Friday, December 23, 2016

Review: Star Wars: POE DAMERON #1

POE DAMERON No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon. And visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

WRITER: Charles Soule; Chris Eliopoulos
ART: Phil Noto; Chris Eliopoulos
COLORS: Phil Noto; Jordie Bellaire
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna; Chris Eliopoulos
COVER: Phil Noto
36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (June 2016)

Rated “T”

Book I: Black Squadron, Part I

We first met X-wing fighter jockey Poe Dameron, in the recent film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  Now, Poe returns in the new comic book miniseries, Poe Dameron.  It is written by Charles Soule; drawn and colored by Phil Noto; and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Poe Dameron #1 (“Black Squadron,” Part I) opens 30 years after the Rebel Alliance defeated the Galactic Empire (as seen in Return of the Jedi), which was replaced by the New Republic.  However, a new military force, the First Order, is plotting to overthrow the New Republic.  To face this new threat, General Leia Organa founded the Resistance.

The First Order is also looking for Leia's brother, Luke Skywalker.  Now, General Organa has tasked the galaxy's best pilot, Poe Dameron, to find Lor San Tekka, an explorer who investigates Jedi ruins.  Tekka may know where Luke is, but finding him will put Poe and his droid, BB-8, in a place that is both strange and dangerous.

Marvel Comics is publishing about four to five Star Wars comic books every month, and for the most part, much of that output is high-quality.  I was excited to learn that Marvel would be publishing a comic book focusing on Poe Dameron, who is one of the characters of which I want to see more in future Star Wars films.  I am expecting a lot from this comic book because I hope that Charles Soule can deliver the same excitement and thrills he did in last year's five-issue miniseries, Lando, which depicted a tale of Lando Calrissian before he was a mining mogul.

Well, the first issue certainly delivers on action and intrigue.  I have to be honest:  one of the reasons I like this comic book is that it connects to The Force Awakens, taking place just before the events depicted in the film.  Soule fleshes out more of Poe's personality, and he also expands into the unknown that surrounds the world of The Force Awakens.  And I have to give artist Phil Noto credit; he has a photo-realistic touch when it comes to drawing Poe.  Here, Poe the comic book character strong resembles Oscar Isaac, the actor who portrays Poe in The Force Awakens.

As a bonus, there is an eight-page backup story starring BB-8, written and drawn by the underrated cartoonist Chris Eliopoulos, who is known for his work as a comic book letterer.  I loves me some BB-8, and I like what Eliopoulos does with the character.  Encore!

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Review: TRUTH: Red, White & Black #2

TRUTH RED, WHITE & BLACK No. 2
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Robert Morales
ARTIST: Kyle Baker
LETTERS:  JG & Comicraft’s Wes
EDITOR: Axel  Alonso
EiC: Joe Quesada
32pp, Color, $3.50 U.S. (February 2003)

Rated “PG”

Part Two: The Future

I recently read two books that greatly affected me.  The first is a non-fiction book, Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War, by author Linda Hervieux.  It details the experiences of African-Americans and especially Black soldiers before, during, and after World War II.

The second book is Lovecraft Country from author Matt Ruff.  A work of historical fiction and science fiction and fantasy, Lovecraft Country is set in the early 1950s and follows two African-American families and their friends.  They are caught in the middle of a struggle for power by white men who want to use these Black people for themselves and against their rivals.

These two books have had me thinking a lot about Jim Crow America and about the lingering effects of not only the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in the United States, but also of segregation.  In a way segregation may have been worse than slavery.  It codified Black people a second class of American citizen; as a permanent social, cultural, and financial underclass; and worst of all, as a group of people who must be kept separate.

With this in mind, I decided to return to Truth: Red, White & Black, a 2003, seven-issue, comic book miniseries from Marvel Comics.  I have read the first issue about a decade ago and again two years ago.  Truth: Red, White & Black was written by Robert Morales; drawn and colored by Kyle Baker; and lettered by JG and Wes (of Comicraft).

