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Read GOOD Comics, not just the ones you're used to! Try something new EVERY month.
My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 7/26/06. The full shipping is list available at ComicList.
[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]
A city devastated by metahumans. Political intrigue and post-9/11 fear-mongering. Heroes pitted against the government and each other, forced to choose between wildly uneven sides.
Marvel's Civil War?
No, actually, it's DC's Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1, "from the pages of Brave New World" and spinning out of the events of the Battle for Blüdhaven! So, did writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray pinch Mark Millar's notes, or vice versa? Or, have the Big Two simply hit the inevitable bottom of the "big idea" barrel and are now scraping up similar muck from its depths?
Whatever the reason, credit Palmiotti and Gray for doing more with less -- Battle for Blüdhaven excepted, as I only quickly flipped through the last issue to see where Uncle Sam was coming from -- if for no other reason than their use of less-familiar characters requires them to actually dig a little deeper in telling their story, offering solid characterization and plotting where Millar opts for lazy "F*@% Yeah Moments" designed solely to titillate the fanboys, while leaving the real storytelling to the likes of Fabian Nicieza (Thunderbolts), Peter David (X-Factor) and David Hine (Civil War: X-Men).
It's an election year in the DC Universe and Senator Knight, Phantom Lady's father, is on the Presidential campaign trail, proclaiming the dangers of unregulated metahuman activity and the sacrifices required for freedom. Palmiotti and Gray offer a jarring juxtaposition as agents of S.H.A.D.E. ("Super Human Advanced Defense Executive, the final solution to unsolvable problems") violently and decisively take out an Intergang drug runner during his five-year-old son's birthday party. The two scenes hit a note of comic book "realism" that Lex Luthor as President and Wonder Woman's snapping Max Lord's neck couldn't, primarily because we don't really know these characters as well and, unlike most of the major spandex icons, their actions make sense in context.
The first issue puts a lot of meat on the table, setting multiple sub-plots in motion while offering brief but effective glimpses into several of the primary characters' heads. Doll Man -- a miniature, flesh-and-blood G.I. Joe with a license to kill -- and the much-maligned Phantom Lady -- Jenna Bush with super powers and triple-Ds -- get a couple of nice, humanizing moments, and have the inside track on being my favorite characters. A humorous scene featuring the Human Bomb serves as a perfect metaphor for the two sides of the story's underlying premise, while also illustrating the fledgling team's dynamics and chain of command.
S.H.A.D.E. architect and commander Father Time is exactly what Civil War is missing, a more believable representation of a government that views metahumans as a potential terrorist threat and is willing to "do whatever is necessary to protect our freedom." He completely crosses the line in the name of of the greater good, and it works because there's no meta-thinking about Life Model Decoys or clones or mind control or whatever deus ex machina Millar's going to have to pull out to make his story work.
Visually, Daniel Acuña's artwork is extremely hit and miss, as if he cherry-picked his favorite scenes to spend the most time on while whipping out the rest at double-time speed. The whole is greater than the sum of its unequal parts, though, as his style is distinctive and appealing, and Javi Montes' coloring is a nice complement. Hopefully he's way ahead of schedule as it would be disappointing to see a fill-in artist (or a delay) on this eight-issue mini-series.
Civil War is pure spandex fan-on-fan service; no foreplay, no kiss, no dinner and a movie...barely an exchange of names before "wham, bam...you have to go before my mom gets home." If you feel cheap afterwards, it's your own fault because you knew what kind of comic book it was when you picked it up.
Uncle Sam, on the other hand, just might be the one your parents warned you about. All candy and roses and promises in the beginning, it's probably going to break your heart because, in the end, all superhero comics are alike. It's how they treat you before it's over that counts, though, and Uncle Sam is starting off with all the right moves. Maybe this time it'll be different?
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1, by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Daniel Acuña (DC Comics, July 2006; $2.99)
NOTE: Uncle Sam, like several other recent DC comics, bears the annoying little disclaimer, "Based on ideas and concepts developed by Grant Morrison." That he rates such prominent credit for remixing other people's creations while Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Arthur Peddy, Paul Gustavson, Len Wein and Dick Dillin all go uncredited is reprehensible.
