Crushing Krisis

DC New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1

September 9, 2011 by krisis

DC has gone all-in on Batman in their line-wide relaunch, with a total of eleven Bat books. Add to that Batman in Justice League and Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and you’ve got thirteen books of bat-adjacent characters.

That makes Batstuff fully a fourth of DC’s entire schedule of relaunch!

Of course, right now Batman is bigger business than ever before, coming off of a critical and box office smash movie and a high-selling and acclaimed comic run.

Can DC continue the magic? And, on a more personal note, can they bring me to care about a hero I’ve always been cold to?

Detective Comics #1

Script & pencils by Tony Daniel, inks by Ryan Winn

Rating: 4 of 5 – Excellent

In a line: “This is a violation of my civil rights. A man should be able to slaughter in peace.”

140char review: Detective Comics #1, a keen, brutal reintro to Batman/Joker dynamic w/several twists (not just of the knife). Easily tracks from Dark Knight

Plot & Script

If I had any fear that the opening issue of DC’s namesake book wasn’t going to live up to its “Detective” moniker, it was quickly quelled. Tony Daniels’ plot has each player running their own game while they play in others’ – the Commissioner in Batman’s, the police in Joker’s, and Joker in that of a mysterious attacker and benefactor.

The result is a book where nothing happening is something.

Yes, we get fight scenes and explosions, but they’re almost beside the point. The point is following each player as they manipulate the others to the last page, and then going back to the beginning to follow them again on re-read.

If there’s one dead part of the narrative it’s a page spent with Dr, Arkham, who is one-note in his “he’s sick” diagnosis of Joker. Maybe that’s the point? I’m admittedly not a Bat-comics fan, so I’m not sure.

What is surprisingly not one-note is the police’s pursuit of Batman. It was annoying in Justice League, but here it feels in context. I’m sure it’s not entirely a coincidence that this is where we left Batman in the last movie.

Artwork

Tony Daniel’s art makes my whole body tense.

You know how some artists over-exentuate all of a characters’ muscles? Daniel is all about skin. All the little wrinkles and crevices around a smile or a grimace.

Every shot of Joker is downright unsettling, from the first one of blood trickling out of his nose to the disturbing final panel. Daniel sketches the traditional tall, skinny-headed Joker with the lithe body of a dancer, the face of your drunken great-aunt, a vicious hook of a nose.

Batman is big, in a reinforced-armor version of his classic blue and grey. His bulk dominates panels, and makes his fight with Joker look alarmingly one-sided (it isn’t).

Panels take time to drag your eyes across. Gotham’s dilapidated buidlings inhabit the background of the story in intricate detail.

I’m typically put off by disembodied heads on comic covers as a lazy way to squeeze in another character, but … well, it works in the context of this issue in multiple ways. I’m not saying the Joker gets beheaded or anything. Just read it.

Note that the cover cynically inserts “Batman” above the Detective Comics title. Also, in my typical graphic design snobbery, I must note that Batman’s italic white on gray-with-bat-symbol narration boxes make my eyes glaze over. They take way too much effort to read.

CK Says: Buy it!

Detective Comics re-debut is a visceral thrill that forces you to linger on every panel.

For new fans, this issue tracks almost perfectly from the closing frames of Nolan’s The Dark Knight, wisely tucking away any dissonance in the Batman universe for other titles to handle. As with Dark Knight, the Joker is the star of this issue, and every panel of his pale white form is both rewarding and nauseating.

Batman himself is relatively flat here – but this isn’t a book about character revelations – it’s Detective Comics, and it lives up to that name entirely.

Given how quickly the ending will send you back to page one, I have high hopes that the remainder of the arc will include several more circuitous turns.

#FollowFriday Interview: @MikeyIl, Interactive Designer & Social Do-Gooder

September 9, 2011 by krisis

@mikeyil as shot by Colin M. Lenton Photography.

This week my #FollowFriday is Michaelangelo Ilagan – known to all corners of the Philly social media world as @mikeyil.

Mikey can be glib and ridiculous, but he also just gets it. Not just social. It. Being a unique person trying to connect with others who are both different and the same. Or, in Mikey’s more eloquent words:

Light is made up of a spectrum of rays in every color. People can be the same way.

I met Mikey at my first Social Media Club of Philadelphia meeting. It was the first day of summer camp all over again. So, being at least a capable, socially-climbing brand of wallflower in those situations, I located the loudest, most gregarious person in the room, and introduced myself to him.

