun comic. It's not as serious as Sandman or Hellblazer, but it's decidedly off-kilter and covers some of the same terrain. Grant brings plenty of humor and charm to the book, and surrounds Etrigan with a strong supporting cast, which is important in any ongoing title but particularly in a book where the lead character is a quasi villain. Grant and Raspler deliberately chose to make it a comic for all-ages so that they could feature special guest stars like Batman and Lobo. For the most part, those guest appearances are better than the typical cash grab. Occasionally, Grant pokes fun at trends in modern comics, but the jokes are a little too close to the bone. Given that Grant was responsible for a flood of Lobo books, it's hard to take the satire seriously when he's cashing all those checks. A large part of the book's appeal is the art of Val Semeiks, who provides the book with a consistent look through the first two years. He has a slightly exaggerated cartoony style that makes Etrigan pop off the page. You can tell he's having a lot of fun with the book. Matt Wagner fills in for an issue. Not his best work, but fun to see him work on The Demon again. Dwayne McDuffie is writing the current storyline and it's been a seamless transition from Grant to McDuffie, largely because Semieks is still penciling the book. I'm glad I finally read this after all these years of remembering it fondly from Direct Currents.
Hitman #6-32 -- this isn't strictly from the Direct Currents era, but it's a book I wanted to return to because I know it has a following around here. I found the early issues off-putting and struggled with McCrea's art early on, but I stuck with it and eventually Ennis delivered his usual blend of human stories behind the guts and gore, and gutter humor. Tommy is another cool-as-fuck stand in for Ennis, and his relationship with Tiegel is extremely well-written. I also came to accept and appreciate McCrea's art. Enjoying this series so far.
Shade, the Changing Man #43-64 -- I stopped reading Shade a while back in the mid-40s not because I wasn't enjoying it but because my interest was pulled in other directions. I suppose it does sag a little in the middle as many series do, but the storyline that leads into issue #50, A Season in Hell, as as good as any Vertigo storyline from the era and right up there with Sandman, Ennis' Hellblazer and Sandman Mystery Theatre. Issue #50 is an amazing issue. Apparently, it was supposed to be the final issue in the serious but they kept it going for a while longer. The issues that follow could have easily been a disappointment but so far they've been entertaining. I'm not sure if Milligan can stick the landing, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. Sean Phillips was supposed to replace Chris Bachalo, but he only lasts a few issues and then you get the art switching between Mark Buckingham and Michael Lark. Richard Case seems to have the gig now. None of them can match Bachalo for his depiction of Shade's madness, but it's not a bad lineup of artists.
L.E.G.I.O.N '89 #1-10 -- this was another book that captivated me as a kid whenever I'd read Direct Currents. It got off to a rocky start and was by far the worst of the books I've been reading lately. Team books are hard to get off the ground, but Kitson's art was so ugly in the first few issues that I wondered if it was worth continuing with. It didn't help that Kevin Maguire was doing the covers for the book. (What a loss for comic readers when he went to covers only.) Fortunately, Kitson's art improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the first 10 issues, and Giffen and Grant were able to breathe some life into the characters. Vril Dox is one of the most unique and interesting characters I've encountered in a while, and Lobo has been surprisingly entertaining. Bek still whinges too much, but I guess he graduated from the Chris Claremont School of Character Development. I was surprised by how much this book grew on me given how ghastly the first few issues were.
The Prisoner: Shattered Visage -- this was okay but felt inconsequential to me and didn't add anything to the legacy of the show. The best thing about it was the art.
The Demon #1-26 -- one of the darlings of Direct Currents, I suspect because editor Dan Raspler pushed to have the cover artwork included in each issue. Then again, Raspler edited books always had striking covers so he may not have had to push so hard. This is a fun comic. It's not as serious as Sandman or Hellblazer, but it's decidedly off-kilter and covers some of the same terrain. Grant brings plenty of humor and charm to the book, and surrounds Etrigan with a strong supporting cast, which is important in any ongoing title but particularly in a book where the lead character is a quasi villain. Grant and Raspler deliberately chose to make it a comic for all-ages so that they could feature special guest stars like Batman and Lobo. For the most part, those guest appearances are better than the typical cash grab. Occasionally, Grant pokes fun at trends in modern comics, but the jokes are a little too close to the bone. Given that Grant was responsible for a flood of Lobo books, it's hard to take the satire seriously when he's cashing all those checks. A large part of the book's appeal is the art of Val Semeiks, who provides the book with a consistent look through the first two years. He has a slightly exaggerated cartoony style that makes Etrigan pop off the page. You can tell he's having a lot of fun with the book. Matt Wagner fills in for an issue. Not his best work, but fun to see him work on The Demon again. Dwayne McDuffie is writing the current storyline and it's been a seamless transition from Grant to McDuffie, largely because Semieks is still penciling the book. I'm glad I finally read this after all these years of remembering it fondly from Direct Currents.
Hitman #6-32 -- this isn't strictly from the Direct Currents era, but it's a book I wanted to return to because I know it has a following around here. I found the early issues off-putting and struggled with McCrea's art early on, but I stuck with it and eventually Ennis delivered his usual blend of human stories behind the guts and gore, and gutter humor. Tommy is another cool-as-fuck stand in for Ennis, and his relationship with Tiegel is extremely well-written. I also came to accept and appreciate McCrea's art. Enjoying this series so far.
Shade, the Changing Man #43-64 -- I stopped reading Shade a while back in the mid-40s not because I wasn't enjoying it but because my interest was pulled in other directions. I suppose it does sag a little in the middle as many series do, but the storyline that leads into issue #50, A Season in Hell, as as good as any Vertigo storyline from the era and right up there with Sandman, Ennis' Hellblazer and Sandman Mystery Theatre. Issue #50 is an amazing issue. Apparently, it was supposed to be the final issue in the serious but they kept it going for a while longer. The issues that follow could have easily been a disappointment but so far they've been entertaining. I'm not sure if Milligan can stick the landing, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. Sean Phillips was supposed to replace Chris Bachalo, but he only lasts a few issues and then you get the art switching between Mark Buckingham and Michael Lark. Richard Case seems to have the gig now. None of them can match Bachalo for his depiction of Shade's madness, but it's not a bad lineup of artists.
L.E.G.I.O.N '89 #1-10 -- this was another book that captivated me as a kid whenever I'd read Direct Currents. It got off to a rocky start and was by far the worst of the books I've been reading lately. Team books are hard to get off the ground, but Kitson's art was so ugly in the first few issues that I wondered if it was worth continuing with. It didn't help that Kevin Maguire was doing the covers for the book. (What a loss for comic readers when he went to covers only.) Fortunately, Kitson's art improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the first 10 issues, and Giffen and Grant were able to breathe some life into the characters. Vril Dox is one of the most unique and interesting characters I've encountered in a while, and Lobo has been surprisingly entertaining. Bek still whinges too much, but I guess he graduated from the Chris Claremont School of Character Development. I was surprised by how much this book grew on me given how ghastly the first few issues were.