Silver Surfer #2

A re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 2
Date: August, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

I remember being hugely disappointed in this issue when I read it in 1987. With some more years to look back on it, I've gotten a better understanding of what was going on here, but it still feels like it could have been handled better.

For all of his history up to this point, Norrin Radd's love for his lost Shalla-Bal was the heart of his story. Surfer was all about the tragic romance, and this issue was all about sweeping that completely under the rug so that Norrin (or rather, Surfer) could be freed up adventures in space. Unfortunately, if you go with the HEA, then you really don't have any reason to have an ongoing series.

But even if it was necessary, this felt rushed and did a disservice to the character of Shalla-Bal, who had good reasons to break things off, but failed to do a good job of expressing them and so came off as not even trying.

There was some intrigue involving the Skrulls, because Skrulls are gonna Skrull, and that aspect of the story was well handled with a good buildup of future subplots. But the dismissal of one of comics' best romances (Seriously? We get one kiss and that's it?) remains a disappointment.

Rating: 4/10

The Punisher #5

 

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: The Punisher
Issue: 5
Date: May, 1986
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steven Grant, Jo Duffy
Artist: Mike Vosburg, John Beatty
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Carl Potts

This is the final issue of the five-issue limited series that was the Punisher's first series after he was introduced in the pages of Spider-Man and had occasional appearances in other titles.

Frank Castle has been trapped by a mysterious organization aiming to produce a brainwashed army of "Punishers" for an all-out war on crime with no regard for protecting innocent lives. The opening sequence has Castle in one of those ridiculously-slow-deathtraps, although the purpose is brainwashing rather than death. The result is pretty standard. Punisher escapes and takes on his old enemy Jigsaw, now dressed in Punisher cosplay along with a crew of jobbers. The rest of this is mop-up.

While the action never gets all that interesting, the character work here is pretty solid. Faced with his own crusade taken to its logical extreme, Frank Castle suddenly has doubts. The result is a bit at odds with where the story picks up in the two ongoing titles that follow this, but it does make a good conclusion to this arc, and really in some sense, it felt like a conclusion to the Punisher character itself. This was a good walk off into the sunset for Frank Castle, that still left a lot of moral ambiguity, but also gave Frank the chance to walk away from his obsessive crusade. It's almost disappointing that this isn't how things turned out.

Rating 6.5/10

Kingdom Hearts II Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Kingdom Hearts II
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Shiro Amano
Artist: Shiro Amano

Roxas, a teenager living in a small village called Twilight Town, just wants to enjoy his summer vacation with his friends. But weird things keep happening. A mysterious thief is stealing not just items, but the memories of those items too. And Roxas keeps having dreams about a boy named Sora.

This is actually the third series of manga based on the Kingdom Hearts game, so it's probably not the best jumping-in point for a franchise with so much lore. It was a bit difficult to keep everyone straight, and the artwork gets very jumpy in the scenes where the various bits of weirdness kick in. I did really enjoy the art in the quieter scenes, but even for someone unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, this felt more confusing than it needed to be. A bit more time to breathe and explain would have been nice.

And while I have some idea of what types of things to expect out of Kingdom Hearts is was still a little disconcerting to have Donald Duck and Goofy just show up seemingly randomly in a couple of panels.

Fun character interactions between Roxas and his friends did help make this interesting, but not so much that I felt like I needed to find out what comes next.

Rating: 5.5/10

Silver Surfer #1

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 1
Date: March, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

Silver Surfer escapes from the barrier that kept him trapped on Earth and mends fences with Galactus by rescuing Nova (the Frankie Raye version of Nova), who is a hostage of the Skrulls. Along the way, he gets some much-needed help from the Fantastic Four and teaches the Champion a lesson in not bringing one's fists to a cosmic-power-blast fight.

The artwork here is gorgeous, particularly on the space scenes, which are given plenty of, well, space. Surfer and Nova look great. The interaction with the FF is a bit on the wordy side, with a lot of recap that seems mostly aimed at catching readers up on developments in the FF book (wait... Alicia married WHO?).

The portrayal of Galactus is a bit too humanized for a being that really needs to be an unfeeling cosmic force, but it does serve the plot, and accomplishes the important main objective of this first issue. Surfer is now free to seek out new adventures across Marvel's cosmic settings. This was a solid reboot for the character.

Rating: 7/10

The Punisher War Journal #1

So, apparently there are some books that got stashed in the Random Box of Unread Comics that I have, in fact, read. But I haven't reviewed them, so I'll be giving them a reread. I don't think I've given this one a look since I bought in when it was released.