I think you can see where this is going. Mikey was awesome and introduced me to all of his friends. Even after I wandered out of the radius of his conversation, I could still hear Mikey yelling “BOOMslam” repeatedly from across the room to an uproarious table of beer drinkers.

I assumed that – being the loudest and possibly most well-known guy in the room – that Mikey was a “cool kid,” and that would be the last I would see of him.

I was ever so wrong. About the seeing him part, I mean. He’s totally a cool kid. Two-and-a-half months later we jumped out of a plane together, and two years ago today we threw a 24-hour fundraising marathon together. Et cetera, et cetera.

Since then, Mikey has turned into legit Philly digerati. If there’s a social event, a special brand promotion, or a plugged-in conference, you are going to see him there. He also absolutely bristles with opportunities – he’s always working with a new company on a social promotion and hoping to spread the love around to the business, bands, and artists among his Twitter follows.

For all that, and more, he’s my #FollowFriday of the week – and he had a lot to say to me over the course of our interview!

@krisis: How do you use Twitter?

@mikeyil: These days, I primarily use Twitter to connect with like-minded folk. These people are of similar mindsets, interests, and geography (or geographic mindset). I use it mostly to discuss my passions of Philly, food, technology and design.

@k: I think of you as sort of a “fast foodie,” in that you love good food but you also have favorite culinary delights at a number of chain restaurants. What’s with the fast-food fixation?

@m: I am not afraid to admit that I kind of grew up on fast food. My parents were new to this country, so all types of American food were kind of a novelty, a treat. People were a lot more naive about health concerns back then. Coupled with the fact that we were perpetually on the go, and I’m sure I was a brat being victim to 80’s and early 90’s marketing-awful-food-to-children campaigns, my parents were probably led to placate me.

@m: Fast-food has been a part of my life ever since. Granted, I’m wholly American and in a less-naive era, but fast food will always be something that I’ll have a strange obsession with. My tastes in food really do range from prince to pauper. I’m no snob about the half-a-Benji entrees I’ll sometimes throw my money at, but I’m also not afraid to admit I eat like shit sometimes.

@k: What’s your favorite greasy treat?

@m: My favorites throughout the late 20th century: The Western Whopper and Rodeo Cheeseburger from Burger King in the late 1990’s. Taco Bell’s Enchirito which existed from 1970 to 1993, discontinued and then brought back in 1999. It’s still served. It’s a portmanteaux of enchilada and burrito, so that’s part of the reason why I like it, the wordplay and the dish itself. Hell, I love everything Taco Bell has pretty much ever made.

Lastly, I don’t actually like the KFC Double Down (too greasy, too much fried meat) but I enjoy it as a symbol of ironic, gross negligence and stubbornness in a modern era where self-responsibility is replaced by corporations being forced into a position where they can’t even produce products for people who actually have self-awareness and control. (Does that make any sense?)

@k: You refer to yourself as an “interactive designer,” but I’ve also come to know you as a photographer, writer, SM coordinator and even an event promoter. How did you amass these mad skills? And, do you see them as separate streams, or part of one big package?

@m: I see these skills as one big package. Sometimes I’ve got to apply a one-line label to myself. My LinkedIn simply says “Creative Professional,, my business cards say “Interactive designer, blogger, etc.”

I don’t like adhering to one medium, nor do I feel like I’m particularly very proud or exceedingly strong in any one department. I have a lot of skills, interests and creativity and I use them where I see fit. Design has been paying the bills for the duration of my career. Writing and taking pictures has given me creative outlets, and maybe some pocket cash.

DC New 52 Review: Stormwatch #1

September 8, 2011 by krisis

I was a major Image Comics fan in the 90s, and not just for the hyper-kinetic art of departed Marvel artists like Jim Lee. I loved Image because it frequently broke free of typical save-the-world tropes to explore superheroes as a separate society running in parallel to every day life.

Wildstorm Productions was Jim Lee’s imprint at Image, and it was home to every one of my favorite titles and stories. In 1999 Lee allowed DC to acquire the rights to the company so he could focus less on administration and more on creating. Twelve years later, Lee is DC’s co-publisher and penciling their flagship book.

As for the Wildstorm universe, it’s very much alive in DC’s reboot with Stormwatch and solo titles for WildCATs mainstays Grifter and Voodoo – and they’re all more integrated with DC’s continuity than ever before.

DC Comics Stormwatch #1, released September 7, 2011.