"The members of the 9/11 Commission, since we finished our work, have been very careful not to participate in a number of documentaries and at least a couple of books on the subject. We have believed since the beginning that what we have said and the official report itself ought to stand alone on its own merits. Then this came along as the exception."
--Senator Slade Gorton, SDCC '06: THE 9/11 REPORT
"Unlike the past couple of years, this Comic-Con wasn't marked by the frenzy of creator-exclusive announcements -- most of the "marquee names" at Marvel and DC are already under contract. And with 52 and Civil War only really beginning, and Infinite Crisis and House of M still in our rearview mirrors, there wasn't talk of The Next Crossover That Will Change Everything."
--Kevin Melrose, Comic-Con: There's got to be a morning after
"What I wasn't seeing was any way of addressing audience stagnation or expansion of comics outside the direct market, or the aggressive creation of new characters that are likely to appeal to new readers or anything resembling genre diversification. What I saw from the big two, certainly, was a lot of treading water."
--Matt Maxwell, This year, you betcha
"Also, it seems to me that maybe DC's 52 in this month started what seems likely to be a sustained drop, while Civil War is performing ahead of expectations, although that's only a hunch. I like making that hunch because it kind of parallels the fortunes of the film industry, where Time Warner's Superman Returns seems to lack legs while Marvel would represent all the studios with poorly reviewed blockbusters that people like anyway."
--Tom Spurgeon, ICv2.com: 18 June Comic Books 100K+
"Instead of dumping two hundred million dollars or so into superhero movie series that come out with installments every, oh, say, three or four years or so, why not give twenty million to the guys who do some of the better fanfilms (like Grayson or World's Finest ) and have them produce a superhero movie serial? Weekly or biweekly installments, not more than about ten minutes long, plugged in front of whatever the new release happens to be that week. Might get some people back into the habit of going to the movies on a regular basis..."
--Mike Sterling, Some random stuff.
"The savvy comics shops are reaching out. The bread-and-butter appeal of someone like us is that we carry a lot of stuff, like Abrams Image, at close to Diamond's discounts."
--John Davis, Comics Shops Turn to Book Distributors for Graphic Novels
"600 million teenagers. Think about that number. That's twice as many people as there are in America, from infants to the elderly. One doesn't have to squint hard to read between the lines: There is a hell of a lot of money to be made in India. And you don't have to ape other cultures to do it; India has more than enough source material to work with. So why does Devi look so much like something Top Cow would put out?"
--Ken Lowery, Devi #1
One of PopCultureShock's contributors, Ryan Burton (who conducted the recent Becky Cloonan interview, and has a couple more in the pipeline), has been named a finalist in Platinum Studios' Comic Book Challenge for his story "The Six Sinners".
"The Six Sinners is about a group of people make a pact with the devil to capture the human incarnations of the deadly sins, only to find out the devil wants them to become the sins themselves." (Emmanuel Xerx Javier is the artist.)
Go forth now and vote.
ITEM: Heath Ledger as the Joker? Hmm... not a terrible choice, but I don't know that he's got the required gravitas for the role. If that's the direction Nolan is going, though, I'd rather see Ryan Phillipe given a shot at it. Of course, my number one choice remains Terrence Howard.
ITEM: The Incredible Hulk's new director is Louis Leterrier -- of the action-heavy The Transporter movies -- confirming the expected 180 degree shift from Ang Lee's somber take on the Green Goliath. Screenwriter Zak Penn seems to be on the right track, talking about how the sequel/remake/reboot will be different from the first one:
What I didn't like was the father/son stuff. Honestly I didn't like the dogs.More than anything, it was the bad CGI that kept me from seeing The Hulk when it first came out, so hopefully they can figure out a way to do it Lou Ferrigno-style this time.
I felt -- weirdly since I get so much shit for fucking with the continuity on X-Men 3, which not all of which was my doing but some of which is -- I feel like on the Hulk that was one which didn't need to be revamped. I didn't like that the Hulk was something his dad injected into him as opposed to him being a repressed guy with all this rage to unleash.
