My sabbatical from regular collecting is partially over as I have started buying comics again with relative frequency. I bought the first issue of World War Hulk last week and plan to buy it to its conclusion. Today, I bought a one-shot spin-off of Captain America's death. As I am still a floating employee (sigh) with a DSL connection and lots of idle time, I thought I'd share my thoughts on them.
Review 1: World War Hulk #1
Story: Greg Pak
Art: John Romita, Jr. (pencils)
Klaus Janson (inks)
Christina Strain (colors)
Last year, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange and Black Bolt, known to Marvel Universe fans as the Illuminati, hatched a scheme to exile Hulk to another planet where, they believed, he could find the peace that always eluded him. He was tricked into embarking on a space mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., and in space was sent off to a far-off planet. Unfortunately this planet, called Sakaar, turned out to be inhabited, and he spent the rest of the year fighting for his life in the 'Planet Hulk' storyline.
A year later, post 'Civil War,' Hulk returns to Earth, royally pissed. He shows up in New York riding a spaceship and accompanied by a motley crew of aliens whom he befriended on Sakaar, tells the people to evacuate the city and to bring forth Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Strange. For impact, he shows the people of New York the mangled body of Black Bolt and tells them he'll do the same thing to the whole planet if he doesn't get what he wants.
And so World War Hulk begins.
The issue has an impressive page count (42, to be exact), and to an action fan it isn't disappointing. There are two major punchups in this issue, and that's pretty much all there is to it. Of course, in this post-Civil War climate, what happens to Iron Man is a source of much satisfaction for many Marvel fans.
It's funny; I am and will remain a Marvel fan. I enjoyed 'Civil War' and what I read of 'Planet Hulk.' For some reason, however, this series doesn't do for me what either 'Civil War' or 'Planet Hulk' did.
'Civil War,' for all its flaws, tried something different. It took risks. And it was lavishly illustrated from start to finish.
'Planet Hulk' had wall-to-wall action, but also incredible build-up and intricate development not only of the characters Hulk met but of the world they inhabited. I realize that it's foolish to compare them here considering that Pak had to build Sakaar up from scratch, but still it feels like his writing as been considerably dumbed down for 'World War Hulk.'
In 42 pages, all that happens is that Hulk lands on the moon where the Inhumans live, then on Earth, and punches out two of the Illuminati. That's literally all that happens.
Another thing that disappoints me about this book is the art, especially considering Romita, Jr. is one of my favorite artists of all time. Whereas with his last work, 'The Eternals' I felt that he had achieved new levels of excellence, this one leaves me cold. There are still a few shining moments, a couple of cool splash pages, but overall his visuals feel just like the writing: simplistic and devoid of any nuance.
For this I fault his inker Klaus Janson, and colorist Christina Strain. Janson may be a frequent collaborator with Romita, Jr. but he's far from the best. Strain, for her part, seems best suited to coloring the simpler, anime-styled 'Runaways' than something meant to be so epic. They should have brought out 'Civil War' colorist Morry Hollowell or Matt Hollingsworth onto this book.
Online fanboys are ecstatic over this book the way they were livid over 'Civil War', so the relative sales of the two miniseries will show just how 'important' they are. I for one wasn't that crazy about this book, but I won't presume to speak for anyone else.
Still, I hope the storytelling crew go a little more into development from this point beyond having Hulk punch out the Marvel Universe. Having created a whole world for Hulk barely a year ago, I think Pak has what it takes to keep this story engaging till the end.
Review 2: Fallen Son, the Death of Captain America: Spider-Man
Story: Jeph Loeb
Art: David Finch (pencils)
Danny Miki (inks)
Frank D'Armata (colors)
Having read this issue, I've reaffirmed something I felt since I spent an unconscionable amount of money on the paperback of 'Daredevil: Yellow,' I hate Jeph Loeb's writing. I hate it because, in essence, just about nothing happens in any of the stuff he writes. His 'Batman: Hush' arc with Jim Lee was nothing more than an excuse to have Lee draw Batman's rogues gallery, his scripts are little more than excuses for splash pages, and his dialogue is the stuff of bad TV shows.
That's exactly the case here.
In this issue, Spider-Man mopes over the death of Captain America, knocks out the Rhino and talks to Wolverine. And THAT's it. Considering this issue's average-panel-per-page count is about two, I can't say I'm surprised.
That said, I understand why Loeb is so popular with comic-book artists: he basically panders to them. When they're splash page types, he apparently crams his scripts with big, bonecrunching action splash pages and double-page spreads. The artist never really has to adjust to Loeb's style.
As a result, David Finch, Danny Miki (who should have inked WWH instead of Klaus Janson) and Frank D'Armata knock this issue out of the park with their gratuitous splash pages and astonishing rendering. His run on 'New Avengers' didn't look this good. Heck, not even Jim Lee's 'Batman' issues looked this good.
Still, one really gets the sense from this particular issue (and this string of one-shots as a whole) that Marvel is simply milking Captain America's death for every penny it's worth. I still don't understand why they had to kill him considering 'Civil War' had put him so squarely in the spotlight, but I just hope they know what they're doing. The world doesn't really need a 'Reign of the Captain Americas' or a mullet-haired Steve Rogers to come back from the dead in a year's time.
At least we got to see Finch at his very best...
5 comments:
Actually, WWH is way easier and fall less time consuming for me to color than Runaways, so I wouldn't call Runaways a simpler book to color stylistically.
And Morry colored the JRJR Fallen son issue so you got your wish right there. :)
I stand corrected.
But oh, my gosh, what an honor to have Christina Strain commenting on this blog (I mean, wow! I'm kind of starstruck here...).
Well, okay, if I may offer a bit of constructive criticism, I do feel that JRjr's larger-than-life style works well with a certain kind of palette. Take the approach taken by Matt Hollingsworth and Paul Mounts in the last couple of issues of Eternals, for example.
I realize that WWH is definitely dark in tone, but Johnny's pencils tend to look better in more standout colors (and with crisper, sharper inks, I may add) with some high contrast lighting as well (e.g., Dan Kemp's work on his first arc with J. Michael Straczynski).
I hope I don't sound too critical, but JRjr's been a favorite of mine for nearly two decades now and my affection for his work borders on the disturbing. I can get a bit protective, as a result ;)
oh no no dude, I've always been totally cool with people having their opinion on whatever I do, be it good or bad. I know I can't please everyone, that's just impossible, I can just do my best and try not to suck too hard and make my penciler and inker happy. :P
As for the contrast, I can stand up for myself a little there, I dunno how many people realize how much we PRAY when something is sent to the printer, but colors NEVER come out the way we want them too and the first issue of hulk is a prime example. Some of those pages, the contrast is lost so much that I literally felt my heart drop when I saw them. But hey, it happens.
Anyway, it's cool, you don't have to like it, you can be critical, art's subjective after all.
True enough. To each his own, as they say.
Well, for better or worse, I'm still on board for all five issues. I may have been disappointed by the first outing, but like I said, I think it still has a lot of potential, so here's hoping.
Also, I'm really grateful a creator has taken the time to receive fan input; it means a lot. Thanks for reading and posting!
no prob! Thanks for the review!
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