Stormwatch #1

Written by Paul Cornell, art by Miguel Sepulveda

Rating: 3.5 of 5 – Great

In a line: “Do we look like ‘super-heroes’? They’re amateurs. We’re the professionals.”

140 char review: Stormwatch #1: Almost too many chars to keep track, but Cornell teases mysteries w/o sacrificing exposition. Love the psychedelic overlays!

Plot & Script

Paul Cornell successfully juggles a debut issue featuring a team of seven extra-powered beings, their super-powered quarry, a mysterious assailant, an extra-dimensional space station, a giant Himaylayan cornucopia, a claw in the moon, and one very giant eyeball with tentacles. Cornell manages to be amusing without resorting to all-out humor, and expository while only dropping a few utter bricks of dialog to explain the fast-paced plot.

Of three stories across four locations, it’s the team on the ground in Moscow that’s the 4-color thriller. A reticent would-be-hero does all that he can to evade a somewhat forcible recruitment by the Stormwatch away team of Jack Hawksmoor, Projectionist, and Martian Manhunter.

As for Martian Manhunter’s export to this title, his membership in JLA is mentioned offhandedly, but not explained – other than to say he’s a superhero there, but a “warrior” when he’s in Stormwatch. Does that mean he will show up in Justice League’s year one intro arc?

Artwork

I loved the unusual artwork in this issue. It’s not your typical ultra-gloss of a superhero comic. I’m especially a fan at the unsubtle, realistic face work – particularly Projectionist mugging in false humulity while Martian Manhunter first shows his green face. Many images include psychedelic overlays – I’m not sure if they’re the work of Sepulveda or colorist Allen Passalaqua, but they’re fantastic.

There were only a few minor disappointments. I like the scope of the cover – showing the core cast, rather than a frame from the issue, but it’s unflattering. Not sure if that’s a penciling or a coloring issue, but I feel like it’s ugly compared to the interiors. A few faces look flat, possibly a coloring issue rather than art. Projectionist’s power showing us an on-panel page of YouTube was perhaps a bit too on-the nose. And, a minor quibble, but the bold blue-on-blue lettering of the presence in the moon was a turnoff. It felt more like a computer read-out than a mysterious evolutionary force.

CK Says: Buy it!

Stormwatch feels decidedly alien, and not just because of star Martian Manhunter and a station in hyperspace. The conceit of extra-dimensional heroes in suits who sneer at the the caped set feels more like Ellis’s superb Planetary than the DC I’m used to skimming.

Cornell is an oddball writer, and he didn’t have enough room to stretch out in Marvel’s great (but decidedly terrestrial) Captain Britain & MI:13. This fast-paced amalgamation of erstwhile-Wildstorm and reinvented-DC is a better fit.

Did he put too many balls in the air for a first issue? I say there’s no such thing. This is exactly what I was hoping for from Justice League – a brisk issue with more questions than answers, hints at multiple threats, and enough plot threads that I’m left pouting for a second issue right away.

30 for 30 Project: after these messages…

September 8, 2011 by krisis

I hope you enjoyed the first week of 30 for 30 Project, my cover-song retrospective of my first 30 years of life! If you’ve missed the songs so far, they were:

My Brown Bag Demos, Vol. 1 contains 11 acoustic originals and 1 Madonna ballad, all for the low price of FREE.

1981: “Physical” – Olivia Newton John
1982: “Back on the Chain Gang” – The Pretenders
1983: “Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran
1984: “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” – Wham!
1985: “How Will I Know” – Whitney Houston
1986: “You Can Call Me Al” – Paul Simon
1987: “Alone” – Heart

As mentioned in my introductory post, my intent was never for 30 for 30 to be a daily project. Now that the shock and awe of the first seven songs is through I’m going to take a few days off to rest my voice and work up the arrangements that will take us through the middle of the 90s.

In the meantime, there is plenty more music by me on the web to hear! Download my 2010 demo record for free, watch a concert from my band Arcati Crisis before you buy tickets for our 9/24 full-band show at the Tin Angel, or check out a song I wrote for Eric Smith‘s novel that garnered coverage in the new issue of Jump Philly.

I already have my 1988 and ’89 tunes picked out, but past that it’s open road! What would you like to hear me cover from the first half the 90s? Would you prefer I stick with major hits everyone has heard, or go for some slightly more obscure tunes? Should I stick with pop, or make the jump to modern rock?