The other thing is that there's something about the tone of the TV show -- despite the fans' insistence on going with 'Hulk smash' and all that stuff -- there's something about the man on the run with a dark secret, Jekyll and Hyde, theme that we could do more with. There wasn't much of that in the Hulk movie. I can't think of one scene where he was trying to solve his problem while keeping it a secret from anyone. To me that's essential to the Hulk.
Miller is a tremendous Eisner fan; that's a given. If he's going to direct this film, he's gonna want it to be as true to Eisner's vision as possible. But it should also be remembered that this is a man whose entire career in comics and film has been about shaking people up. Miller's in his element when he's tweaking the nose of convention, pushing the boundaries of propriety, tradition, and good taste. Being an agent provocateur is in his blood and he delights in creating images and dialogue that shock, titilate, anger, thrill, outrage, or confound readers... Simply put, the words "Frank Miller" and "politically correct" do not go together in any combination.I've heard of Ebony White before, but my copy of The Spirit Archives, Vol. 1 has yet to be cracked open, so I'm not yet personally familiar with how offensive the character is or isn't, but Watson's a smart guy and his thinking here seems quite rational.
Given all of this, is it possible that the version of Ebony we will eventually see on the big screen will reflect the print version, or will the studio heads step in and demand something less offensive?
...He has to be aware of the fact that if he were to keep Ebony intact, he'd have Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and Bill Cosby up his ass in five seconds screaming for a boycott.
Read GOOD Comics, not just the ones you're used to! Try something new EVERY month.
My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 7/19/06. The full shipping is list available at ComicList.
[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]
Iron West
By Doug TenNapel (Image Comics, 2006; $14.99)
Going for wacky is a dangerous gambit, particularly in comics where it can easily drift over into unintentional camp or, even worse, come completely unhinged and end up convoluted and unfunny, so when I realized Doug TenNapel's Iron West included both Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster in the mix, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Fortunately, TenNapel walks a net-free tightrope like a pro, delivering a rollicking good time filled with moments of "He's going to fa--Wow!" that begs for adaptation to the big, or small, screen. Iron West's protagonist is one Preston Struck, a selfish outlaw who finds himself presented with a chance to be a hero and runs from it; several times, in fact. Fate has other plans for him, though, and as likeable scoundrels go, he's got the kind of goofy charisma that makes you believe that, underneath the bluster, there's a good, decent man.
Iron West's plot is an outlandish one featuring killer robots accidentally awakened by greedy prospectors in 1898 California, a mysterious shaman cryptically named Two Rivers, the aforementioned Sasquatch and Loch Ness Monster, the proverbial gruff sherrif and a whore with a heart of gold, and several more engaging characters, human and otherwise -- all of whom come together in a wild ride of a story that left me satisfied, but wanting more. TenNapel's black-and-white artwork is clean and distinctive and, while his pacing is full-steam ahead, his layouts are clear and flow smoothly. I wasn't aware of it until afterwards, but he's also an animator, known for his Nickelodeon show, Catscratch -- as well as the creator of the video game, Earthworm Jim -- so his storytelling skills make sense.
Iron West is the latest positive example of the new Image Comics: off beat, entertaining, quality work by creators with distinctive voices and original stories to tell. Coupled with the likes of the excellent Stagger Lee (review coming soon) and, by many accounts, the first two volumes of Flight, Five Fists of Science, Cobbler's Monster and 24/seven among others (none of which I've personally read yet), Image is proving to have as good an eye for original graphic novels as any of the mainstream publishers who are now jumping into that pool, often simply reprinting material smaller publishers took a chance on first. The sooner Image completes its extreme makeover from being a premiere purveyor of lame spandex imitators and full-of-potential but ridiculously late serials, to the home of a diverse range of original graphic novels and trade collections of high-quality but under-read serials, the better.
Heidi MacDonald -- of the recently relocated The Beat, and defender of all that is righteous in the comics world -- proves that, with great power comes great responsibility, using the high-profile visibility of her new Publisher's Weekly platform to...well, to dish dirt.
Dept. of Scandal IGuess she hasn't known any of the parties involved since they were 15 years old?
A while ago we told you about budding filmmaker Matt Busch reporting on his LiveJournal about a nasty breakup with his girlfriend, actress Sarah Wilkinson, with writer Steve Niles as the third party. We're not going to rehash all the story because it's just ugly stuff that should have been kept private, but in the interests of fairness, the other shoe has dropped, and Wilkinson tells her story.
