Review: THE STAR WARS #1

THE STAR WARS #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: J.W. Rinzler
ART: Mike Mayhew
COLORS: Rain Beredo
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Nick Runge
VARIANT COVERS:  Jan Duursema, Douglas Wheatley
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2013)

Apparently, filmmaker George Lucas had ideas for what would become his film, Star Wars, years before he completed the 1977 Oscar-winning, box office record-setting movie.  In May 1974, Lucas completed the first-draft full screenplay, entitled The Star Wars, the first of four drafts.

Dark Horse Comics has initiated a comic book adaptation of that 1974 screenplay, and the result is The Star Wars, a new eight-issue Star Wars comic book miniseries.  The creative team on The Star Wars is J.W. Rinzler (writer and script adaptation), Mike Mayhew (artist), Rain Beredo (colors), and Michael Heisler (letters).

The Star Wars #1 opens after the recent “Great Rebellion,” in which the Empire has given way to the “New Galactic Empire.”  On the fourth moon of Utapau live Kane Starkiller and his two sons, Annikin and Deak.  Events force great change, which present to Annikin Starkiller the chance to follow in his father’s footsteps.  Meanwhile, the Emperor sets his sights on the Aquilaean System, the last of the independent systems.

Of all the Star Wars comic books that I’ve ever read, The Star Wars is the one that I think will have the least appeal to readers who are either not interested in Star Wars or are only casually interested.  Still, it is good to get this visual and graphical interpretation of early Star Wars, which makes The Star Wars the comic book equivalent of a curio-piece.

If anything The Star Wars makes it obvious how much influence Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” book series had on George Lucas.  In fact, Mike Mayhew’s art, with Rain Beredo’s colors, recall the magazine illustration and pulp art from the first half of the twentieth-century that Lucas says influenced his storytelling.  As of now, Mayhew and Beredo are good reasons to keep reading.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Psyren: Blood and Determination

I read Psyren, Vol. 12

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free comics).

I Reads You Review: All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder #2

ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #2
DC COMICS – @DCComics

WRITER: Frank Miller
PENCILS: Jim Lee
INKS: Scott Williams
COLORS: Alex Sinclair
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
40pp, Color, $2.99 U.S., $4.00 CAN (November 2005)

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger

Recently I started reading All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, again.  Written by Frank Miller and drawn by Jim Lee, All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder was the first series in DC Comics’ then new “All Star” imprint.  This publishing initiative would offer comic book miniseries produced by writers and artists who were renowned in the American comic book industry.  The Batman All-Star title was shortly followed by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman.

I can’t remember how much or if I liked All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #1, but I did enjoy it after recently reading it again.  How did I feel about All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #2?  I certainly remember my feelings because I have written proof.  Here is my review of it for the Comic Book Bin, back in 2005:

What can I say? All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder is a bigger over-hyped bomb than Batman: Hush, and Jim Lee’s art was better. Honestly, I don’t think that many people expected this title to be great, but buying it has to be a necessity to so many super hero comic buyers precisely because of the reason for the hype – Frank Miller and Jim Lee.

The problem is Frank Miller. He stated in one the of interviews he gave concerning ASBARTBW that this title was taking place in the Batman “universe” he created for The Dark Knight Returns. However, this title lacks the explosive, in-your-face drama of DKR or the wacky, cartoonish violence that made The Dark Knight Strikes Again fun to read. This Batman doesn’t seem at all like any Batman ever portrayed in a DC comic. He rambles and his violence seems joystick directed. In fact, I would say that if a Batman like this exists anywhere, it’s probably in one of those unproduced screenplays Warner Bros. has commissioned over the years while they developed various Batman feature films. Miller even makes Alfred the butler a former military special operative. Whatever.

Having a bad script could have reduced Jim Lee to being an unimaginative art robot. But all his drafting skills are on display; the man can draw to the point of impressing the viewer. Lee struggles to make good compositions out of this mess, and for the most part he succeeds. If there is any fun in this, it’s seeing this virtuoso pianist turn a lame symphony into easy listening eye candy.

C+

Wow!  I really hated on Miller, and, as usual, I completely hung on Jim Lee’s jockstrap.  So I recently read All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #2 again, and I certainly liked it more than I did the first time.

Miller’s script is certainly over-the-top, but this time, I think that there are only a few pages that come across as tedious.  I think Miller has always seen Batman as being similar to Clint Eastwood’s screen persona, especially Eastwood as “Dirty” Harry Callahan.  That has never been more obvious than in All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, and this time it works for me, for the most part.

The last three or four pages are basically a two-man play featuring Batman and a grieving Dick Grayson.  Miller handles this with a mixture of pathos and humor that belie this series’ general acerbic tone.  I think Miller is having fun with “his Batman,” while lampooning his audience’s expectations or demands that he give them a proper sequel to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

As for Jim Lee’s art, produced with Scott Williams (inks) and Alex Sinclair (colors):  I’m starting to think that All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder is Lee’s best work.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Happy 4th Anniversary, I Reads You

I Reads You launched on a Monday afternoon back in 2009.

Maybe you could celebrate by buying a comic book in the I Reads You Shop.

Or make a donation:

THE ROCKETEER/THE SPIRIT: Pulp Friction #1

THE ROCKETEER/THE SPIRIT: PULP FRICTION #1
IDW PUBLISHING with DC Entertainment – @IDWPublishing and @DCComics

WRITER:  Mark Waid
ARTIST: Paul Smith
COLORS: Jordie Bellaire
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVER: Paul Smith with Jordie Bellaire
SUBSCRIPTION VARIANT COVER: Darwyn Cooke and J Bone
CONVENTION EXCLUSIVE COVER: Darwyn Cooke
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2013)

The Rocketeer is a comic book character created by artist and illustrator, Dave Stevens (who died in March of 2008).  Cliff Secord is a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jet pack.  Donning the jet pack and a helmet, Secord becomes “The Rocketeer,” and begins a series of adventures set mainly in Los Angeles and beginning in the year 1938.

