Walking on the Moon

Will Eisner’s The Spirit #18, Aragones, Evanier, Smith, Wong. There’s nothing wrong with this issue – no grotesque misalignments of anatomy or anything – but it still doesn’t work for me. As an Eisner tribute, it’s competent and conservative. As a riff on classic characters it’s a tame placement into modern times. It’s a good comic, but no one seems invested in breathing their own life into it.

Grendel: Behold the Devil #8 of 8, Matt Wagner. Behold the Devil ends somewhat anticlimactically. Wagner’s a victim of his own success here. The Hunter Rose Grendel’s story is immutable in all but details and operatic in scope even before the larger saga grows from it. The revelations in Behold the Devil are really a gilding of the lily – interesting enough for a Grendel completeist like myself, but not resonant. Unlike, say the two incidental protagonists of Batman/Grendel, the non-Grendel folks in this series have their destinies clear from the moment we see them on panel. Innocents caught in Grendel’s whirlwind are on the ride of their lives, but have some hope that they’ll merely be tossed onto fate’s shores somewhere they never expected; actual antagonists are invariably atomized (except Batman, of course). These two are clearly going to be annihilated as soon as their fumblings catch Hunter’s eye.

Wagner’s been able to tell exciting stories within those constraints before, but he’s running out of new angles. I don’t begrudge him the attempts, he’s a brilliant creator. And there’s plenty of craft on display here; Wagner’s storytelling and art are clear and keen. Sadly that craft is in the service of a story only an aficionado of Hunter could like, and they know how it comes out.

I’d call it a noble miscue.

Anna Mercury #2, Ellis and Percio. There’s no way that the second issue of this could be as good as the first – and it isn’t – but the ride’s still fast enough that no one’s catching their breath. It’s got the same feel as Speed or the first Star Wars (Episode IV).  You don’t want to look away for fear you’ll miss something.  Beyond that there’s still the seed planted in issue 1 that there’s still more to this than meets the eye. High energy fun.

Doktor Sleepless #7, Ellis & Rodriguez.  At this point you’re probably either on the bus or off the bus with respect to this title.  I will say that this issue had particularly sharp dialog through it, though there were some clumps of exposition about the world’s underlying technology that showed the man behind the curtain a bit too clearly.  The graphical storytelling had some nice moments as well.  The siren call of the book remains the ideas, though and there were several nice ones scattered throughout.

Also of interest, the backmatter includes a transcript of a talk about the work so far.  Interesting analysis, and might draw some folks in who wouldn’t otherwise have come to it.  Assuming such people read the backmatter of issue 7 of a random comic; maybe it’s more for current readers.

A few words about Berg’s Lindbergh bio are up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

My capsule of David McCullough’s history of the Panama Canal is up at Bell, Book, and Candle.

Will Eisner’s The Spirit #17, Aragones, Evanier, Amancio, Austin.  These guys continue to get the Spirit himself to ring pretty true, but to make me wonder who the supporting cast is.  This issue turns Ellen Dolan into a one-dimensional clingy man-grabber rather than the intelligent, capable woman I prefer to see.  It makes me sad to see sub-I Love Lucy characterization of her after Cooke’s more nuanced treatment.  To add injury to insult, Ellen’s drawn as anatomically impossible, and not in a good way.  Not my favorite issue.

Captain America #38, Brubaker, Epting, Perkins, D’Armata.  Man, you know it’s going to be a long week when the best you can say about Captain America is that it was a superior super-hero book.  I mean it is and everything, but nothing sparkled too much for me.  Though, is it just me or is Dr. Faustus beginning to look like he’s running the show?  I’d swear I saw him talk back to the Red Skull and the Skull took it, which is not SOP.  Maybe not such a dead issue after all…

Grendel: Behold the Devil #7, Matt Wagner.  What in the world happened here?  Did Wagner just defuse the whole tension of his narrative to give me a 12-page recap of the 80’s Grendel series?  Why would anyone do that??? I’m enough of a completist to come back and see Hunter snuff the two red herrings next issue, but I don’t know why anyone else would.  I know Wagner’s usually more interesting than this, but I really don’t see the game here. Bizarre.

My short review of Richard Russo’s Empire Falls is up on Bell, Book, and Candle.

On Bell, Book and Candle, as usual.

Walking on the Moon has been upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1. (And behind the scenes lots has changed.) Holler if you see weirdness.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8, Palmiotti, Gray, Arlem. This ends the mini-series, and I can’t say I’m sorry to have it done. The best issues of this were very good, but overall the series suffered from a lack of focus. It’s like there were a bunch of storylines they wanted to tell and couldn’t pick one. And even that could have worked if they’d gotten the 8 issue pacing right. They clearly missed; this issue features several attempts at characterization gasped between moments of the climactic struggle on the deck of an invading alien armada. Now, if those attempts are a single sentence that sums up characters relationships that have been building, it can work. These were exposition-heavy soul-baring discussions, and they weren’t so believable.

Black Summer #6, Ellis & Ryp. This has paced itself out nicely. I suspect it will read even better collected, but for now all the pieces have fought their way to their positions for the climax, and though the threats are all clear, the outcome is in doubt. Even the colors seem less dim this issue. Very fun stuff.

Will Eisner’s The Spirit #16, Aragones, Evanier, Smith. This was a pretty good issue, a light-hearted procedural in a colorful setting. Now, a movie set as a site for actual satire has been done to death, but things are kept light and fun rather than any attempt at social commentary. The Spirit goes undercover and works out the details of a Hitchcockian murder. Nice action, good dialog, even the Spirit himself seems dead on. Nice issue. I guess I’m mostly down on this team for not getting the characterization of the supporting cast pitch-perfect, but this issue shows that they can make the main character and his world work well.

Badger Saves The World #5, Baron and Dose. The Badger’s return stumbles dazed across the finish line. Honestly there are more glimmers of Badger goodness in this issue than it deserves, including a two-panel exchange between Daisy and Ham that makes them live. I think Baron had begun to slip back into the characters’ skins. If this were an ongoing series, I’d be seeing signs of life, even after the unfortunate derailing of the artist last issue. Sigh.