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

The New Mutants Saga

From the random stack of unread comics.

After this book, 47 comics remain in the random stack. There are 54 days remaining before we leave Vietnam. Which means that if I want to finish the stack before we head to the US, then I only get to skip 7 days. And that's not counting the various graphic novels in the school library (and a couple on my to-read shelf) that I'd like to get through. So expect things to be busy here in the coming weeks.

And during our month-long visit home, hopefully I'll get the chance to review some new releases for the first time in a while! After that I'll be gathering a new random stack of unread comics to pack for our time in China.

Title: The New Mutants Saga
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2009
Writer: John Rhett Thomas, Sheila Johnson, Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld
Artist: Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema, Paul Smith, Ron Frenz, Tom Mandrake, Bill Sienkiewicz, Steve Leialoha, Rick Leonardi, Bret Blevins, Jackson Guice, Terry Shoemaker, Rob Liefeld
Editor: Jeff Youngquist, Mark D. Beazley, Jennifer Grunwald, John Dennng, Cory Levine
Cover: Diogenes Neves, Danny Miki, John Rauch

This is a promotional recap book that summarizes the entire run of The New Mutants from the 1980s into the early 1990s. It hits some of the now-classic Marvel crossover events like Fall of the Mutants and Inferno.

The recap is done in prose written by John Rhett Thomas and Sheila Johnson based on the stories originally written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, and Rob Liefeld.

Prose recaps of complicated ongoing comic stories are challenging to write (and to read!), and Marvel's mutant stories from the 80s and 90s are among the most convoluted anywhere in comics. New Mutants wasn't a book I followed for its whole run, but I picked up enough of the individual issues back in the day to have this bring back some memories. New Mutants could be a mess of a book, but it always had a lot of heart to it, and the recap presented here does a good job of focusing on the themes of friendship and loyalty that were important to the fans of The New Mutants.

Still, the complexity of the plot does get in the way of this book's effectiveness. If the objective is to sell the reprint trade paperbacks, this does an uneven job, Some of the stories sounded interesting, while other sounded like they'd be a slog to get through.

The reprinted art was awesome, though, and just flipping through this will likely bring a nostalgic smile to fans of Marvel's classic mutant stories.

Rating: 5.5/10

Teen Titans #28

Continued from my previous review: This is the second of a two-part Teen Titans story arc that Joe McGlone, artist for the webcomic Entripor, passed along for me to take a look at.

Title: Teen Titans
Date: November, 2005
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Rob Liefeld
Colorist: Matt Yackey
Letterer: Comicraft
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer, Joan Hilty

Kid Flash makes it onto the cover this time, but still no Beast Boy.

We skip a bit from last time and cut right to Robin wallowing in the team's trouncing at the hands of Kestrel, even though it was more of a hit-and-run than a real trouncing. Kestrel has captured Raven's soul-self and fled back to his realm with the two third-rate villainesses he recruited last time, conveniently leaving a gaping-open dimensional rift for the Titans to follow him through.

I don't know much about Kestrel, but I can't help but wonder whether he came about because somebody demanded that DC have a character with claws that are EVEN BETTER THAN WOLVERINE'S!!! I can see the conversation now:

DC Editor #1: "Wolverine's claws are made of adamantium! They can cut through anything! How can we ever top that?"
DC Editor #2: "I know! We'll make up a guy with claws so sharp they can cut through the FABRIC OF TIME AND SPACE!!!"

So, it's off to find Kestrel in his home dimension (a fairly generic version of Hell). I did like Beast Boy laughing at the "mirror that shows our greatest fears". Clever.

Kestrel sends his new recruits into battle throws his new recruits to the wolves. Fight scene ensues. Server Aja kinda gets lost in the shuffle for the second time out of two fight scenes she's appeared in. I'm beginning to suspect Liefeld doesn't like drawing her. Probably because she's wearing clothing.

So this scene basically boils down to a fight between Cross Christina and Wonder Girl, although fight isn't really the word for it as that would imply some level of competitiveness. Christina eventually realizes that hitting Cassie's fists with her face is not really getting her anywhere and surrenders.

Meanwhile, Robin, demonstrating that he's the tactician of the group, has decided to sneak off to fight Kestrel on his own. This is after repeatedly warning everyone last issue that Kestrel is so dangerous that even their combined powers might not be enough to beat him.

