I Reads You Review: HAWKEYE #1

"Hawkeye: Year One?"
HAWKEYE #1
MARVEL COMICS

WRITER: Matt Fraction
ARTIST: David Aja
COLORS: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
COVER: David Aja with Matt Hollingsworth; variant cover by Adi Granov; Pasqual Ferry with Matt Hollingsworth
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

Hawkeye is a Marvel Comics superhero character and the Marvel Universe’s most prominent archer, marksman, and sharpshooter. Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, Hawkeye, whose civilian identity is Clint Barton, first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964 cover date). He first appeared as a member of the Avengers in Avengers #16 (May 1965 issue).

Marvel’s The Avengers movie is a shocking worldwide box office success. With the appearance in the film of a spiffy-looking Hawkeye, it was a no-brainer that Marvel Comics would try out the character in his own new comic book series. Hawkeye (2012) is written by Matt Fraction, drawn by David Aja, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth.

Hawkeye #1 opens in New York City and finds Hawkeye/Clint Barton having some serious health issues. After healing, Clint returns to his apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy), where he finds the real trouble. His Russian landlord is bringing pressure on Clint and the other tenants. When Clint tries to save the day and to make a deal with these Russian heavies, things get bad – for our Avenger and a cute dog.

If Hawkeye #1 seems familiar, it’s the highly-stylized riff on Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s Batman: Year One that plucked your memory. Hawkeye even comes across as being similar to Bullseye from Miller’s famous run on Marvel’s Daredevil comic book series in the early 1980s. That aside, this first issue of Hawkeye is more a Clint Barton story than a Hawkeye comic book, and that’s fine. I like how Fraction depicts Barton as a sort of laconic everyman who only turns on the extra-powers when he has to do so. Here, he does it just to balance the scales for the little guys and gals. Notice, I said, extra-powers, in this story, Clint doesn’t come across as a superhero.

As for Aja’s art, which is a scratchy imitation of Mazzuchelli on Batman: Year One, it’s nice, but not great. The storytelling is good; by drawing so many small panels, Aja creates a pace and rhythm that serves this story quite well. The only problem is that Fraction’s script is non-linear, jumping back and forth as if Fraction were trying to write a Quentin Tarantino movie. Thus, just as Aja’s graphical storytelling is moving briskly on a particular sequence, it moves to another set piece, which is jarring, especially when the previous sequence was going so well.

Still, I like this enough to read future issues. It’s both different and entertaining enough to warrant more attention.

B+

I Reads You Review: AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1

"Come back to the Five-and-Dime, Secret Wars, Secret Wars"
AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1
MARVEL COMICS

STORY: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction
SCRIPT: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: John Romita, Jr.
INKS: Scott Hanna
COLORS: Laura Martin
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
COVERS: Jim Cheung and Justin Ponsor
40pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated: T+

Marvel Comics’ latest big, event series is Avengers vs. X-Men. This planned 12-issue miniseries pits the Avengers and the X-Men against each other over the return of The Phoenix and its likely host, the Mutant Messiah, Hope Summers.

As Avengers vs. X-Men #1 begins, The Phoenix force makes itself known. Meanwhile, the Avengers deal with a crisis over New York City that threatens both civilians and landmarks. This crisis, however, is merely a harbinger of things to come concerning The Phoenix, a threat that both the Avengers and the White House take seriously. What they decide to do about it leads straight to the X-Men. When Captain America approaches Cyclops, will the mutant leader want to hear what the Avenger has to say?

I found the prologue to this event, Avengers vs. X-Men #0, to be surprisingly blasé. Avengers vs. X-Men #1 is a bit more exciting, mainly because its focus is conflict, whereas #0 offered character vignettes (and not very interesting ones, at that). From the destruction depicted early in this issue to the New York City disaster scene to the designation of the X-Men as a nexus point, this first issue clearly presages a superhero “pay-per-view” wrestling match.

One thing that certainly surprises me is how simply told this comic book is. None of that sophisticated, faux-Mamet drama here: this is Secret Wars-like in its punch-to-settle-differences ethos. Even John Romita, Jr.’s pencil art is retro-cool, lacking photo-realism and exaggerated detail in the figure drawing (especially on the musculature).

There is no telling where this narrative will go when new writers and artists take over in the later issues, but for now, I find this straight-forward superhero battle to be quaint, but fun to read. I won’t lie and say that it is great, but Avengers vs. X-Men #1 is nice.

B

I Reads You Review: AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #0

"Without a bang"

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #0
MARVEL COMICS

WRITERS: Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron
ARTIST: Frank Cho
COLORS: Jason Keith
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
COVERS: Frank Cho with Jason Keith; Stephanie Hans (alternate cover)
40pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated: T+

Avengers vs. X-Men is Marvel Comics’ current giant, crossover, event series. I’ve read comments on the old Interweb that suggest Avengers vs. X-Men will be Marvel’s biggest publishing event in over a decade, at least from the point of view of sales.

