Detective Comics Annual #11

Another break from the SPACE reviews, this time for a comic I picked up at a going-out-of-business Borders recently.

Title: Detective Comics Annual
Issue: #11
Date: 2009
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Fabian Nicieza, Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen, Mandy McMurray
Art: Tom Mandrake, Dustin Nguyen, Kelley Jones
Colorist: Nathan Eyring, Michelle Madsen
Letterer: John J. Hill
Editor: Mike Marts, Janelle Siegel, Harvey Richards, Michael Siglain

This is the second part of a fairly convoluted two-part story involving a cult of Seven-Deadly-Sins-based metahuman baddies who are kidnapping a bunch of boys for what appears to be a fairly generic ritual sacrifice gimmick.

We start out with The Question (Montoya, not Sage) trying to fight her way through a horde of zombies (actually mind-controlled bystanders, but zombies for all intents and purposes). The numbers nearly win out, but the Batman (Grayson, not Wayne) arrives to make the save.

Rather blunt recapping and infodump follows. We learn that Robin (Damian, not Tim or Jason or Dick; are you feeling like you need a scorecard with these characters?) has gone undercover as one of the kidnap victims.

He's in the lair of the bad guys, drugged up, but still managing to do a pretty classic "Ransom of Red Chief" routine.

Since there are plenty of bad guys to go round, the party gets split up. Azrael (Michael Lane, not Jean-Paul Valley; okay, now this is getting ridiculous) goes to help out Robin. These two actually have the makings of a great team of villains. Heroes, not so much.

Question and Batman fail to stop another kidnapping. Well, actually, they stop it just a bit after the actual kidnapping occurs. This then leads to the one really great scene in this story, a reunion between Detective Bullock and Renee Montoya with both characters handled really well.

The bad guys are trounced pretty thoroughly when all is said and done, which is fine because in spite of having some powers they're basically nobodies and they're up against some fairly formidable heroes. Well, okay, they're up against Dick Grayson. And some at-least-competent heroes. That is still pretty formidable.

Speaking of the end, we're not done. There are backup stories. Lil Gotham: Question & Answer is a cute rhyming bit with the Riddler. Fun riddle, but the final punch line didn't amount to much.

This is followed by an Oracle team-up with Looker. A vampire called the Stygian is doing the creepy stalker routine on Barbara Gordon, and Looker gets called in because (I guess) if you want to catch a vampire, you call in Buffy! But when she's not available, another vampire is an acceptable option.

Writer Mandy McMurray tries to throw in some bits to make Looker and Oracle seem competent, but neither of them is able to accomplish much of anything against Stygian, who is a pretty generic villain. This seems to be trying to set the Stygian up as a recurring villain for Gordon, I wasn't left with much interest in seeing further chapters of this conflict.

While there were some good moments (Bullock/Montoya, some of Damian's dialogue, the riddle), this annual mostly served to remind me of just how silly DC continuity is these days, even in the Bat-books, which can usually be counted on for at lease some level of quality.

Rating: 5.5/10

Plastic Farm #5

Title: Plastic Farm
Issue: #5
Date: March 2004
Publisher: Plastic Farm Press
Writer: Rafer Roberts
Artist: Jake Warrenfeltz
Backup Story By: Matt Dembicki

A group of party-crashers raise some hell to start off what morphs into a pretty sweet romantic story. Interesting and well fleshed out personalities and good dialogue keep things moving along. Still waiting to see how all of this connects to the storylines of previous issues. Connections are just barely hinted at this time out.

Backup story is a rhyming horror piece by Matt Dembicki that's got some great artwork, particularly on an incredibly detailed border that frames a splash page.

Rating: 7.5/10

Mercy Sparx: Under New Management #1 Free Comic Book Day Edition

This is the first of my purchases/finds from the South Coast Toy & Comic Show in Fairhaven MA a couple of weeks ago. This was one of a stack of old FCBD books that Rubber Chicken Comics had brought and put out on the freebies table.

Title: Mercy Sparx: Under New Management
Issue: #1 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)
Date: May, 2009
Publisher: Devils Due Publishing
Writer: Josh Blaylock
Artist: Matt Merhoff
Colorist: Bill Crabtree
Letterer: Crank!
Cover Art: Tim Seeley, Josh Blaylock

Two pages of text in a very small font are required to fill the reader in on the basic scenario and the happenings in the previous series. And then it takes another four pages of exposition before the story gets started. This could have gotten out of the gate a lot faster and with a lot fewer words.