The Left Bank Gang
By Jason (Fantagraphics, 2006; $12.95)
Why Are You Doing This?, an enthralling Hitchkockian mystery with a big heart, was my first exposure to the Norwegian cartoonist Jason, and it firmly put him on my list of creators from whom I'll check out anything they do. Unfortunately, for me, his English translations are published by Fantagraphics and I rarely find myself in their corner of the comics shop, so I hadn't gotten around to checking out any of his other work before The Left Bank Gang came out a couple of weeks ago. Originally published in France as Hemingway, its premise -- positing Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound and James Joyce as struggling cartoonists in 1920s Paris -- is an intriguing one, and for the first half of his rather slim but not slight story (46 pages), Jason humorously plays up the writer/cartoonist angle while clearly establishing each of his lead characters and their relationships to one another, before setting his real story in motion, a Rashomon-style tale of double and triple-crossing as the quartet come up with a plan to solve their respective financial and, in some cases, marital woes, real and imagined.
As in Why Are You Doing This?, Jason's anthropomorphic characters and clean, European style make for an odd but effective complement to his cynical yet hopeful story, giving the whole affair a much more human feel than the more straightforward noir approach other less self-assured creators might have taken. Jason fans will be pleased, and newcomers will be intrigued by the discovery of an immensely talented creator with a solid backlist to explore further. Grade: B+
East Coast Rising, Vol. 1
By Becky Cloonan (TokyoPop, 2006; $9.99)
Smart comics retailers should have had copies of East Coast Rising prominently on display next to their cash registers the past couple of weeks, taking full advantage of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's pervasive marketing onslaught -- McDonald's inflatable swords with every Happy Meal, despite the fact that the movie is far from kid-friendly, was genius! They could recommend it as a similarly manic, contemporary spin on pirates, featuring a colorful cast of characters, sea monsters, a flooded East Coast and, of course, a hidden treasure. Becky Cloonan puts a lot of energy into this first-of-three-volumes story, introducing her large cast of slacker/hipster characters, establishing some of their intertwined relationships while hinting at others, and setting up what appears to be more than just another treasure hunt. Not unlike Pirates of the Caribbean. East Coast Rising isn't a PotC clone, though, as Cloonan has her own story to tell and it's a fun one that stands on its own merits.
Disappointingly, her artwork doesn't hold up its end of the deal as the decision to 'color' water black instead of shades of grey too-often makes page after waterlogged, manga-style page indecipherable, especially during the many chaotic scenes of battle between ships, people and sea creatures, all blending into each other, and, worse, the water itself. Judging by the more legible sketches in the book's bonus section -- "The World of East Coast Rising" -- as well as memories of her exceptional, and varied, work on DEMO, this is presumably Vasilis Lolos' fault, who's credited with "tones". Issues with the art aside, it's an entertaining read that actually gets better on the second pass, and if its "tone" improves in subsequent volumes, I'll be picking them up. Grade: B-
The initial weekend estimates are in and, like Lex Luthor with Kryponite, it's bad news for the Man of Steel as Superman Returns pulled in a mere $11.6 million in its third week, bringing its total domestic box office to $163,648,000 and pretty much guaranteeing that it will fall short of the $200m mark that's been rumored as the minimum benchmark to greenlight a sequel. (Or, at least, one with Brian Singer at the helm.) While its 46.7% dropoff wasn't nearly as bad as last weekend's 58.5%, its miserable $3,086/theater average when there was no new direct competition would seem to suggest that lukewarm word of mouth countered its mostly positive reviews and strong, if not overwhelming, opening week at the box office.
Domestically, it's now dead in the water as four major new releases will take over the theaters this coming weekend -- Clerks II, Lady in the Water, Monster House and My Super Ex-Girlfriend -- and Pirates of the Caribbean could drop 70% next weekend and would still easily land in the Top 5. With Devil Wears Prada having a better per-theather average this weekend, it's not impossible to think that Superman Returns could actually fall completely out of the Top 10. The foreign box office numbers for this weekend will be of particular importance then, as it finally opened in several European and Latin American markets, delayed thanks to the World Cup. If it underperforms as some have expected it will, the chances of a sequel become that much more unlikely.
