The New 52 Review: O.M.A.C. #1

O.M.A.C. #1
DC COMICS

WRITERS: Keith Giffen and Dan DiDio
PENCILS: Keith Giffen
INKS: Scott Koblish
COLORS: Hi-Fi
LETTERS: Travis Lanham
32pp, Color, $2.99

OMAC is a superhero comic book created by Jack Kirby in 1974. The series was set in a near future where OMAC was a corporate nobody named Buddy Blank. An A.I. satellite called “Brother Eye” changed Buddy, via a “computer-hormonal operation done by remote control,” into the super-powered One-Man Army Corps (OMAC).

DC Comics is currently re-launching its superhero comic book line. Produced by Keith Giffen and Dan DiDio, a new O.M.A.C. series is part of that launch. O.M.A.C. #1 opens on a peaceful afternoon at the headquarters of Cadmus Industries, the corporate leader in genetic research and cutting edge medical technologies.

Jody Robbins is fretting over her boyfriend, Kevin Kho, also works at Cadmus, but is missing. Suddenly, O.M.A.C., a powerful behemoth of a creature, assaults the complex and begins tearing his way down through the lower levels. What is he seeking? And where is Kevin?

Over the course of his four-decade career, Keith Giffen has often showed the influence of Jack Kirby on his work. In O.M.A.C., Giffen blends the powerful compositions and graphic design of Kirby with his own sharp line work to create some of the best comic book art to come out of “The New 52.” Giffen captures the raw power of a creature like O.M.A.C. by depicting destruction on massive scale in panels both small and big and especially in a double-page spread that is… awesome. I think this is a book worth a second and third look.

A-

August 31st
FLASHPOINT #5
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/flashpoint-5.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-1.html

September 7th
ACTION COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/action-comics-1.html
ANIMAL MAN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/animal-man-1.html
BATGIRL #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batgirl-1.html
BATWING #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batwing-1.html
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1-2011.html
HAWK AND DOVE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/hawk-dove-1.html
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/justice-league-international-1.html
MEN OF WAR #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/men-of-war-1.html
STATIC SHOCK #1 2.99
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/static-shock-1.html
STORMWATCH #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/stormwatch-1.html
SWAMP THING #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/swamp-thing-1.html

The New 52 Review: SUPERBOY #1

SUPERBOY #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Scott Lobdell
PENCILS: R.B. Silva
INKS: Rob Lean
COLORS: The Hories
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
COVER: Eric Canete with Guy Major
32pp, Color, $2.99

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Superboy first appeared in More Fun Comics #101 (January-February 1945). The character was meant to be Superman as a boy and a teenager. Later, Superboy was reinvented as a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor. With the re-launch of DC Comics’ superhero comics line, “The New 52,” Superboy (the clone) is back.

Superboy #1 opens with Superboy in a glass tank of neonatal amniotic fluid and subjected to various virtual reality programs. Who is Superboy? What is Superboy? Why does the female doctor known as “Red” care for him? Who or what is N.O.W.H.E.R.E.?

What to make of Superboy? It is a mildly enjoyable read. A veteran scribe, Superboy writer Scott Lobdell is a master of dragging out a narrative over several months (or even over a year or two if necessary). That would be just fine and dandy if the characters weren’t so stiff here, although Superboy is interesting.

The art (pencils, inks, and colors) is pretty, but is so stiff and mechanical. If clip art fucked Dilbert, artist R.B. Silva’s style would be the result. Still, I’m curious enough to try at least one more issue.

C+

September 14th

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batman-and-robin-1.html
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/frankenstein-agent-of-shade-1.html

The New 52 Review: BATMAN AND ROBIN #1

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Peter J. Tomasi
PENCILS: Patrick Gleason
INKS: Mick Gray
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Patrick Brosseau
32pp, Color, $2.99

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Remember that Batman and Robin comic book that had the original Robin, Dick (Richard) Grayson, as Batman and Bruce Wayne’s son, Damian Wayne, as the latest Robin? Of course, you do; it was only launched two years ago to great fanfare – as the Batman comic book line was then being revamped… again.

With DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero comic book line, “The New 52,” Batman and Robin is also re-launched, with Bruce Wayne back as Batman and Damian back as Robin. The team that produced the “Tree of Blood” storyline in the 2009 Batman and Robin, writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Patrick Gleason, is the creative team of The New 52 Batman and Robin.