The Spirit is a comic book character created by cartoonist Will Eisner (who died in January 2005).  The Spirit first appeared on June 2, 1940 in what readers called “The Spirit Section,” a 16-page, Sunday newspaper supplement or insert that was carried in various newspapers from the 1940s and into the early 1950s.  Once known as Detective Denny Colt (believed by some to be dead), The Spirit is a masked vigilante who fights crime in Central City.

Now, the two characters come together in a new comic book miniseries entitled, The Rocketeer/The Spirit: Pulp Friction.  Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Paul Smith, Pulp Friction unites the two characters to solve the murder of a Central City politician whose corpse is found in Los Angeles.

The Rocketeer/The Spirit: Pulp Friction #1 opens in Central City in February 1941.  It is cold and snowy outside, but inside City Hall, it is quite heated.  The story moves to the following morning, three thousand miles west.  Betty, Cliff Secord’s lady, is doing a modeling shoot on a beach when she makes a grisly discovery.

When they learn that a denizen of Central City has been found dead L.A., The Spirit, Commissioner Dolan, and Ellen (the Commissioner’s daughter) head to Cali.  And The Rocketeer is ready to greet them.

Uniting The Rocketeer and The Spirit seems like such a no-brainer that I’m surprised that it’s just happening now.  The Spirit is a character from the “Golden Age” of American comic books, and The Rocketeer, who first appeared in the 1980s, harkens back to the “Golden Age” of both comic books and Hollywood.

The creative team of writer Mark Waid and artist Paul Smith is an excellent choice to chronicle the team-up of two beloved “old-timey” characters.  When Waid is at his best, his comic books are pure fun, and as a fan of and expert on Golden Age comic books, Waid can write stories that capture the spirit of the 1930s and 40s, but tell them in a modern idiom.  Best known in the 1980s for his elegant and animation-influenced drawing style, Paul Smith engaged comic book readers with his storytelling that hit on all points:  character, plot, and setting.  That serves him well in this series, which will mix adventure and action with mystery and suspense.  I must note, however, that Smith’s work in Pulp Friction is closer to Dave Stevens’ in nature than to Will Eisner’s – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The Rocketeer/The Spirit: Pulp Friction looks to be one of the good things we will get this year.  It’s that wild ride comic book fans want.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Toriko: Shining Gourami!!

I read Toriko, Vol. 17

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 4 2013

DC COMICS

JUL130176 ACTION COMICS #23.1 CYBORG SUPERMAN $3.99
JUN138285 ACTION COMICS #23.1 CYBORG SUPERMAN STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130218 AME COMI GIRLS #7 $3.99
JUN130293 AMERICAN VAMPIRE TP VOL 04 (MR) $16.99
JUN130267 ANIMAL MAN TP VOL 03 ROTWORLD THE RED KINGDOM (N52) $16.99
JUL130185 BATMAN #23.1 JOKER $3.99
JUN138287 BATMAN #23.1 JOKER STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130189 BATMAN AND ROBIN #23.1 TWO FACE $3.99
JUN138288 BATMAN AND ROBIN #23.1 TWO FACE STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130208 BATMAN BLACK & WHITE #1 $4.99
JUN130259 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT TP VOL 01 $14.99
JUL130193 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #23.1 VENTRILOQUIST $3.99
JUN138289 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #23.1 VENTRILOQUIST STANDARD ED $2.99
JUN130242 DC VS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #1 CVR A (DC) $2.99
JUN130243 DC VS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #1 CVR B (MOTU) $2.99
JUL130197 DETECTIVE COMICS #23.1 POISON IVY $3.99
JUN138290 DETECTIVE COMICS #23.1 POISON IVY STANDARD ED $2.99
JUN130295 DJANGO UNCHAINED #7 (MR) $4.99
JUL130168 EARTH 2 #15.1 DESAAD $3.99
JUN138282 EARTH 2 #15.1 DESAAD STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130258 FAIREST #19 (MR) $2.99
JUL130170 FLASH #23.1 GRODD $3.99
JUN138283 FLASH #23.1 GRODD STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130149 FOREVER EVIL #1 $3.99
JUL130155 FOREVER EVIL #1 COMBO PACK $4.99
JUL130173 GREEN ARROW #23.1 COUNT VERTIGO $3.99
JUN138284 GREEN ARROW #23.1 COUNT VERTIGO STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130201 GREEN LANTERN #23.1 RELIC $3.99
JUN138291 GREEN LANTERN #23.1 RELIC STANDARD ED $2.99
MAY130221 GREEN LANTERN HC RISE O/T THIRD ARMY (N52) $29.99
JUN138297 INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US #6 2ND PTG $3.99
JUL130156 JUSTICE LEAGUE #23.1 DARKSEID $3.99
JUN138279 JUSTICE LEAGUE #23.1 DARKSEID STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130164 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #23.1 CREEPER $3.99
JUN138281 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #23.1 CREEPER STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130160 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7.1 DEADSHOT $3.99
JUN138280 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7.1 DEADSHOT STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130222 LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #12 $3.99
JUN130270 NECESSARY EVIL THE VILLAINS OF THE DC UNIVERSE TP $16.99
JUL130254 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #37 $2.99
JUL130180 SUPERMAN #23.1 BIZARRO $3.99
JUN138286 SUPERMAN #23.1 BIZARRO STANDARD ED $2.99
JUL130273 TRILLIUM #2 (MR) $2.99
JUN138293 TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #2 2ND PTG $2.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

APR130281 DC COMICS COVER GIRLS BATGIRL STATUE $99.95