Mercy Sparx is a, well, essentially a demonic being of some sort, but she's not particularly evil. Just snarky. The main thing she seems to do is to get manipulated into doing other people's dirty work. Dirty work, in this case consisting mostly of tracking down rogue angels and beating them up. With occasional moments of getting beat up by said rogue angels, not to mention suffering the occasional serious beatdown from the various more powerful beings that she works for.

When we finally get to the plot of this issue, Mercy is acting as a messenger for Heaven. Messenger here kind of in the mob sense. So she's got some angel she needs to deliver a message to, but en route she gets jumped by some other angels. A brawl ensues, followed by the seemingly inevitable bondage scene.

I liked the cynical dialogue in this, and the fight scenes were reasonably pretty if occasionally lacking in logic (Mercy gets knocked through a window and into a wall by an angel flying at full speed and gets up swinging, but a single kick puts her lights out a couple of pages later).

But there is a definite vibe that this is a comic that's pretending to be about a strong woman, when really it's a comic about a woman that things happen to, and who is constantly being controlled by (male) beings that she is hopelessly outmatched against. Silly excessively revealing outfits, generic comic-heroine body types, and bondage sequences did little to alter my opinion.

Which is too bad, because there is a lot of fun in the way this is written and there is a lot to like about the artwork. I have a distinct bad gut feeling about the themes I'm reading into this, but I would love for that feeling to be proven wrong.

Rating: 5.5/10

Radio Free Gahanna #2

Title: Radio Free Gahanna
Issue: #2
Publisher: 2 Headed Monster Comics
Writer: James Moore
Artist: Joel Jackson

A nighttime disc jockey and a freelance web designer meet up for the first time since college, and they revisit old hangouts populated by the ghosts of times past. Really good dialogue that flows naturally as an intriguing assortment of characters reflect on life, art, music, and zombies. A bit hard to follow in places, but there is plenty here to keep the reader engaged.

Also includes two essays. The first is a tribute to Columbus OH radio DJ John "Andyman" Davis. There is also an essay on the music of Jenny Lewis and Rilo Kiley (cut off in the print version, but with a web address to read the full piece).

Rating: 7/10

Grixly #10

Title: Grixly
Issue: #10
Date: 2010
Publisher: Grixly
Writer: Nate McDonough
Artist: Nate McDonough

A journey through a year in Andy's life in which a mysterious egg hatches into an even more mysterious bird that talks, smokes cigarettes, and lives in blood in classic Little Shop of Horrors fashion.

Andy also has a series of convenient store encounters and befriends one of the clerks there.

This had a lot more plot than the other issue I reviewed (#18), and I enjoyed the story, which was a nice mix of quirky charm and disturbing creepiness. The pacing was good and McDonough made excellent use of the seasonal imagery.

Rating: 7/10

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 Newbury Comics Edition

Taking a break from the SPACE reviews to look at a fairly well-hyped recent release.

Title: Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters
Issue: #1
Date: 2011
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Eric Powell, Tracy Marsh
Penciler: Phil Hester
Inker: Bruce McCorkindale
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: Chris Ryall

IDW's new Godzilla book featured one of the greatest gimmicks in comic history. They created a custom cover art for any store willing to order 500 copies. Each cover showed Godzilla's foot stomping the store that placed the order. Marketing genius! Now you can see your local store get flattened by the King of the Monsters, and if you're really obsessive, there are 75 store-crushing cover variants (not to mention four cover variants for those stores who didn't pony up the bucks for the custom cover deal).

This issue also contains thumbnails of all (79!) covers, and the "standard" cover art is also reproduced in full size on the back cover.

Oh, and there's also a story in between those covers. Well, a bit of one, anyway.

Godzilla awakens and begins stomping things (by "things" here, what we really mean is "the city of Tokyo"). And people are upset about that. To be continued. This seems to be a complete reboot, rather than a "return" storyline such as many Godzilla revivals have done. There is even an "origin" sequence for Godzilla's radioactive fire breath, which involves what has to be the quickest and least agonizing decision to use a nuclear weapon in comics. Because the Japanese are certainly not the types to spend any time worrying about the possible consequences of using a nuclear weapon. Anyway, to that list of consequences, you can go ahead and add "granting radioactive breath powers to monsters".

There is also an appearance by President Obama, and an attempt to make "You have got to be %$@#ing kidding me!" into a kind of recurring catchphrase (those are the book's curse-marks, not mine). What is lacking are any sympathetic characters (Sorry, Mr. President!) other than possibly Godzilla himself.

