Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

reviews

Comic Book Review: X-Men Gold (2017) #1 by Guggenheim, Syaf, Leisten, Martin, & Petit – The X-Men Are Good (Guys) Again!

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There is a recurring theme in today’s X-Men Gold #1: “past is prologue.”

It’s a theme I lean into heavily in my every day life. Being obsessed with data and truth tends to emphasize the impact of the past on the present. Most fresh starts in life consist of actors with past track records of behavior, models of behavior that have previously been described. They aren’t really that fresh

That’s part of why everyone loves a sudden success story, whether that’s an indie movie or a hot new start-up. It’s not just the success we’re celebrating, but the subversion of trends and predictability.

When you swim in the data of a thing all the time, it’s really hard to be pleasantly surprised by those fresh starts. I looked at the return order probability of hundreds of start-ups. There was no novel return curve to discover. After the first few dozen, everyone snapped into a story I had seen before.

Comics can feel like that, too. It’s a tiny industry where the most read book never even approaches a million eyeballs (and I’m counting individual eyeballs here, not pairs).

Marvel and DC are creating most of their stories with characters who have been around for over 25 years. Most of them have been combined into the same teams before. Most of the writers and artists are part of a crowd that flip flops back and forth, with stops at Image or another indie to take a breather. Most of the world-changing stories just echo back and forth between the big two publishers, copies of copies of copies of big ideas that have already been had.

Past is prologue. We’ve seen it before, so we know what we’ll see. And, like in the rest of life, we’re pleasantly surprised when we get something truly novel…

…and then we want more and more of that novel thing, until it’s our new past and becomes our next prologue.

When Marvel or DC say they are launching something “new,” it’s with the caveat that a seasoned reader already knows the introduction to this story.

The question is: does that mean you can predict where it will wind up?

X-Men Gold #1 (digital)

Written by Marc Guggenheim with pencils by Ardian Syaf, inks by Jay Leisten, colors by Frank Martin, and letters by VC’s Cory Petit.

CK Says: Buy it! Bottom Line: Guggenheim’s new take on flagship X-Men feels familiar and maybe a bit fan-service-y, but that doesn’t stop it from being remarkably fresh as it achieves its back-to-basics aim: the X-Men feel like heroes again.

Marc Guggenheim takes his second swing at the X-Men in three years, and this one is a solid hit. X-Men Gold is a delightful first issue with hints of many past teams, but it has a fresh outlook that’s intent on minimizing the recent past as leaden prologue weighing the series down from the start.

The X-Men’s past being prologue isn’t something you’ll often hear me lament, X-Men_Gold_2017-0001-interior-002as a studied X-fan of over 25 years. I’m all for continuity-dense mining of years of history, but Guggenheim -the successful creator of CW’s Arrow – was wise enough to know now isn’t the time.

What’s X-Men Gold all about? The story’s title says it all: “Back to Basics.”

The X-Men are back to being a team who scrambles the Blackwing because they hear someone is in trouble – mutant or not. Or, at least, that’s what newly-minted leader Kitty Pryde wants them to be, which is how we wind up in medias res with the team facing down Terrax, whose previous X-book exposure comes solely from Dazzler.

Why are they fighting him? Because The Avengers and The Champions didn’t show up and the X-Men are heroes. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: X-Men Gold (2017) #1 by Guggenheim, Syaf, Leisten, Martin, & Petit – The X-Men Are Good (Guys) Again!

Comic Book Review: Grief, an OGN anthology by Frank Gogol (launching TODAY on Kickstarter!)

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Launching today on Kickstarter is a campaign for Grief, an all-original graphic novel about sorrow and loss from writer Frank Gogol and a host of collaborators.

I’ve been lucky in my life to not have to grieve for many people or things I’ve lost for good. From the grief I have experienced, both personally and in supporting my friends, I’ve learned that grief is a permanently ongoing process. It isn’t a single thing or a passing feeling.

If you view it negatively, you could say grief is like a virus that has been introduced into your psyche, one for which there is no cure or permanent recovery. You can ignore it or build up defenses against it, but ultimately you need to experience it to begin to recover.