The purpose of Truth: Red, White & Black was to do some reconstruction of the fictional history of one of Marvel’s signature characters, Captain America.  The Truth’s conceit was that the United States government first tested the “super-soldier” serum that created Captain America on black men.

In Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated: March 1941), we meet Steve Rogers, a young man who volunteered for “army service” but was refused because of his “unfit condition.”  Basically, Rogers was too frail to serve in combat in World War II.  Desperate to serve his country, Rogers agreed to be a lab rat for Professor Reinstein.  The professor administered the “super soldier” formula to Rogers.  The “strange seething liquid” worked, transforming Rogers into a strapping young buck and a supernaturally fit specimen of red-blooded American male, a white male, that is.  Rogers eventually donned a flag-based costume and became Captain America.

Truth writer Robert Morales flipped the script on Captain America’s origin, and referenced a real-world situation, the infamous “Tuskegee experiment,” in which Black men were used as lab rats.  “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” was a real-life clinical study in which poor Black men were denied treatment for syphilis so that the doctors involved could study how the disease spreads through the human body and eventually kills the infected person.

Morales posed an intriguing question on Marvel Comics mythology,  What if the United States government thought that the “Super Soldier” serum was potentially dangerous and perhaps fatal, so before testing it on a White man (Rogers), the government tested it on Black soldiers?  Obviously, it is hard to imagine that even a fictional version of the U.S. government and military, especially in the 1930s and 40s, would risk creating a platoon of super Negroes.  Still, this is just speculative fiction, so why not be imaginative...

Truth: Red, White & Black opens in mid-1940 and introduces a small core of Black soldiers and their family and friends.  There is a young Negro couple, Isaiah and Faith Bradley, on honeymoon.  Maurice Canfield, a Black communist, is the son of well-to-do Negroes in Philadelphia.  He is a labor organizer, and his protests against the U.S.'s entry into World War II ends up getting him forced into the military (with the other choice being a lengthy prison sentence).  Finally, the story moves to June 1941, where we meet Luke Evans, a former Army captain. He has been demoted to sergeant after shoving a white superior who belittled the life of a black soldier killed by White/cracker cops.

Truth: Red, White & Black #2 (“The Future”) opens in May 1942 at Camp Cathcart, Mississippi, a U.S. Army training facility.  Sgt. Evans, who has plenty of experience in the ways of the “White man's army,” roughly and firmly guides the young Black man in his unit through the harsh realities of military service.  Isaiah Bradley shares some good news with his fellow new privates.  Maurice Canfield continues to rub White men the wrong way.

Meanwhile, Washington attaché, Homer Tully, and German psychiatrist and surgeon, Dr. Josef Reinstein, have arrived at Camp Cathcart, in need for an experimental Army project.  Unbeknownst to the Black men of the camp, dark doings are going on in camp headquarters that will cost many men, Black and White, dearly.

The first time I read  Truth: Red, White & Black #1, I enjoyed it, but found it a little underwhelming.  I found Kyle Baker's art to be a little too... informal and cutesy.  In the second reading, I focused more on the story that Morales told, trying to understand both the characters' personalities and the world in which they lived.  When the reader understands the context of these characters' lives, Truth becomes quite powerful.

Kyle Baker's art and graphical storytelling also takes on a stronger quality.  It becomes a blunt instrument, delivering the Jim Crow world of 1940s America because that is the story's mission.  I see it now.  Baker's graphic and artistic style has less to do with traditional comic book art and storytelling and more to do with the confrontational and scathing style of America's great newspaper and magazine political cartoonists.