Batman and Robin #1 (“Born to Kill”) opens in Moscow where one of the Batmen of Batman Incorporated gets Bat-manhandled. Meanwhile, Batman/Bruce Wayne is ready to reconcile and to put a defining moment in his life behind him, so he takes his bratty son to Crime Alley. But the irascible new Boy Wonder is more interested in stomping some bad guy ass than being kind of sentimental.

After reading the first issue of 2009 Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, I was very impressed. It was a start reminiscent of their opening storyline for New X-Men (“E is for Extinction”). Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s own first Batman and Robin issue is close to being as good as Morrison/Quitely, and I’m equally impressed. I so want to share with you the fun I had reading it, but I’d unleash too many spoilers. What I’ll say is that this is one of “The New 52” you should keep reading past the first issue.

A

The New 52 Review: FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1

FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Jeff Lemire
ARTIST: Alberto Ponticelli
COLORS: Jose Villarrubia
LETTERS: Pat Brosseau
COVER: J.G. Jones with Hi-Fi
32pp, Color, $2.99

War of the Monsters Pt. 1: Monster Town, USA

DC Comics has a version of Frankenstein’s monster that is similar to the Boris Karloff monster in Universal Picture’s 1931 film, Frankenstein (directed by James Whale). The character first appeared in Detective Comics #135 (cover date May 1948) and was created by Edmond Hamilton and Bob Kane, based upon the character in Frankenstein, the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

DC’s Frankenstein has been revamped a few times, the most recent being a version writer Grant Morrison made a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. As part of DC’s re-launch of its superhero comics line, “The New 52,” the Seven Soldiers version of Frankenstein is the star of a new comic book series, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

As Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 opens, the demonic invasion of Bone Lake, Washington (population 4,500) begins. At S.H.A.D.E. (Super Human Advanced Defense Executive), Agent Frankenstein gets his marching orders… and a field team, although he insists he works alone. Not anymore, big fella! Meet the Creature Commandos: the amphibian/human hybrid, Dr. Nina Mazursky; the werewolf, Warren Griffith; the vampire Vincent Velcoro; and the mummy and medic, Khalis. But can even this uber-motley crew stop an invasion that doesn’t die, it multiplies?

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. can come across as DC Comics’ version of the B.P.R.D. (Dark Horse Comics), Mike Mignola’s troubleshooters from his Hellboy franchise. Even if S.H.A.D.E. is a riff on B.P.R.D., Jeff Lemire, so far, can’t touch the inventive madness of Mignola and the writers that collaborate with him. If anyone on this S.H.A.D.E. creative team is close to Mignola and company’s lovely madness, it’s artist Alberto Ponticelli. He gives Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. a decidedly Eurocomics vibe, and the scenes in which he draws sci-fi tech, his art recalls legendary artist, Moebius, and that legendary manga, Akira.

Considering what Lemire did with Animal Man, I want to give Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. a chance because this could be a really inventive title. Ponticelli’s art will certainly be a joy to scrutinize.

B+

House of Five Leaves: Ginta

I read House of Five Leaves, Vol. 4

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: CENTURY #2

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, VOL. III: CENTURY: 1969 (BOOK 2 OF 3)
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS/KNOCKABOUT COMICS

WRITER: Alan Moore
ARTIST: Kevin O’Neill
COLORIST: Ben Dimagmaliw
LETTERER: Todd Klein
ISBN: 978-1-86166-162-6; paperback
80pp, Color, $9.95 U.S., £7.99 GBP

Even in a counter-culture underground of mystical and medicated flower children, there is a sense of loneliness. It is as if expressions of personal freedom and use of drugs to gain a personal high are really about trying to connect with other individuals in a way that is simultaneously superficial and deeply intimate. Even Oliver Haddo’s body hopping is an attempt to stave off that ultimate solo journey – death. Anyway…

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century is the third series starring Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s Victorian superheroes, who are now a new team in a new century. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century #2 “1969” is the second graphic novel in the most recent story arc (which began with Century #1 “1910”). It finds the new League: Mina Murray, the reincarnated Allan Quatermain, and eternal warrior Orlando still trying to stop the creation of an antichrist called the Moonchild.

Chapter 2: Paint It Black takes place in 1969 (about 60 years after the League’s last adventure) and is set in the psychedelic daze of Swinging London during 1969, where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice. The counter-culture fun pauses for just a moment when rock musician, Basil Thomas, is murdered by men in black robes. Vince Dakin, a mob boss close to Thomas, hires contract killer, Jack Carter, to learn the identity of the person who ordered the murder and to in turn kill that individual.