The fates of other DC characters' movie prospects undoubtedly hang in the balance, too, as studio bean counters have to figure out what they can possibly expect from the likes of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash -- all of whom would require $125m+ budgets to have a shot at not looking ridiculous on the big screen -- in light of Superman's disappointing performance. If nothing else, tighter budgets will certainly be the rule of thumb, and casting decisions will be made with an eye towards hedging bets, opting for celebrities with demonstrated box office cred, meaning unless Joss Whedon can snag Mel Gibson to play Steve Trevor at a discount, he will likely have to look past his Serenity posse and the rumor du jour, Priyanka Chopra, for Wonder Woman.
Are you ready for Jessica Simpson and her invisible jet? If her latest album doesn't bomb, it's certainly a possibility.
Pop quiz: What's the difference between these three magazine covers?
If you said "everything", you get a no-prize! I purposefully made the images small so the copy would be hard to read and you'd first have to focus on the pictures.
On the Teen People cover, Ms. Simpson (good thing she kept her maiden name, yes?) has a big smile on her face, with "Sister Power" clearly visible, suggesting the story inside is a positive one, probably a fluff celebrity piece. The Maxim cover knows its target audience, commanding their attention to Ms. Simpson's two best features and printing her name large enough for their slightly more discerning readers who like to have their cleavage identified. You can be pretty sure that the accompanying story isn't about her charitable work with Operation Smile. Finally, there's the In Touch cover with a clearly displeased Ms. Simpson giving her seemingly clueless husband the evil eye and "IT'S OVER! printed large and loud so that there's no question what that story is about.
Assuming all three of these magazines were on the stands at the same time, they would appeal to three very different, though perhaps overlapping, audiences. (Excepting Jessica Simpson fanatics who collect every media appearance of hers they can find). Teen People targets "today's multi-cultural teens", primarily female; Maxim targets horny guys of all ages; and In Touch targets women, 18-34, who think People is too expensive.
Now, you're probably asking yourself, "What does Jessica Simpson have to do with comics?"
Nothing, actually -- though maybe Rosario Dawson's O.C.T. will inspire her to develop her own comic book properties for future movie deals -- but this isn't about her, it's about comic book covers and something Marvel editor Tom Breevort wrote yesterday about the decreased importance of covers in the comic book industry today.
It used to be, back when comic books were sold exclusively on the newsstand, that the cover was what sold the magazine. That's why so much attention and effort was spent on the cover image. There was no advertising, no promotion, no Wizard magazine or Previews catalogue or Newsarama [nice plug] to let people know what was coming out months in advance...While Breevort's overall point is right -- for the most part, from the myopic perspective of the direct market as it is -- I think he makes an interesting miscalculation in his assessment of shelf copies as "probably half" of the average shop's total sales. Think about that for a second.
Sure, a really good cover may be able to hook a few extra people into picking up the book off the racks, assuming it's there for them to find, but the whole mechanism of our distribution and retail system makes the cover close to superfluous. Retailers order their books months in advance from the Previews catalogue, as do a great deal of the customer base through pull lists. And once you get outside the big coastal cities especially, the amount of display space a given shop has is relatively miniscule. I don't know what proportion of the average shop's books are sold off the rack as opposed to through pull list subscriptions and advance orders, but I'd hazard a conservative guess that it's probably half.
In May, the modestly promoted X-Factor #7 sold an estimated 44,315 in pre-orders, featuring a pretty good Ryan Sook cover that was dynamic and relevant to the story, but lacked even the slightest bit of promotional text to clue in readers unfamiliar with the series or Jamie Madrox. (That was roughly a 21% drop from the first issue's debut of 56,053 copies pre-ordered, which sold out and was reprinted, featuring a new cover and moving another 8,808 copies.) Using Breevort's line of thinking, half of those copies -- 22,157 -- were ordered for the shelves at comic book shops across the country in the hopes that it might catch a new reader's eye, inspiring them to check it out and, eventually, add it to their pull list.For those who thought I was off the mark with my speculation over Superman Returns' not broaching $200 million domestically, rumor has it that the suits at Warner Brothers are worried it won't make that much and have made it the line in the sand on whether or not a sequel gets made:
After a $225 million "Pirates of the Caribbean" sailed into port, taking the wind out of "Superman Returns'" $205 million Spandex, Warner Bros. executives are said to be circumspect as to whether the Man of Steel will fly again.Rusty, indeed, as $200m seems even less likely after a disappointing Monday saw Pirates pull in another $18m while Superman only managed to scrape up $2.6m, barely beating The Devil Wears Prada which is running in nearly 1/3rd fewer theaters, and leaving it $55m short of the newly shifted goal post.