That's the truth.  After two issues, it seems to me that Morales and Baker are subversively using the ruse of telling a story set in Marvel Comics' fictional universe to chronicle some truths about American history.  This is especially in regards to the deplorable treatment of Black folk in the land of freedom.  That is also the truth.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

---------------------

Monday, December 19, 2016

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 21, 2016

DC COMICS

OCT160243    ALL STAR BATMAN #1 DIRECTORS CUT    $5.99
OCT160165    AQUAMAN #13    $2.99
OCT160166    AQUAMAN #13 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160175    BATMAN #13    $2.99
OCT160176    BATMAN #13 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160245    CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #3 (MR)    $3.99
OCT160246    CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #3 VAR ED (MR)    $3.99
OCT160181    CYBORG #7    $2.99
OCT160182    CYBORG #7 VAR ED    $2.99
DEC150389    DC COMICS BRASS BATMAN STATUE    $5000.00
FEB160280    DC COMICS DESIGNER SER LEE BERMEJO BATMAN AF (RES)    $28.00
FEB160283    DC COMICS DESIGNER SER LEE BERMEJO SUPERMAN AF (RES)    $28.00
MAR160323    DC FILMS ARMORED BATMAN PREMIUM AF    $50.00
MAR160324    DC FILMS SUPERMAN PREMIUM AF    $45.00
APR160456    DC TV ARROW FLASH 2 PACK AF    $50.00
OCT160197    GREEN ARROW #13    $2.99
OCT160198    GREEN ARROW #13 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160201    GREEN LANTERNS #13    $2.99
OCT160202    GREEN LANTERNS #13 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160209    HARLEY QUINN #10    $2.99
OCT160210    HARLEY QUINN #10 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160271    HE MAN THUNDERCATS #3 (OF 6)    $3.99
OCT160255    INJUSTICE GROUND ZERO #2    $2.99
OCT160215    JUSTICE LEAGUE #11    $2.99
OCT160216    JUSTICE LEAGUE #11 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160147    JUSTICE LEAGUE SUICIDE SQUAD #1 (OF 6)    $3.99
OCT160148    JUSTICE LEAGUE SUICIDE SQUAD #1 (OF 6) CONNER VAR ED    $3.99
OCT160149    JUSTICE LEAGUE SUICIDE SQUAD #1 (OF 6) FRANK VAR ED    $3.99
OCT160325    LUCIFER #13 (MR)    $3.99
OCT160287    MAD MAGAZINE #543    $5.99
OCT160288    MAD MAGAZINE #543 BLANK VAR ED    $5.99
SEP160351    METAL MEN FULL METAL JACKET TP    $14.99
OCT160221    NIGHTWING #11    $2.99
OCT160222    NIGHTWING #11 VAR ED    $2.99
OCT160272    RAVEN #4 (OF 6)    $2.99
OCT160274    SUICIDE SQUAD MOST WANTED #5 (OF 6) EL DIABLO & AMANDA WALLE    $4.99
SEP160353    SUICIDE SQUAD TP VOL 05 APOKOLIPS NOW    $19.99
OCT160229    SUPERMAN #13    $2.99
OCT160230    SUPERMAN #13 VAR ED    $2.99
AUG160337    SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS HC VOL 09 LAST RITES    $24.99
SEP160355    SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS TP VOL 08 TRUTH    $16.99
AUG160333    SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN HC VOL 05 SAVAGE END    $24.99
SEP160356    SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN TP VOL 04 DARK TRUTH    $16.99
OCT160286    TEEN TITANS GO #19    $2.99
SEP160349    TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE NEW EDITION TP    $16.99
OCT160237    TRINITY #4    $2.99
OCT160238    TRINITY #4 VAR ED    $2.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 21, 2016

