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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 24, 2024 23:03:24 GMT -5
Read "The Odyssey" and you'll see that he learned his lesson and imparted wisdom to Odysseus. I've read it, but about 40 years ago. Too bad. You forgot a key scene.😩 |
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Post by commond on Nov 9, 2024 18:47:48 GMT -5
The Demon #51-58, #0 and Annual #2 -- Ennis concludes the series with a pair of decent storylines. It's announced with a couple of issues to go that the book is being cancelled, though fans already knew since it had been dropped from DC's solicitations. Poor sales are to blame. I hadn't realized how influenced Ennis was by John Woo films during the early 90s. I guess he figured that if guns sold comics then he might as well mix in his favorite shit. The first storyline revolves around Etrigan trying to bond his demon spawn with Jason Blood and Glenda's human child. Glenda carries around a gun for part of the storyline, which was over-the-top. Jason makes a poignant sacrifice to save the live of his child, which is one of the best character moments of Ennis' run, but it turns out that he's not really dead. He does get written out of the series, however. I'm not really sure how I feel about Ennis' take on Blood. It's been a long time since I read the Kirby or Wagner stuff, so I have no idea how they characterized Blood, but Ennis basically reveals in the zero issue that Blood was a murderous bastard all along who somehow felt tremendous grief over a wartime atrocity that Etrigan committed and had his memory wiped to preserve his sanity. It's more complex than that, but basically he's not that the man he thought he was and has blood on his hands. The final storyline is a battle in hell between angels and demons and sees Ennis parody his favorite war films. My favorite part is when one of the demons guarding the gates to hell is fatally wounded and clings to a picture of his girl back home. The series ends with Etrigan speaking to the reader. He pays homage to the creators who have worked on his books and takes a dig at superhero comic books. The annual is the most punk rock thing Ennis and McCrea did during their run. It's worth reading as a standalone issue if you want to read something that resembles a Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill superhero comic. It's amusing how different the Hitman character and elements of the Hitman series are from what they would become. At some point, Ennis stopped having Tommy use his powers, but in the beginning they were a big part of the story.
I wouldn't include Ennis' run on a list of his better works, but I will say that other than getting one of the other British writers to have a crack, it's hard to imagine someone doing a better job of taking over from Grant. There were plenty of worse changes in creative personnel in the Direct Currents era. Grant was a hard act to follow (at least in my eyes), and Ennis did an okay job even if he destroyed a lot of the framework he was left with. If you like McCrea's artwork, he cuts loose whenever he's allowed to draw demons (or space aliens.)
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Post by commond on Nov 16, 2024 20:12:13 GMT -5
L.E.G.I.O.N #26-39, Annuals #1-2 -- These issues represent the final part of Alan Grant's run on L.E.G.I.O.N. Much like his run on The Demon, I felt like Grant still had a lot of stories left in him, but I guess he liked that Lobo money. My only criticism of Grant's final issues is that he starts tearing the L.E.G.I.O.N down before he's built them up. They could have done with a few more major victories before the dismantling began. Other than that, it's an excellent team book. Even when Grant has to shoehorn the Armageddon crossover into the annual, he still manages to touch on of the interpersonal relationships and team dynamics. I was a bit worried about who would take over from Grant, but they gave co-plotter Barry Kitson full run of the book, which is fascinating. I can't wait to see how his version of the book differs from Grant. Kitson's art improved so much over the course of the series that I am no longer pining after those Kevin Maguire covers. I also liked Mike McKone's work on Annual #2.
Hitman #47-60 -- enjoyable end of an enjoyable series. The book may have been cancelled, but Ennis & McCrea go out on a high. The appeal of this series is the crazy batshit things that Ennis and McCrea get away with, and those things are fun, but it's the human drama that I enjoy. Ennis brings that in spades down the stretch as he gets the rare opportunity, in a non-Vertigo book, to close the book on the series and resolve each of the characters' stories. You could probably make an argument for this being one of the best DC books of the 90s, though it doesn't achieve quite as much as other great runs. It's a top book, though. One of Ennis' best.
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