Talent agency insiders with ties to the film tell TMZ that Warner Bros. Pictures president and COO Alan Horn has informed agents that a sequel hinges on whether grosses of "Superman Returns" can crest the $200 million mark domestically. What's more, the studio plans to shave millions - many millions - off any "Superman" sequel's budget. (Amusingly, in the current "Superman Returns," Lois Lane pleads with Lex Luthor, "But millions will die! " It turns out she was right on the money.)
...Despite opening at No. 1 in all its territories, overseas, the Man of Steel is starting to look just a bit rusty. The just-ended World Cup meant that Warner Bros. took a pass on European and Latin American territories, and its second weekend in release overseas, "Superman Returns" dipped 55% to take in $9 million from 1,800 prints in 14 markets.
Support GOOD Comics! Try something new EVERY month.
My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 7/12/06. The full shipping is list available at ComicList.
[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]
"My career really didn't begin until I started working on books that I helped create. Vertigo is probably the only publisher today that wouldn't have laughed me out of their offices for pitching them a fully painted hardcover novel for 'mature readers' about the Iraq war... starring talking lions."
--Brian K. Vaughan, Graphic Attack: Vertigo Raises the Bar (Again) (via Blog@Newsarama)
"I always get the impression these articles assume that the baseline for comics is violent, costumed soap opera and these bizarre aberrations exist to fool the rib so we boys can continue to high-five each other and grunt approval to the latest peregrinations of Form-Fitting Bodysuit Man."
--Tom Spurgeon, Feature Articles I Hate, Episode Nine
"DC as much as I like you...its [sic] one thing to beat a dead horse but what your [sic] doing is called necrophilia.........so stand away from the horse!"
--AzraelBatman, DAN DIDIO ON THE BRAVE NEW WORLD REVEAL
"What is most likely is that she will be 'punished' in some way by being permanently separated from her child -- for having the 'nerve' to be a 'madonna' when she's really a 'whore.' Similarly, what is most likely is that Holly will eventually end up mutilated & killed in some pseudo-sexual (or plainly sexual) way, leaving Selina to become consumed by guilt and feel doubly cursed as a maternal figure."
--Valerie D'Orazio, I Don't Believe Catwoman Can Remain Happy
"The moral of the story is that comic book women don't have to be individuals. They don't need to have personality or characterisation reflected in consistent design. They just have to be HAWT. Greg, shape up or ship out. If you're a good artist, then do better. If you're a bad artist, get another fucking job."
--Karen Healey, His Stylus is Just So BIG.
1) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- $132,028,000Considering the first Pirates opened with a relatively paltry $46,630,690 on its way to a $305m domestic haul (plus an amazing $348m overseas), the sequel should be a shoo-in for breaking the $300m mark again, with a decent shot at pulling a Shrek 2, outperforming its predecessor and reaching the rarified air of a $400m+ box office upon initial release. (Star Wars and E.T. took multiple releases to surpass that mark.)
2) Spider-Man -- $114,844,116 ($403,706,375; 28.4%)
3) Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith -- $108,435,841 ($380,270,577; 28.5%)
4) Shrek 2 -- $108,037,878 ($441,226,247; 24.5%)
5) X-Men: The Last Stand -- $102,750,665 ($231,288,000; 44.4%)
"[Superman Returns is] about what happens when old boyfriends come back into your life. Even if you're the strongest man in the world," said Singer, "if the woman you love has found someone else that she's nearly married to that's not a bad guy, how do you figure out what your place is in that woman's life? I call it my first 'chick flick'."I don't care if you're Steven Spielberg or Keanu Reeves, you can't promote your summer blockbuster action movie as a "chick flick" and expect it to match up with the expectations of a summer blockbuster action movie.