And while there is plenty of destruction, most of it is in isolated pinup-style pages with little actual effort at transition from panel to panel. The whole comic book felt like it was rushing to get the readers past the dull stuff that they'd already seen a million times and get on with the real story, which starts next issue apparently.

I'm not sure this is the way to score points with the die-hard Godzilla fans who are plunking down their money to see Tokyo wrecked.

The artwork is quite nice, and does a good job of capturing Godzilla's size, something that has been difficult in past attempts to bring the big guy to life in comics.

The series promises more monsters (and Toho even included their little monster logos on the inside cover). Maybe with additional monsters will come likable characters and a plot.

Rating: 6/10

Plastic Farm #4

Title: Plastic Farm
Issue: #4
Date: December, 2003
Publisher: Plastic Farm Press
Writer: Rafer Roberts
Artist: Rafer Roberts
Backup Story By: Rafer Roberts, Nan Roberts, Dennis Culver

The main story here is a tragic romance about a young pilot and the first and only love of his life. It's a stand-alone story, so we've still got a lot of loose ends hanging from earlier in the series, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. The dialogue, especially early in the tale, flows smoothly and naturally and the characters are great.

Two backup stories here. First up is an illustrated poem by Nan Roberts, wife of creator Rafer Roberts. Rafer Roberts handles the illustrating on the piece, which has a nice quirky beat-poetry feel to it.

The second backup story is Astro Zombies, an space-opera zombie tale by Dennis Culver that doesn't take itself too seriously. Two of the three characters are pro wrestlers (one with extra arms!). The story is simple and straightforward, but the characters are amusing and likable.

Rating: 8/10

The Amazing Cynicalman #28

Title: The Amazing Cynicalman
Issue: #28
Date: 2011
Publisher: Not Available Comics
Writer: Matt Feazell
Artist: Matt Feazell

More stickfigure minicomic goodness from Matt Feazell. This time around, Cynicalman takes on Cash For Clunkers, town hall meetings on healthcare reform, and the digital TV switchover (and TV in general). Cynicalman's neighbor Ken Tucky brings home a new dog, which proves to have some advantages as well as some drawbacks.

Feazell has some good jokes here and an interesting cast of recurring characters, and he manages it all with stick figures.

Rating: 8/10

Plastic Farm #3

Continuing to make my way through the pile of purchases from SPACE.

Title: Plastic Farm
Issue: #3
Date: September, 2003
Publisher: Plastic Farm Press
Writer: Rafer Roberts
Artist: Dave Morgan, Jake Warrenfeltz
Backup Story By: Sean Frost, Wendi Strang-Frost

Plastic Farm has some of the most unusual and creative covers in comics, and this issue's photo cover is one of the most fun in the series.

This issue also represents a departure as writer/artist Rafer Roberts turns over the art chores to Dave Morgan and Jake Warrenfeltz, who each take a story. First up is the story of a country couple whose dinner is interrupted by a call for help. This is one of those quick/nasty/ironic pieces, and it works pretty well. I particularly liked the space given to the art and the very sparing use of dialogue.

The second story is a much more straightforward tale, a hardboiled cop story about an undercover operation that doesn't end well. It's got good dialogue and action and a nice buildup of suspense.

Nothing in this issue's stories appear to have any connection to the first two issues. It will be interesting to see how the series develops over the long term, but readers looking for immediate continuity will find themselves at a loss.

Backup story, Johnny Public: Queen of Hearts Preview, was a better fit for Plastic Farm than the previous two backup stories have been. In fact, this bizarre tale of a woman visiting her father's grave fits pretty well flavor-wise. It featured some nice artwork (and a cat!), with some surreal character depictions.

Rating: 7/10

The Care And Feeding Of Cats... Or How To Train Your Human

Title: The Care And Feeding Of Cats... Or How To Train Your Human
Date: 2011
Publisher: Canada Keck (kitakitsune@rocketmail.com)
Writer: Canada Keck
Artist: Canada Keck

From 2011's 24-hour comic day comes this collection of cat-sitter instructions adapted into minicomic form. Canada Keck has four cats, each one with a list of nicknames and a startling array of quirks. The jokes are spot-on here although they stick to fairly standard observations about felines.

There is also a running joke about TS Eliot which is pretty amusing. I like my cat comics literary.

This is a fun minicomic and an excellent example of what can be accomplished in 24 hours.

Rating: 7/10