If you view it as an inevitable part of the human experience, you might instead think of grief like an update to your operating system. Some things will change that you wanted to stay the same. Other things will be streamlined or totally new to you. It will feel alien and miserable at first. Eventually, it will simply be how you operate.

Grief is much more in line with the latter perspective than the former. It’s not a lot of people having nervous breakdowns about how sad they are. It’s about characters coming to terms with a transformed life.

Frank Gogol shared an early copy of Grief with me for review, but the only way for you to get your hands on this comic is to pledge to Kickstarter – a digital copy is just $5!

Want to know more? Keep reading! 

Grief – stories by Frank Gogol (Kickstarter)

Written and designed by Frank Gogol. Line art by Nenad Cviticanin, Bethany Vani, Ryan Foust, Jey Soliva, and Kim Holm. Colors by Esther Gil-Munilla, Luca Bulgheroni, Nenad Cviticanin, Bethany Vani, and Emily Elmer. Letters by Sean Rinehart. Cover by Dani Martins.

Bottom line: This indie comic anthology themed on grief rarely cries, never preaches, and is surprisingly sparse on treacle. It packs its punch not with heroes (though there are a few) or tear-jerkers (though a few tales come close), but with story after story that squeeze meaningful character moments into just five pages each.

Grief is an anthology about all kinds of loss, but it’s not a downer. Instead, it’s an introspective look at how grief is a twisting path that can be full of sorrow and loss but also hope and gifts – sometimes both at once.

This series of ten vignettes each have an indie comic look and feel. The characters populate a world adjacent the high-flying, super-powered, magic-wielding heroes we love from glossy superhero comics. For some stories, we’re in the middle of that world, but in others we’re on the margins. Some of the tales could work as introductions to ongoing series, but others are complete and satisfying all on their own.

A page "Gravity," a story in Frank Gogol's Grief OGN with art by Nenad Cviticanin.

A page from “Gravity,” with art by Nenad Cviticanin.

Two of the best stories in the anthology, “Gravity” and “The World,” feel like pilots to incredible indie super comics that ought to be. Yet, their narrative punch comes from delivering truth about their characters in a handful of pages, not from big action beats.

By contrast, “Different” and “Highs and Lows” are both self-contained character studies, each about how you can find something new within loss. More pages wouldn’t change their stories – they might even lose their impact if they were longer.

Before I made it that deep into Grief, the first thing that struck me was that it looks like a major publisher comic book.

That’s remarkable.

There are many brilliant authors and artists in the indie crowdfunding world with genius to offer, but being good at their craft doesn’t make them good graphic designers.

We’ve all learned not to judge a book by its cover, but poor choices in colors, fonts, and layouts can kill a project before it ever finds a fanbase. Even many mid-sized comic publishers can’t design an attractive book jacket to save their lives (or businesses).

Grief‘s graphic design (by author Frank Gogol!) is strong, from the stark, shattered logo to the placid blue of the interstitial pages drawn by cover artist Dani Martins. It feels a lot like Jonathan Hickman’s approach to collection design, where even the chapter breaks are part of the story. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: Grief, an OGN anthology by Frank Gogol (launching TODAY on Kickstarter!)

Comic Book Review: X-Men Prime (2017) #1 – Marvel relaunches the X-Men with Kitty Pryde in charge!

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Yesterday, Marvel kicked off the relaunch of it’s entire X-Men line of comics with X-Men Prime, a one-shot meant to reset the status quo of Marvel’s mutants in the wake of Inhumans vs. X-Men.

This issue represents the first time in many years that I can approach the X-Men as anything resembling a “new” reader. That’s because I’ve barely read a single issue of X-Men in Marvel’s All-New, All-Different era following Secret Wars. I usually trade-wait before reading, and in the middle of trade-waiting I was distracted from my Marvel reading by DC Rebirth and my WildStorm read.

What is X-Men Prime? Is it any good? Will it lead to me reviewing X-Men comics every week from now on?

Let’s find out!

X-Men Prime (2017) #1 (buy digital)

Written by Marc Guggenheim, Greg Pak, and Cullen Bunn with line art from Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk, and Guillermo Ortego and color art by Morry Hollowell, Frank D’Armata, and Michael Garland.