Just as I decide to drastically cut back my pull list, a slew of great new comics are seemingly coming out every other week now, including a couple of unexpected treats from DC thanks to Brave New World. At this rate, I may have to stop drinking just to keep up!
Let's do this...
Death Comes to Dillinger #1 (Silent Devil, $2.99)
Death Comes to Dillinger came out of left field, completely off my radar until its eye-catching cover, um, caught my eye, and it passed the flip test and got to come home with me a few weeks back. In comics as in film, I'm a big fan of atmosphere, and if you can quickly set the right tone, I'll go along for the ride. Se7enhedd and Jim Ringuet deliver atmosphere in spades here and James Patrick matches them stride for stride with an intriguing tale of Death, literally, coming to the old west town of Dillinger, and one man's desperate response to his presence. There's a matter-of-fact, Twilight Zone-ish feel to the proceedings, and the pacing is a pitch perfect example of decompression done right. (After reading it, I wasn't surprised to see Joshua Hale Fialkov's name in the masthead as Editor, considering the great job he did with the gone-but-not-forgotten Western Tales of Terror anthology series.)
That it's only a two-issue "mini-series" is both a good and bad thing, as the first half works quite well on its own and two issues is exactly the right length for the full tale, but from a sales perspective I have to wonder if it would have made more sense to release it as a giant-sized one-shot. Either way, it's highly recommended reading.
Villains #1-2 (Viper Comics, $3.25)
"Apt Pupil" was arguably the best of the four short stories in Stephen King's Different Seasons, the story of a teenaged boy obsessed with Nazis who recognizes a war criminal in hiding and blackmails him into telling all about the atrocities he committed. (Bryan Singer's adaptation, his first time working with Ian McKellan, was one of the better Stephen King movies.) Adam Cogan treads similar ground in Villains as his protagonist, Nick Corrigan, newly fired from his job and dreading telling his live-in girlfriend the truth, stumbles upon his building's superintendent's secret: he's really Charles Randall Cobb, the presumed-dead supervillain the Hardliner, sort of Iron Man gone to the dark side. Nick hears opportunity knocking and blackmails Cobb into training him to become his replacement, and in the second issue pulls his first job, somewhat sloppily, causing the tension to mount between them. There's also a subplot involving Cobb and the resident superhero, Flying Ace, that hints at a dark side for the good guys, too, giving the whole story a tantalizing undercurrent of moral ambiguity. Cogan -- who also co-writes the equally good mini-series, The Black Coat -- sets a nice pace in these first two issues, focusing on developing his two leads into believeable, almost sympathetic, characters while setting up his plot in the background. Artist (and co-creator) Ryan Cody is cut from similar cloth as Powers' Michael Avon Oeming, and brings a similarly distinctive flair to the proceedings, and colorist Russ Lowery complements him nicely.
Each issue includes a back-up story, "Old Scores", featuring Cobb in his prime as the Hardliner, adding an extra layer to the main story by giving a sense history to this brand new universe. Cogan scripts this story, too, but artist Charles Clark's work isn't nearly as strong as Cody's so it isn't quite as seamless as it could be. Nevertheless, kudos to the creative team and to Viper for putting some actual content in those "extra" pages instead of the usual house ads most other publishers typically go with. Villains is slated as a four-issue mini-series, but there's a lot of potential here for future installments as Cogan and Cody are building a compelling setting in which there could be many more stories to be told.
Jim Valentino's Emissary #1 (Image, $3.50)
I wish I'd reviewed this sooner, before I found out the next two issues are already delayed and that there's a new writer taking over with the 4th issue, because I can't help but let that influence my opinion somewhat negatively, especially when my initial take on it wasn't all that positive to begin with. It's an intriguing premise -- an unidentified black man appears in the middle of New York City, walking on air and declaring himself "The Emissary...and I have come to lead you into the future." -- and Valentino has said he plans to explore how the real world would react to a black Superman, effectively, but right out of the gate he and writer Jason Rand miss the boat by not having one of their seven primary POV characters be black, too. This first issue is all set-up as each of the characters (two cops, a reporter and an editor, and an Air Force General, Captain and fighter pilot) is introduced through overly expository dialogue -- and, in one case, only-in-Hollywood-coincidence -- as The Emissary makes his presence known and is greeted by a couple of F-15s dispatched by the requisite gruff General, who is especially skittish post-9/11 and wants him shot out of the sky.