Title: The Punisher War Journal
Issue: 1
Date: November, 1988
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Carl Potts
Artist: Carl Potts, Jim Lee
Colorist: John Wellington
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Don Daley

Frank Castle is on a mission, but life keeps getting in the way. In this case, life involves getting caught up in mob drama involving hitmen, kidnapped babies, and an exceptionally messy divorce.

This is a really cleverly constructed first issue, particularly the use of wordless panels at the bottom of the pages to retell the Punisher's origin story, as well as the character-building twist at the end where we discover the nature of Frank's mission.

It also reintroduces Microchip, brings in some new supporting cast, has a Matt Murdock cameo, and features a clever ending teaser for a bunch of upcoming stories. The only bit where it drags is in a wordy explanation that sets the stage for the mob drama. The action is solid and the art looks great. And Punisher fans will appreciate that there is no effort to soften Castle's approach to his work here.

Rating: 7.5/10

Deathmate Prologue

From the Box of Random Unread Comics.

Title: Deathmate Prologue
Date: June, 1993
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment / Image Comics
Writer: Bob Layton
Penciler: Barry Windsor-Smith, Rob Liefeld
Inker: Jim Lee, Bob Layton, Danny Miki, Dan Panosian
Colorist: Joe Chiodo
Letterer: Mike Heisler
Editor: Mark Moretti

This was the opening scene to the large-scale Valiant/Image crossover event. It opens with a death, and Solar consumed by grief and retreating into the Unreality where he meets up with Void. Fascinated by each other, they kiss and become one. That's the first story.

The second story starts in a dream sequence that is essentially a Rob Liefeld rollcall of Image and Valiant characters. It's the Geomancer who's dreaming, and he wakes up in a panic and runs right into a fight with the Berzerkers, which leads to Prophet getting involved. Turns out Prophet is in on the whole dream thing and we're off and (literally) running.

I don't really know either set of characters, so this felt a little disjointed, but it was sufficient to get the idea across that there is some kind of Crisis-On-Infinite-Earths-level event heading in the heroes' direction. So while a bit more backstory would have been nice to make me feel a bit more invested, this was still a reasonable opening to the coming saga.

Rating: 5.5/10

Sketch Series 02: Punko Turt

From last Spring's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Sketch Series
Issue: 02: Punko Turt

Another from a batch of uncredited micro-mini comics I picked up at Flywheel Zine Fest. This book uses only three illustrations to introduce Punko Turt, a combination of pumpkin and turtle, that bears a slight resemblance to Pokemon's Bulbasaur. Punko Turt uses its pumpkin vine to catch small ghosts. A single line of caption explains Punko Turt's ongoing battle against evil.

This was very cute, and the one line of text hit with unexpected gravitas.

Rating: 6/10

Captain America #233

From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: Captain America
Issue: 233
Date: May, 1979
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roger McKenzie
Artist: Sal Buscema, Don Perlin
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Roger Stern

Steve Rogers is caught between Harlem mobsters and a gang of white supremacists wielding high-tech weaponry. To make matters worse, a mind-controlled Sharon Carter is leading the charge for the National Force.

The story quickly moves away from its political implications as the mind control aspect takes center stage and a villain gets a big reveal, followed by an extra bit of a twist to end things.

Steve shows some good emotion as he grapples with the possible fate of Sharon, but the use of generic villain tropes  (and traps!) detracts a bit in terms of keeping my interest.

Rating: 5.5/10

Orfina Volume 1

From the tbr shelf. Not sure where I got this one.

Title: Orfina
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2005
Publisher: CMX
Writer: Kitsune Tennouji
Artist: Kitsune Tennouji
Editorial Director: Jim Lee

A young soldier fleeing the forces of an advanced militant nation is taken in by the royal family of a peaceful kingdom, and it's discovered that the soldier appears nearly identical to that kingdom's princess. The princess and the resistance fighter become best friends from the moment they meet, but the forces of the invading nation, Granze, are closing in, unleashing destruction with guns and fire dragons which the armies of Cordia have no defense against.

The story in this opening volume turns grim pretty quickly as the folk of Cordia fight a brave, but losing battle against the invaders and Princess Orfina and her "twin", Fana, must flee for their lives.

There was some good character development, particularly in the relationship between Orfina and Fana, and lots of room for future plot complications. This was a solid start, and the artwork was lovely.

Rating: 7.5/10