Comic reviews

Evening chums, it's been a while since I bored you all with any reviews hasn't it? Here are some for you now.

Wake up at the back!

Thor Ages of Thunder
Despite Matt Fraction's admission that he hates all things fantasy, he's actually penned a damn good Thor book here. It's certainly much better than the ongoing Straczynski series which I dropped after two mind numbingly dull issues. I've heard from a few people that It's got better since then, but really two issues of Thor hanging around in small town America doing nothing was enough to turn me off for life.

Let's face it, Thor might have an introspective side to his character, but when it comes down to it he's the God of Thunder, he's got a fucking big hammer and he's good at smashing skulls. This should be the basis of any Thor book and, thank Odin, Fraction knows it. Within a couple of pages of Ages of Thunder our hero is bashing crap out of angry frost giants. Huzzah!

That's not to say that this is just a beat 'em up comic. Fraction's Thor is a different animal to the one I'm used to reading about, pretty Conanesque really. He's a surly bugger who does things his way, occasionally rising from his shagpad to clear up the latest mess that Loki has made. That might not do it for all Thor fans, but it works fine for me, and I'd be more than happy to see Fraction writing a lot more Thor.

Crawl Space #4 XXX Zombies
It makes the old EC comics look tame, but there's a whiff of EC spirit about Crawl Space, a feeling that Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer are pushing their luck, testing our tolerance and breaking taboos for fun.

I read this issue on the bus and let me tell you, within two pages I was hurriedly ensuring that the person next to me couldn't see what I was looking at. It's genuinely sick stuff which could provoke a real outcry if it were to fall into the wrong hands.

Seriously, in 24 pages we get a nun giving head, an orgy, an anal rape, multiple murders and a souvenir poster of a zombie birth! Fffffuckkkk, I doubt that's a recipe we'll be seeing repeated in the soon to be relaunched House of Mystery.

Obviously Remender's tongue is firmly in his cheek (indeed the dark sense of humour provides another link to those old EC stories) but there are also times when XXX Zombies gets pretty damn nasty. Reading it is a bit like being clubbed over the head, but for all it's excesses (or maybe because of them) Crawl Space is a fine horror comic, the only truly horrifying one on the market in fact.

Green Lantern #30
Part two of Geoff Johns' Secret Origin arc, and one of the best issues in what remains my favourite ongoing DC title.

There's plenty of ammo here for those who castigate Johns for being a mawkish fanboy. After all this is yet another retelling of John Broome and Gil Kane's classic silver age origin story AND one which (once again) draws on Alan Moore's Tygers to boot.

For me though, Johns' interweaving of these two very different tales is a masterpiece of mainstream comics. He seamlessly knots the stories together adding his own spin to make something completely new. It's brilliant to watch and rather than replacing that classic origin story, fleshes it out.

Great stuff.

The Sound of Drowning #11
It's always a pleasant surprise to see this little British independent back on the racks. For those of you who missed it, I recommended the last issue HERE.

If you didn't give it a shot then, try it now. The latest issue features the a post apocalyptic take on Happy Days, a potted history of psycho-schematics, a disturbing tale of Artificial intelligence and a maniacal William Shatner.

Nightmarish, pamphlet sized goodness featuring the Cunningham family as you've never seen them before. What more could you want? If you can't get it in your comic shop, then you can order it through The Sound of Drowning website

This and that

As some of the more grizzled old hacks in my office say when they fancy a trip to the pub: "Much to discuss!"

So where to begin? Well, how about we take a look at what Mr Robert Kirkman has to say about the current state of the ultimate universe...

"I feel compelled to admit that I'm really enjoying ULTIMATE HUMAN. It's a series by Warren Ellis, Cary Nord and Dave Stewart. The art is superb and for a book that's really only about Iron Man and Hulk fighting--and done only to play off the two movies being released this year--it's really just written superbly. The characters are so well defined and well acted it's just a joy to watch Tony Stark and Bruce Banner react. I can only hope that after Jeph Loeb is done with THE ULTIMATES, Warren Ellis is given a shot on the book... he really does get the characters and the tone of the book. I recommend it to anyone who's not thrilled with Ultimates 3"

Now you may think it's pretty rich of Kirkman to be taking a swipe (all be it a veiled one) at Loeb's Ultimates when his own tenure on Ultimate X-Men has been such a let down, but he's right about Warren Ellis getting the tone of the Ultimates. I said so HERE!

If you want to read more of Kirkman's thoughts on comics and pop culture then I suggest you subscribe to his KIRKSPAM mailing list HERE

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Talking of Warren Ellis, the third part of his webcomic FREAKANGELS has just gone up. It's been interesting so far. Nice art and subdued colours from Paul Duffield too. I like the little rainbow in the water coming out of the hosepipe in this panel...

Very pretty.

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Finally got round to reading Crawl Space XXX Zombies #3 and errrm well, shit, I don't want to sound like Mary Whitehouse or anything but it was all rather nasty.

Zombie porn stars biting off cocks I can take, but splash pages of zombie nurses eating newborn babies!?! Whoa there! That's a step too far for my tastes, and one that felt out of place with the humour which ran so strongly through the first couple of issues.

Shame really as up until that point I'd been enjoying Crawl Space a lot. I won't be dropping it (hey I'm not that much of a prude) but I really hope we don't see any more baby munching in issue #4.

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I was tempted to give Kick-Ass a miss, but the lure of a new Mark Millar/John Romita JR. book sitting on the comic shop shelf was just to great to resist. And, you know, it's not half bad. As with most of Millar's work we're on familiar ground: the cult of instant celebrity, alienation, violence, sexual frustration etc etc. We've seen it all before in The Chosen, Wanted and The Ultimates.

As such, reading Kick-Ass you feel that Millar isn't really extending himself here. But, you know he still knows how to write a funny superhero comic even if he is basically writing the same one over and over again.

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Sad news re Checkmate; Marvel bound Greg Rucka is leaving as of issue #25.

I think it's safe to say that the book will be canceled soon after. Sales on the title are poor and DC were probably only keeping it going because binning it would have pissed Rucka off BIG TIME.

Whatever, I'd be shocked if it makes issue 40 now that Rucka's going, which is a bummer as it's one of the best books on the stand.

Boo-hoo.

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I've just realised, I've been writing this bollocks for over a year now. Ha Ha. I never thought I'd manage that when I sat down and spewed out a pissed rant about Ultimate X-Men.

I'm not sure why I'm still doing it given that the only people who seem to read it are blokes who accidentally stumble on THIS and THIS while googling for spandex based wank sites and huge cock comics.

Oh well, happy birthday to my blog!