MARVEL COMICS

OCT160850    AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #22 CC    $3.99
SEP161147    AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION GREAT RESPONSIBILITY TP    $39.99
OCT160858    AVENGERS #2.1    $3.99
OCT160916    BLACK PANTHER WORLD OF WAKANDA #2    $3.99
SEP161145    BLACK WIDOW TP WEB OF INTRIGUE    $24.99
OCT160907    CAGE #3 (OF 4)    $3.99
OCT160878    CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON #16    $3.99
OCT160960    DEADPOOL AND MERCS FOR MONEY #6    $3.99
SEP161132    DEADPOOL WORLDS GREATEST TP VOL 05 CIVIL WAR II    $17.99
OCT160919    DOCTOR STRANGE #15    $3.99
OCT160837    GAMORA #1    $3.99
SEP161138    GIANT SIZE LITTLE MARVEL TP AVX    $15.99
OCT160927    GWENPOOL #9    $3.99
OCT160862    INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #2    $3.99
SEP161154    MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ULTRON REVOLUTION DIGEST TP VOL 01    $9.99
OCT160992    MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #15    $2.99
OCT160786    MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 JOHNSON VAR NOW    $3.99
OCT160784    MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 NOTO VAR NOW    $3.99
OCT160783    MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 NOW    $3.99
OCT160787    MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 PHAM ICX VAR NOW    $3.99
OCT160785    MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 ROSANAS VAR NOW    $3.99
OCT160883    OCCUPY AVENGERS #2    $3.99
OCT160940    PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT #13    $3.99
SEP161137    PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT TP VOL 02 DONT STOP ME-OW    $17.99
OCT160903    POWER MAN AND IRON FIST SWEET CHRISTMAS ANNUAL #1    $4.99
OCT160905    POWER MAN IRON FIST SWEET CHRISTMAS ANNUAL #1 ANKA VAR    $4.99
OCT160904    POWER MAN IRON FIST SWEET CHRISTMAS ANNUAL #1 VON EEDEN VAR    $4.99
SEP160967    PUNISHER #7 NOW    $3.99
SEP161126    PUNISHER TP VOL 01 ON ROAD    $17.99
SEP161140    SILK TP VOL 02 NEGATIVE    $15.99
JUL160983    SILVER SURFER #8    $3.99
OCT160949    SOLO #3    $3.99
OCT160896    SPIDER-GWEN #15    $3.99
SEP161141    SPIDER-GWEN TP VOL 02 WEAPON OF CHOICE    $15.99
OCT160946    SQUADRON SUPREME #14    $3.99
OCT160982    STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #2    $3.99
OCT160830    STAR-LORD #1    $3.99
OCT160925    THANOS #2    $3.99
OCT160941    ULTIMATES 2 #2    $3.99
SEP161129    ULTIMATES: OMNIVERSAL TP VOL 02 CIVIL WAR II    $17.99
OCT160721    UNCANNY X-MEN #16 IVX    $3.99
OCT160722    UNCANNY X-MEN #16 MOORE VAR IVX    $3.99
OCT160892    VENOM #2    $3.99
SEP161150    VENOM SEPARATION ANXIETY TP NEW PTG    $34.99