They do some mindgame stuff with an illusion of Tim's dad (they've got a Father's Day theme going on here, remember?), but that quickly gives way to brawling, and they actually start to do a pretty cool thing. You see, Kestrel, an agent of chaos, uses a chaotic and nearly-impossible-to-predict fighting style. And Robin is all about training and discipline. I loved Tim's line "Let's show him the dangers of the orderly mind." Brilliant.

Unfortunately, though, they feel the need to get back to the full-scale team brawl, so Kestrel regains the upper hand just in time for the rest of the Titans to show up and save Robin.

More fighting follows, and then a "shocking" twist that I could see coming a mile away. We quickly move into epilogue mode.

Oh, and Liefeld manages the seemingly impossible feat of drawing Starfire wearing even less than she usually wears.

That being said, I do have to give props for the final page, which is a genuinely sweet and tender scene between Cassie and the wounded Raven. More of this next time, please.

And less Kestrel.

Rating: 5.5/10

Teen Titans #27

Joe McGlone, artist for the webcomic Entripor, recently gave me a couple of issues of Teen Titans to review. Well, as it says on the cover of the first of these (Issue #27): Come on... You KNOW you want it!

Title: Teen Titans
Date: October, 2005
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Rob Liefeld
Colorist: Matt Yackey
Letterer: Comicraft
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer, Joan Hilty

So, all of the creative team here are listed as "guests". This is the first of a self-contained two-part arc, but other than that I have no idea how or if this fits into the grand continuity scheme of things. I also don't know all that much about the Teen Titans. They're not something I read all that much of. This looks like a pretty classic version of the team, though: Robin (Tim Drake), Cyborg, Wonder Girl (Cassie), Raven, Kid Flash (not on the cover for some reason), Beast Boy (also not on the cover) and um... Hawk and Dove (on the cover!)? Except that they're both women. Okay, whatever.

Some super-powered jobbers have hostages on the roof of a building, and we're off and running with a fight scene that starts out as a good old fashioned WCW jobber squash, then gives us a brief hope spot for the heels (yes, I do realize that it's normally the babyfaces that get the hope spot, but that's really what it looked like) before the tables get turned and the Titans go back to squashing the heels. There's also a brief cutaway to the Lords of Chaos and some villain.

Interesting detail: Robin takes a jumping kick from the supposedly super-strong Cross Christina (no, really, that's her name; she slightly resembles Domino from Marvel except that she wears even less). Robin then hits back with pretty much the exact same kick for the KO. Boy. Girl. Same kick. Girl is the one with the super strength. Girl hits first. Boy gets back up. Girl is knocked out. Sexism? Or just sloppy fight choreography? These days at DC it can be so hard to tell.

Best line of the comic: "Cyborg's hand, smelling slightly of liquid polymer and molybdenum." Really? Robin can smell the distinctive odor of molybdenum? I want THAT power! I wonder if it smells better or worse than tungsten. Or yttrium.

So, as it turns out, it's Father's Day, so it's back to HQ for some parent-themed character development and bowling. Look, I may not be taking this scene seriously, but they're the ones who are bowling.

Oops! We interrupt this comic for a seven-page Bionicle comic. Here's the first line of dialogue:

"The time is drawing near. Almost all of my threads have been spun. And I wait only for my prey to rush headlong into the trap. Always remember this, Little Hordeling... Though I am not a Visorak, I too can weave a web."

The remaining six pages are pretty much just like that line. The artwork is pretty difficult to figure out, and the characters are all generic-looking lego robots. But, apparently, the thrilling conclusion of this can be found in the October issue of Sports Illustrated For Kids. This is getting more surreal by the moment.

Meanwhile, back in the DCU, some heavily-armed cops are transporting the previously-captured villains. Excessive violence follows. Some off screen and some on. The actual villain (Kestrel) makes his presence known. We rush right into fight-mode and end on a cliffhanger.

Kestrel is pretty much everything that's wrong with like 90% of DC villains these days. All sadism and viciousness with no actual personality or any kind of complexity. The Titans are more interesting, and I did really like the little glimpse we got of this version of Hawk & Dove.

The story felt rushed and choppy. Liefeld's art was decent. A bit exaggerated, but that's what you expect from him. Simone's writing managed to ratchet the intensity up to 11 by the end, but the path getting there could have been a lot better.

Rating: 4.5/10