This week Crime Bible and Hack/Slash
By Miles Baker and Owen K. Craig
Posted December 4th, 2007
Each week we use random.org’s random integer generator to create two random numbers. They then count down on the release list until they find out their RANDOM COMIC OF THE WEEK! No matter what the publisher, what the issue, what the arc, we will be there reviewing things with little or no context.
Miles’ Book
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #2 (of 5)
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Jose Saiz
DC Comics, 2007
Well, for reasons I don’t understand, Renee Montoya of my beloved Gotham Central is now The Question. I have a question: who the hell is The Question? I think I needed to follow 52 to understand what’s going on here, but from what I’ve seen, they’ve made Montoya into another bland superhero complete with cookie-cutter quips.
This issue sees Mon-question frequent a super brothel for reasons I’m not sure of. What follows, is a series of erotic girl-on-girl scenarios and some stuff with a religious cult that I don’t understand. Like, why is a religious cult so into the sinning? I guess since they are the evil guys, it makes sense that they like “bad” stuff. Who knows?
What makes me really sad in this issue is what has happened to Montoya. The biggest problem is that I don’t know why she’s here or doing any of the things that she’s doing. She used to be this flawed-but-effective cop with a tendency to go a little extreme. Her problems were extremely personal and I knew why she acted the way she did. And she never quipped during fights. She was too busy fighting and being a realistic character.
Owen’s BookHack/Slash #6
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Fernando Pinto with Stefano Caselli
Devil’s Due Publishing, 2007
I’ll admit it. This book won me over from the moment I saw the cover. By referencing one of my favourite Archie covers ever, Hack/Slash immediately gained major brownie points with me. I could only hope that what was inside the cover was as much fun. Boy, was it ever.
The issue revolves around Cassie, our heroine, following a man who kills “sinners” to an innocent town filled with chaste teenagers modeled after the Archie gang. Once she gets to “Haverhill” the art style shifts into one befitting such a town. I don’t know what was funnier, watching Cassie’s weirded-out reaction to the way the gang behaves, watching the evil killer become frustrated with the lack of sinners to kill, or watching the teens go nuts after the punch is spiked. The whole issue is wall-to-wall laughs and the marriage of old and new to produce synergistic comedy was executed brilliantly.
The art was spot on, both in the dark opening pages and the bulk of the issue where the Archie style is aped. Watching the bright sunny characters that I grew up with meet current characters was a delight, made more so by the art. I’m definitely going to check out some more Hack/Slash, and can only hope that I will have this much fun in future issues — not to mention the back issues I track down while waiting for issue 7. Without question, this is my favourite new series that I’ve tried since I started doing these random weekly reviews.