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for December 21, 2016

IDW PUBLISHING

OCT160446    BACK TO THE FUTURE #15    $3.99
OCT160447    BACK TO THE FUTURE #15 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
OCT160516    DONALD QUEST #2 (OF 5)    $3.99
OCT160517    DONALD QUEST #2 (OF 5) SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
OCT160426    GI JOE IDW COLLECTION HC VOL 07    $49.99
OCT160481    GUMBALLS #1    $3.99
OCT160482    GUMBALLS #1 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
OCT160442    JEM MISFITS #1    $3.99
OCT160444    JEM MISFITS #1 BLANK SKETCH VAR    $3.99
OCT160443    JEM MISFITS #1 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
OCT160346    LOCKE & KEY SMALL WORLD    $4.99
OCT160347    LOCKE & KEY SMALL WORLD SUBSCRIPTION VAR A    $4.99
OCT160348    LOCKE & KEY SMALL WORLD SUBSCRIPTION VAR B    $4.99
OCT160349    LOCKE & KEY SMALL WORLD SUBSCRIPTION VAR C    $4.99
OCT160501    MAXX MAXXIMIZED HC VOL 07    $24.99
JUN160492    MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER MICRO COMIC PACK    $3.99
OCT160531    MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #49    $3.99
OCT160532    MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #49 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
OCT160376    STAR TREK GREEN LANTERN VOL 2 #1    $3.99
OCT160378    STAR TREK GREEN LANTERN VOL 2 #1 BLANK SKETCH VAR    $3.99
OCT160377    STAR TREK GREEN LANTERN VOL 2 #1 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $3.99
JUL160658    STAR WARS ICONS MICRO COLLECTOR PACK    $3.99
OCT160486    SUPER F*CKERS FOREVER #5 (OF 5) (MR)    $4.99
SEP160397    TMNT MEETING OF THE MUTANIMALS HC    $12.99
OCT160456    TMNT UNIVERSE #5    $4.99
OCT160457    TMNT UNIVERSE #5 SUBSCRIPTION VAR    $4.99
OCT160467    X-FILES X-MAS SPECIAL 2016    $7.99
OCT160468    X-FILES X-MAS SPECIAL 2016 PHOTO VAR    $7.99


Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 21, 2016

DARK HORSE COMICS

OCT160023    ALIENS LIFE AND DEATH #4 (OF 4)    $3.99
OCT160044    BLACK HAMMER #6 LEMIRE VAR    $3.99
OCT160043    BLACK HAMMER #6 ORMSTON MAIN    $3.99
OCT160042    BRIGGS LAND #5    $3.99
OCT160052    BTVS SEASON 11 #2 ISAACS VAR    $3.99
OCT160051    BTVS SEASON 11 #2 MORRIS MAIN    $3.99
OCT160056    DARK HORSE PRESENTS #29    $4.99
OCT160024    DEAD INSIDE #1 MAIN CVR    $3.99
OCT160025    DEAD INSIDE #1 VAR HICKS CVR    $3.99
OCT160045    DEPT H #9    $3.99
AUG160111    EC ARCHIVES CRIME SUSPENSTORIES HC VOL 02    $49.99
JAN160177    ESSENTIAL KURTZMAN HC VOL 02 TRUMP COMPLETE    $29.99
OCT160046    ETHER #2    $3.99
AUG169378    GAME OF THRONES PIN HAND OF QUEEN    $12.99
AUG160047    GUN THEORY HC (RES)    $24.99
OCT160059    SPELL ON WHEELS #3 (OF 5)    $3.99
OCT160030    TOMB RAIDER 2016 #11    $3.99
OCT160061    USAGI YOJIMBO #160    $3.99
MAY160136    WITCHER 3 WILD HUNT FIGURE EREDIN    $29.99
MAY160137    WITCHER 3 WILD HUNT FIGURE YENNEFER    $29.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 21, 2016

IMAGE COMICS

OCT160605    DEMONIC #5 (OF 6) (MR)    $2.99
JUL160830    ELEPHANTMEN MAMMOTH TP VOL 02 (MR)    $34.99
OCT160607    FIX #7 (MR)    $3.99
SEP160782    GEMINI COMPLETE SERIES TP    $16.99
OCT160614    HORIZON #6    $2.99
SEP160731    HUNT #5 (MR)    $3.99
OCT160618    LAKE OF FIRE #5 CVR A SMITH & FAIRBAIRN (MR)    $3.99
OCT160619    LAKE OF FIRE #5 CVR B OMALLEY & FISCHER (MR)    $3.99
OCT160692    MANIFEST DESTINY TP VOL 04 SASQUATCH    $14.99
OCT160591    PETER PANZERFAUST #25 (MR)    $4.99
MAY160716    SAVAGE DRAGON LEGACY TP    $19.99
OCT160641    SOUTHERN CROSS #10 (MR)    $3.99
SEP160821    SYMMETRY TP VOL 02    $14.99
OCT160669    THROWAWAYS TP VOL 01    $9.99