I am sure that it will be a big thing. This planned 12-issue miniseries pits the Avengers and the X-Men against each other, apparently over The Phoenix. The X-Men are a sales and merchandising juggernaut for Marvel, and the franchise has produced five successful films for 20th Century Fox. The Avengers are a little less than a month away from their debut on the big screen, when the film, Marvel’s The Avengers, arrives. Two Iron Man movies have a combined gross of over one billion dollars in worldwide box office. In 2011, two other Avengers films, Thor and Captain America, each made more than 170 million dollars in domestic box office.

Avengers vs. X-Men #0 is a prologue to the main event and focuses on Avenger, Scarlet Witch, and X-Man, Hope Summers, and blends two separate stories starring each character. In the Scarlet Witch story (written by Brian Michael Bendis), the reality-warping mutant and long-time member of the Avengers hopes to get back into the superhero business. She takes on M.O.D.O.K., but ends up needing help from Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel. This reunion leads to a bigger reunion, but perhaps, the Scarlet Witch can’t go home again.

In the Hope Summers story (written by Jason Aaron), the young woman called the “mutant messiah,” feels confined by others’ expectations of her. Hope spends her time ruthlessly punishing non-super-powered criminals, but now, she faces the Serpent Society.

For a prologue to a big, big event, Avengers vs. X-Men #0 is surprisingly blasé. The Avengers come across as stock figures in their appearance here, except for The Vision and the Scarlet Witch. This duo is where the fire is in this story, but the constraints forced upon the story smother the fire. The Hope Summers story is only a tad bit better – if it is actually appropriate for me to use the word “better” to describe this comic book. The other characters are wooden, and Hope is petulant, but in a totally boring king of way.

The art by Frank Cho is technically well-drawn, but looks like a mechanical exercise that at least 20 other robo-artists-for-hire could have done in the same drawing style and with the same lack of panache.

I hope issue #1 is better, and I’ll find out soon.

C+

Appearances:
HEROES: Scarlet Witch, Hope Summers; The Avengers: Beast, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Thor, The Vision, Wolverine; The X-Men: Cyclops, Emma Frost

VILLAINS: M.O.D.O.K.; The Serpent Society: Anaconda, Asp, Bushmaster, Cottonmouth, Puff Adder

Review: OKIE DOKIE DONUTS: Open for Business (OGN)

OKIE DOKIE DONUTS: OPEN FOR BUSINESS
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

CARTOONIST: Chris Eliopoulos
ISBN: 978-1-60309-068-1; hardcover
48pp, Color, $9.95 U.S.

Chris Eliopoulos is a prolific and acclaimed comic book letterer and has won or been nominated for several awards for lettering comic books. He is also a cartoonist and comic book creator, producing the Calvin and Hobbes-inspired Desperate Times and, for Marvel Comics, the Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius series of backup features and comic book one-shots.

Top Shelf Productions recently released Okie Dokie Donuts: Open for Business, a graphic novel and children’s book from Eliopoulos. This full-color, 5” x 7.5,” hardcover book is the story of a portly matron who owns and operates a hugely popular donut shop.

Okie Dokie Donuts may be the best little donut shop anywhere. People line up outside the shop for its treats. Baker and owner, Big Mama, does practically everything by hand and from scratch, but she could use a little help.

In walks kitchen appliance salesman, Mr. Mayweather, who is in the employ of the “Great Cooks Cooking Corporation.” Mayweather swears that the corporation’s latest contraption, Mr. Baker (Brilliant Apparatus Kooks Every Recipe”), will help Big Mama because it can cook “over 1000 donuts in 40 seconds.” This oven-like robot may do just that, but when it is through, Big Mama and Okie Dokie Donuts may be through as well.

Okie Dokie Donuts: Open for Business opens with a musical number (or the comic book version of one), so I knew I was in for an unpleasant reading experience. But I wasn’t. Okie Dokie Donuts is not just a cute kids’ comic book, but it is also simply a funny tale. Chris Eliopoulos makes comedy out of the unappetizing idea of the mechanization of food, which is the current status of our food processing. Of course, Mayweather’s robot can work, but without the ability to “think on one’s feet” or troubleshoot the unexpected, the robot is just another thing in the way – a disruptive nuisance.

Okie Dokie Donuts slyly preaches for hard work and making things with one’s hands, but uses vibrant colors and comic book graphics to deliver an entertaining message. Okie Dokie Donuts has the manic energy and sarcastic charm of a Marx Bros. movie, so don’t sell it short. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy this sweet treat.

A-

I Reads You Review: Nemesis #1

NEMESIS #1

MARVEL COMICS/ICON

WRITER: Mark Millar

ARTIST: Steve McNiven

COLORS: Dave McCaig

LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos

COVERS: Steve McNiven and Leinil Francis Yu

Nemesis is the new comic book miniseries from the team of writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven. The duo produced the hugely popular Marvel event series, Civil War, and the graphic novel, Wolverine: Old Man Logan (originally serialized in Wolverine 66-72). Nemesis is a planned four-issue series that is being published under Marvel Comics’ Icon imprint.