DC New 52 Review: Action Comics #1

September 8, 2011 by krisis

With DC Comics re-launching its entire slate of books this month, the most-anticipated title after a vaguely-disappointing Jim Lee drawn Justice League is doubtlessly Action Comics, written by Grant Morrison.

Morrison is a hyper-praised comic author who has written everything from indie fare to X-Men. His multi-year shake-up of Batman comics has been to the comic line what Nolan has been to the movie franchise. He’s also an insufferably self-obsessed egoist and drug addict, both as confessed in Supergods, his recent autobiographical look at comic history.

Suffice to say, I run as hot and cold on Morrison as a Katy Perry song. How does his reboot of the longest-running comic title in the world go? Let’s see…

DC Comics Action Comics #1, released September 7, 2011

Action Comics #1

Written by Grant Morrison, art by Rags Morales & Rick Bryant

Rating: 4.5 of 5 – Remarkable

In a line: “Non-native strains WILL destroy entire ecologies, given the opportunity.”

140char Review: Action Comics #1: Superman spends a vigilante night in Metropolis; Morrison/Morales show more than tell & maybe make Supes interesting again

Plot & Script

Grant Morrison is superb at debut issues, and this is no exception. He presents a constantly moving half hour in the life of Superman that unfurls in near real-time thanks to the engrossing plot of the issue forcing you to linger on each dialog balloon to absorb all of the implications therein.

The constantly intercutting narrative is effective in keeping the anticipation of spending panel time with Superman high. Even though we see him on the first page (a wise move), we then spend several pages away from him, viewing his wake of destruction and the police’s abject dread in dealing with him.

Morrison writes Superman as well-spoken but cocky (“That ain’t Superman”). His powers are kept deliberately ambiguous, though it’s made clear that he cannot fly. As he exerts himself more his dialog gets more clipped – at points becoming an animalistic collection of sniffs and grunts.

Luthor is snide and has little regard for others, but he’s somehow still likeable – as he should be – and as-drawn a dead-ringer for our author.

Superman is portrayed as growing in power as he self-polices everyone from domestic abusers to mob bosses. Is it the right thing to do to turn Superman into a vigilante when we already have Batman? Or, is the only way to start a new decade (or more!) of Superman stories to begin with him as more of an alien than Clark Kent?

We get a handful of supporting characters, sketched in well-enough for the moment. General Lane is a patriot in bed with a snake (Luther). Olsen is a trusting mop-haired kid equally beholden to his new friend Clark and ice-blooded over-achiever Lois.

There is little to nitpick. A sequence with a high-speed train perhaps intercuts too much, warranting a second read. That’s nearly the only gripe, and it’s swept away by the parallelism of Superman catching two bullets on either side of the story – with differing amounts of success.

There isn’t a right answer – just good comic books. And this was one.

Artwork

I’ve never read an issue with Morales art before, but I’m pleased with him here. He can switch from static talking heads to kinetic action in a single panel. His t-shirt wearing, work-booted Superman is delightfully fresh and surprisingly iconic.

Morales effectively toys with Superman’s age throughout the issue. In his first shadow-faced confrontation with police, the heavy lines around his chin make him look middle-aged. A page later his face is gleeful and childlike as he leaps from a balcony, and a smug teen when facing down his would-be jailers.

Meanwhile, as Clark he is half Christpher Reeves, half Harry Potter. All the while, we see the same square-jaw.

It’s the supporting characters who sag. Jimmy and Lois look a bit askew, and background characters can be a bit ragged. Also, a few panels of ambiguous art don’t aid the already-complex train sequence.

CK Says: Buy it!

Action Comics #1 is a thrilling anchor to the clearly all-new continuity of Superman. Anyone hoping for an issue of a big, blue boy scout pushing planets out of their trajectories will be disappointed by this smaller scale exploration of the ambiguities of justice and of being human.

If that sounds like a boring issue, keep in mind that it still involves being faster than a speeding bullet and leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Oh, and a wrecking ball.

No one in the issue makes the case for Superman being human – Morrison is deliberate in having every character refer to him as an animal, alien, or even a thing. However, in our brief time with the bespeckled Clark we’re left to wonder – if it thinks like a man and cares like a man, how can it be an animal? Not for nothing, but Morrison’s book was subtitled “What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human.”

Is this issue a modern classic? Hard to say, but Superman scholar Morrison doesn’t waste a single word while Morales keeps the issue full of impact – it never feels decompressed to drag out the story.