Meanwhile, the Blazing World sends the League to investigate Thomas’ murder, especially as it may be related to the activities of the occultist, Oliver Haddo, who is trying to create the Moonchild. But isn’t Haddo supposed to be dead? Still adjusting to the 20th century and struggling with the accumulated weight of their endless lives, Mina, Allan, and Orlando navigate the perilous rapids of London's hippy and criminal subculture, while Haddo plots his next incarnation.

While I marvel at the brilliance of his darker works like Watchmen and V for Vendetta, I prefer Alan Moore’s more surreal and slyly humrous comics, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen being one of them. It is obvious that moving LoEG to Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics (in the U.K.) has liberated Moore. Century: 1969 is bawdy and vulgar without being obnoxious. It is madly inventive and highly imaginative without being inaccessible to readers who may not get all the cultural and pop culture references.

The move to a new publisher (from DC Comics, which was never the right publisher for this material) has also done wonders for artist Kevin O’Neill, who is every bit as important to the League as Moore is. O’Neill graphical storytelling and art are pictures as poetry. Dream sequences, flashbacks, alternate universes, swinging London, bizarre manifestations of human flesh, etc.: there isn’t anything O’Neill can’t draw. He visualizes Moore’s trippy story as both a trippy graphic novel and an enthralling, engaging story.

Century #2 is actually an improvement over Century #1, as the former is surreal rather than merely odd, as “1910” was with its bizarre musical sequences. I’m happy to say that Moore and O’Neill are still at the top of their LoEG game.

A

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Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: CENTURY #1

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, VOL. III: CENTURY: 1910 (BOOK 1 OF 3)
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

WRITER: Alan Moore
ARTIST: Kevin O’Neill
COLORIST: Ben Dimagmaliw
LETTERER: Todd Klein
ISBN: 978-1-60309-000-1; paperback
80pp, Color, $7.95

Published in May 2009, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century #1 (“1910”) is the opening book in the latest story arc starring The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill, the League is composed of Victorian superheroes (who are also Victorian literary characters). Century places a new league in a new century, as it takes on an occult plot to create an antichrist. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also has a new lease on life with new publishers, Top Shelf Productions in North America and Knockabout Comics in the United Kingdom.

Century finds what remains of the League in the brave new world of the 20th century. Chapter 1, “What Keeps Mankind Alive,” is set in 1910 London, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion (depicted in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2). The story opens in the bowels of the British Museum where the sleep of the ghost-finder Thomas Carnacki is troubled by dreams which reveal the conspiracy of a shadowy cult.

As Britain prepares for the coronation of King George V, the cult, apparently led by the supposedly dead Oliver Haddo, is attempting to create something called a “Moonchild.” Far away on his South Atlantic base, Captain Nemo is dying, but his daughter, Janni, has rejected her inheritance and heads for London. Meanwhile, London’s most notorious serial (MacHeath or Mack the Knife) has also returned to ply his grisly trade on the London dockside.

Working for Mycroft Holmes’ British Intelligence, Mina Murray leads a new League, which includes the rejuvenated Allan Quatermain (who pretends to be Allan Quatermain, Jr.), the reformed thief Anthony Raffles, the eternal warrior Orlando (who can be male or female and claims that the sword he carries is Excalibur), and Carnacki. As Murray and the League rush to discover if there is indeed a conspiracy, ominous signs thrive and brutal forces converge on the excited city. And characters break out in song!

It’s probably been about eight years since I’ve read the original League miniseries, and I didn’t read the second series. I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading the first book of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century as much if not more than I did the very first issue of the original series. What I enjoyed about Moore’s work here is how he treats each panel as an opportunity to create wonderful dialogue. More than just advancing the plot or establishing characters, the dialogue colors this peculiar series and gives it a wonderfully intoxicating flavor. I don’t know how else to say this: with every word balloon I read, I felt this story engaging my senses and coming alive in my mind. Hell, I even enjoyed the scenes in which the characters sang.

I’ve been a fan of Kevin O’Neill’s art since I first encountered him back in the mid-1980s, and I was crazy about Marshal Law. I liked his work in the original League series, but wasn’t crazy about it. I still love how O’Neill visualizes Moore’s eccentricities. Like Moore’s vivacious dialogue, O’Neill’s beautiful art doesn’t merely visualize a world; it brings that world to life. He captures the personalities of the characters by utilizing every bit of them – facial features and expressions, costumes, posture, physicality, etc.

Moore and O’Neill are a match made in comic book heaven.

A

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