Bottom Line: This “Kitty Pryde: This Is Your Life” issue is an easily skippable recap, more about her as a character than about the last two years of x-comics. It would be a fine free comic, but offers little entertainment for a steep $4.99 cover price.

X-Men Prime is an insubstantial read that still manages to make a major change in the X-Men’s status quo. That comes along with a choice that may or may not work out in the end.

The choice is to make Kitty Pryde the leader of the X-Men, which explains why this issue could just have easily been called “Kitty Pryde: The Return #0.”

Now, let me be clear – Kitty Pryde is never disappointing to me. She is one of my favorite characters in all of comics!

That’s in part because Kitty Pryde is the eternal point-of-view character. That’s been true from her beginnings as the X-Men’s teen sidekick through her years in Excalibur and her return as an outsider first to Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men and then to Matt Fraction’s run on Uncanny X-Men. 

Even when Kitty is the heart of a given team, she’s also the rational, grounded character who speaks with the voice of the reader. That’s why it’s fascinating to see her step in to lead dozens of characters we’ve grown to love over the past half century. Can she remain our POV-character when she’s the one in charge of all of the X-Men’s comings and goings? Can she even credibly take charge of characters like Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Magik, and more?

This issue does little to explore that reality. It’s more of a “Kitty Pryde, this is your life” walkthrough that focuses more on her relationships than her (or the reader) catching up on the X-Men’s recent history. It also includes minor scenes of the original X-Men and Lady Deathstrike (more on those below).

The strategy of the main story, scripted by incoming X-Men Gold writer Marc Guggenheim, seems to be that Kitty’s emotional ties to the team are more important than detailing anything that’s happened in the past five or ten years, or giving any hint of what’s to come. Aside from the sparest of recaps of Inhumans vs. X-Men by Storm and an explanation of the unlikely location of the X-mansion, there’s honestly very substance little to this main story.

Despite the lack of content, the story still managed to be an emotional moment for me because it features Ken Lashley as the primary artist on a core X-Men title drawing Kitty Pryde. Lashley was one of my favorite 90s artists on Warren Ellis’s run of Excalibur, my favorite comics title of all time. He still makes for appointment reading whenever he shows up on a current comic. So far he’s not announced for any of the upcoming X-titles, but I have my fingers crossed that he will be the alternating arc artist on the bi-monthly Gold title. and he will be one of the alternating artists on Gold.

More than the dialog, it’s Lashey’s art that reminds us that Kitty is still the heart and rational brain of the X-Men through scenes with Storm, Colossus, Magik, and the teen versions of the original X-Men. It certainly seems she might work as their leader when the issue ends with her saying, “We’re also going to show that world what we are. No mutants. Not freaks. Not homo superior. But heroes.”

Kitty’s words mirror the complaint of many major fans of the X-Men who have been disappointed with their recent status quo. We just want the X-Men to be heroes. Still mutants first, but heroes second before they are an endangered species. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: X-Men Prime (2017) #1 – Marvel relaunches the X-Men with Kitty Pryde in charge!

Comic Book Review: Iron Fist #1 by Brisson, Perkins, Troy, & Lanham – Strong artwork saves this slow start from being a total snooze

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Marvel has a brand new Iron Fist #1 out, hot on the heels of Netflix’s major dud of a white savior trope in the form of a TV show.

Yes, Iron Fist has been savaged by critics over the course of the last week for everything from its central trope to its lackluster script and boring fight choreography. It’s a shame to see Danny Rand’s good name tainted by the show’s performance (and by actor Finn Jones), as in comic form he’s always been a compelling character who has long since moved past his white savior beginnings to something more complex.

Forty years of comics continuity will do that to you!

Since his debut in 1974, Iron Fist has been a partner to Luke Cage, a Hero for Hire, an Avenger, and a Defender. However, his best story to date is definitely in the 2006 to 2009 series The Immortal Iron Fist. The series fleshed out the Iron Fist legend with a brand new cast of interesting (and mostly Asian) characters, and established the Fist as just one of a group of several Immortal Weapons – each with their own deadly martial arts superpowers.Iron_Fist_2017_0001

Since then Iron Fist hasn’t been great on his own, with a Kaare Andrews series that undid almost all of the interesting work of Immortal. While he’s been fun to read in David Walker’s Power Man and Iron Fist, we’re now approaching a decade without another definitive Iron Fist solo story!