As Millar has stated in press coverage for this comic book, Nemesis #1 introduces a Batman-like character, called “Nemesis,” who uses his skill, resources, and whatever super powers and abilities he has for evil rather than for good. What if this cool billionaire with all those planes, cars and gadgets, put on a mask and waged war on the forces of law and order, Millar asks. The story begins with Nemesis dispatching a famous police chief in Tokyo. Afterwards, Nemesis heads to Washington D.C. to engage his next opponent, Chief Blake Morrow, the Chief of Police of the nation’s capitol.

The cover of Nemesis #1 carries a large caption that reads “MAKES KICK-ASS LOOK LIKE $#IT.” I don’t know about that. Kick-Ass, Mark Millar’s previous Icon comic book which recently concluded, is some pretty deranged $#it AND very entertaining, but I am already a fan of this new comic book. I rooted for Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight and I love a great villain, especially one who has the pigs… I mean, law enforcement quaking in their boots.

It’s a fun read. Millar paints the characters in broad strokes, and in police Chief Blake Morrow, Millar has created a Clint Eastwood-Dirty Harry type who deserves to be taken down a peg or two or ten. Steve McNiven’s art is acceptable, though it makes me wonder why he is so acclaimed. Dave McCaig’s coloring is horrid. Still, I really like this comic book and can’t wait for the next issue.

B+

#IReadsYou Review: KICK-ASS (Hardcover Collection)

KICK-ASS

MARVEL COMICS/ICON
WRITER: Mark Millar
PENCILS: John Romita, Jr.
INKS: Tom Palmer
COLORS: Dean White
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos
INTRODUCTION: Rob Liefeld

Kick-Ass was an eight-issue miniseries from writer Mark Millar (The Ultimates, Wanted) and artist John Romita, Jr. (The Amazing Spider-Man) published under Marvel Comics’ Icon imprint. Kick-Ass is also a graphic novel serialized as an eight-issue miniseries, perhaps, the first of a series of Kick-Ass graphic novels. Before I read it, I thought that I might like Kick-Ass, but after reading the recently published hardcover collection of the series, I can say that I absolutely love it.

The series focuses on Dave Lizewski, a normal teenager and comic book fan, who decides to put on a costume and become a superhero. The first time he plays hero, some thuggish black teens beat Dave’s ass into a coma. Dave’s second mission becomes an Internet sensation, from which he takes his superhero name, Kick-Ass. Dave is cognizant of what he is doing and understands the impact of his actions, especially after his activities spawn a wave of copycats, including a rich teen who calls himself, Red Mist.

However, with Kick-Ass’s popularity skyrocketing because of viral videos and because of those very same superhero copycats, Dave becomes hooked on this new lifestyle and addicted to the adrenal rush and danger that lifestyle entails. Then, Dave meets another costumed duo playing superhero, the extreme violence, father-daughter duo of Big Daddy and the sword-wielding Hit Girl. They play for keeps, cutting a bloody path through the world of mob boss, John Genovese a.k.a. Johnny G. Suddenly, being Kick-Ass may be more than Dave bargained for.

Early in the series, Kick-Ass is funny, sarcastic, and poignant in the way quality drama about the trials and tribulations should be. Then, the first time Dave becomes Kick-Ass and springs into action, the entire narrative turns vulgar, obscene, and deranged… in a way that is an absolute joy to read. Suddenly, John Romita, Jr. (pencils) and Tom Palmer’s (inks) ugly art made sense. Visually, what these artists did was tell Millar’s story as a graphic narrative in the only way that would make it work. They had to produce comic art that could capture the rundown neighborhoods and gritty environments in which Dave lived. That art also had to depict the sudden and ferocious violence and its gruesome aftermath that defines the world of Kick-Ass.

The deeper into this crazy, kooky narrative I want, the more I wondered why Millar doesn’t do more of this. In fact, if comic book publishers want to attract more young male readers, they may want to consider publishing books like Kick-Ass, which could appeal to the guys who like 300 and Inglourious Basterds. I sat in a theatre watching Basterds with two young guys sitting a few seats from me, and they howled with delight and encouragement every time the characters did violence to one another. Those are probably shoo-in readers of comics like Kick-Ass.

DC Comics has spent the better part of a decade trying to find order in its fictional DC Universe and its 70 years of continuity. New readers won’t bother with comic books that navel-gaze like that. They will want comics that… dare I say it… kick ass. I don’t know what the hell Marvel Comics is doing – re-launching, re-imagining, and generally trying to make every two-bit character shiny enough for Hollywood… when they should just… kick ass?

All they need to do is look to this hot mess from Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. Kick-Ass is an inglourious basterd, and we need more Kick-Ass.

A

Buy Kick-Ass