There's definitely some potential here as Rand hints at what will presumably be the underlying theme of the story via reactions from a couple of witnesses -- "Jesus..." and "God Almighty..." -- but given Valentino's recent track record, with constantly shifting creative teams and directions on the current ShadowHawk series; the quick cancellation of Intimidators (which had two artists over its first, and only, four issues); the predictably less-than-stellar sales of Emissary #1; and the fact that Rand is already being replaced three issues in, its chances for reaching that potential don't look too bright. The writing on the wall says "wait for the trade" on this one, but I wouldn't recommend holding your breath for its release.
Briefly...
Brave New World (DC, $1)
Unlike Countdown, this is a straight-forward preview book, featuring sneak peeks of six new titles spinning out of Infinite Crisis: The All-New Atom (ongoing), The Creeper (6-issue mini-series), OMAC (8-issue mini-series), Martian Manhunter (8-issue mini-series), Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters (8-issue mini-series) and Trials of Shazam (12-issue mini-series). Suprisingly, to me, The All-New Atom was actually one of the best entries, despite John Byrne on art and Gail Simone, who's yet to click for me, writing from "ideas and concepts developed by Grant Morrison". Fun and unpredictable, it left me wanting more. The costume, though, is one of the worst I've ever seen. The Creeper was the other winner, an apparent retcon featuring a left-wing Bill O'Reilly type putting a bounty on his secret alter ego. Despite the jetpack in Gotham County Line, Steve Niles knows from creepy and Justiniano, Walden Wong and Chris Chuckry offer a nice visual complement, balancing the creepy with the cartoony. Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters has the potential to be DC's Ultimates, complete with expectations of delays judging by Daniel Acuña's pretty artwork. Trials of Shazam was mildly intriguing, but Judd Winick's writing it so it's doomed by association in my mind. OMAC and Martian Manhunter did nothing for me at all. There's also a seventh preview (prologue?) that acts as bookends, featuring yet another dip into the fully tapped out Crisis on Infinite Earths well that comes off as little more than an admission that 2+ years of plot-hammering still left the DCU with a number of rough edges that need sanding.
Young Avengers #12 (Marvel, $2.99)
Okay, so it's pretty clear that "Kree-Skrull War II" fell victim to Allan Heinberg's strained schedule -- The O.C., Wonder Woman, Grey's Anatomy -- as this story arc ends two issues too early and everything is wrapped up too quickly. But rarely has coitus interruptus been so satisfying, as Heinberg and Jim Cheung make the most of this premature conclusion to their noteworthy first season, hitting all the right emotional beats and ending things on an up-note. Cheung's clever use of dense splash pages balanced by six-panel layouts for the big fight scene brought one of those silly fanboy grins to my face that this series has been chock full of, and Patriot receiving a blood transfusion from his grandfather Isaiah (the black Captain America from Truth: Red, White & Black), literally brought a tear to my eye and provided apt closure for the dicey drugssteroidsMutant Growth Hormone plotline. Hoo-fucking-rah!
Daredevil #86 (Marvel, $2.99)
I jumped onboard the Daredevil bandwagon pretty late in the game, succumbing to Bendis' mega-hyped but underwhelming "Decalogue" story arc, and stuck around for Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, who have quickly turned this series into a top-of-the-stack must-read every month. This issue, the "$#@% jumps off" as a riot turns Ryker's into a deathtrap whose prey is Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, forcing them to team up, along with Bullseye, in a brutal fight for their lives. Brubaker handles the action, character and plot development well, with Lark matching him step-for-step, and in the end, Frank Castle gets invited to play. Captain America, Daredevil...DC was crazy to let Brubaker go. If he doesn't take over Moon Knight when Charlie Huston is done, there's no justice in this world.