Will a new written by Ed Brisson with art from Mike Perkins change that? Letterer-turned-author Brisson has a slim Marvel track record, but Perkins has the perfect kind grounded style to go with a strong Iron Fist story.

Is their first issue on the road to being as memorable Immortal Iron Fist or will it be a series I’d rather forget, like The Living Weapon?

Iron Fist #1 (digital)

Written by Ed Brisson with line art by Mike Perkins, color art by Andy Troy, and letters by Travis Lanham. Cover art by Jeff Dekal.

Iron Fist #1 is a quick read that feels more like a prologue than an exiting first issue. Luckily, artist Mike Perkins might have been born ready to draw this title. (Or, at least, he’s wanted to draw it since he was 10 years old, per his note at the back of the book). [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: Iron Fist #1 by Brisson, Perkins, Troy, & Lanham – Strong artwork saves this slow start from being a total snooze

Comic Book Review: The Wild Storm #1 by Ellis, Davis-Hunt, Plascencia, & Bowland

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I place all remixed songs into one of two categories: enhancing or reimagining.

Some remixes enhance the original. Add more rhythms, speed things up, restructure the song. Other remixes reimagine the original, taking just one or two elements like a vocal or a prominent riff and build a whole new song from scratch – often sans the identifying bass line or chord changes of the original.

I’ve liked both kinds of remixes over the years, but sometimes when I hear a reimagination I think, “Why didn’t they just write their own song?” Aside from a copped vocal hook, sometimes they can be an entirely other creature than the original. Why call it “Song X (remix)” rather than “Song Y (featuring samples from Song X)”?

It’s all a study in taxonomy, I suppose – calling things by a name that will generate the most interest and success for them.

Which brings me to The Wild Storm.

WildStorm was one of the original Image Comics studios and the one with the richest expanded universe of characters. That’s what made it attractive for DC Comics to purchase from original studio head Jim Lee when he wanted to ditch administration to return to illustration, and why the WildStorm characters have continued to appear in DC-published comics for over a decade.

DC has done a lot of different remixes on the WildStorm characters and concepts since they first acquired the publisher in 1999. They’ve published straight-up continuances of the original continuity. They’ve done a trademark soft reset of continuity. They’ve mashed WildStorm into DC’s own history, putting characters like Grifter and Deathblow in league with DC stalwarts like Deathstroke and Amanda Waller.The_Wild_Storm_2017_001

The Wild Storm is something different entirely – a reimagination rather than an enhancement. Warren Ellis, one of the most famous and famously-reliable writers in comics today, has been handed the WildStorm intellectual property as a whole by DC Comics and instructed to create his own reimagination of the original with no strings attached.

Is it recognizable as WildStorm? Is it another great Warren Ellis book? Is it any good.

The Wild Storm #1 (digital)

The Wild Storm (2017) #1, written by Warren Ellis with artist Jon Davis-Hunt, colorist Ivan Plascenia, and lettered Simon Bowland. This issue will be collected in The Wild Storm, Vol. 1.

Warren Ellis has the entire palette of classic WildStorm players to work with to launch his reimagined WildStorm Universe. He selected some of the best characters of the bunch for this first issue, but the story relies on a lot of nostalgic expectations of what WildStorm consists of in order to click.

This is not the unrelenting debut issue you’ve come to expect from Ellis after reading books like Injection, Trees, Karnak, Moon Knight, and even as far back as Planetary. Even on the Astonishing X-Men, a run that left fans lukewarm, Ellis’s first issue was a bomb disguised as a puzzle box.

Compared to all of those, The Wild Storm #1 comes off a bit flat. Maybe it’s because we get to see every side of the main mystery, meaning we know more than the characters (not generally an Ellis hallmark). Or, perhaps it’s that half the issue is spent telling and even repeating rather than showing. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: The Wild Storm #1 by Ellis, Davis-Hunt, Plascencia, & Bowland