By Miles Baker, Owen K. Craig, and Tom Kerr
Posted July 16th, 2007
Each week Miles, Owen, and Tom use random.org’s random interger 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
Friday the 13th: Pamela’s Tale (1 of 2)
Written by Marc Andreyko
Art by Shawn Moll
Wildstorm Comics, 2007
So, I’ve not had the most exposure to the Friday the 13th universe (such as it is). I’ve only seen the first film and Freddy versus Jason, the latter being a riot. But I know enough about the series to feel confident to say that this book is pretty useless to everyone.
This book focuses on Pamela, Jason Voorhees’ mother and — sorry I’m about to ruin a 30-year-old film — the killer in the first movie. The big reveal, I think, is that it turns out Jason was controlling ol’ Pam when he was in the womb, or at least it made her crazy. The academic in me could write an essay about how this comic is about the horror of pregnant women, and I know I could get an A on that paper because it’s kinda true.
For a book that is clearly a horror film, it really isn’t scary. The splash page reveal of Pamela sitting in her truck is terrifying. Not because she’s doing something scary, but because the art is pretty bad. She looks like the Joker with brown hair and no makeup. So, maybe I’m wrong and the art is effective. The splash page is also pointless: you know she’s going to be in the book because her name is in the title.
At any rate, I’m not sure that this story needed to be told. Either Pamela is as crazy as we all thought or Jason has more powers than we all thought. But there it is. Is Jason cooler now?
Tom’s Book
Countdown #42
Written by Paul Dini, Sean McKeever, and Tony Bedard
Art by Carlos Magno
DC Comics, 2007
The cover of this issue should probably be changed to read “Enter: Clayface (Briefly),” a sentiment easily applicable to everything that happens inside. I think it’s safe to assume that DC views their readership in two camps regarding this series: either they’re going to read the whole thing, or not read it at all. Therefore, issues aren’t really designed or intended for individual scrutinizing, and it shows.
As an individual comic, there isn’t anything offensive or irksome about this issue, but there certainly isn’t much to recommend it either — whether you like deep or interesting character development, awesome action sequences, or scintillating dialogue, you’re pretty much out of luck on all counts. Our time with each character and key event is extremely minimal, and the multiple writers awkwardly wrangle character and event recap information into virtually every dialogue box and bubble throughout, which, while good for keeping people like me up to date, is tedious and tiresome. Of course, if you like unnecessary and gratuitous Batman appearances (and who doesn’t?) this might be a good call for you.
Carlos Mango’s art accentuates the drama of each scene with wild shifts in focus and vantage point, although this is not without consequences, as scenes of straightforward dialogue are unnecessarily dizzying. Mango’s now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t attitude towards drawing in the pupils of his characters’ eyes is a bit annoying, especially since half the characters have no pupils by design, but this is a minor quibble with an artist who is good at conveying a sense of urgency and dynamic, which shines especially in the scenes following Trickster and Piper.
Perhaps the intrinsic problem with a book divided up as much as this one and so clearly aimed at weekly readership is that, when isolated, virtually every scene in a single issue seems either unnecessary or underdeveloped. Whatever their significance in the context of the larger story, each tiny fragment here is only interesting enough to rouse a passing curiosity about where the series is headed, which fizzles rapidly when one realizes it would cost $149.65 (plus tax) to find out. It almost seems that, assuming that anyone crazy enough to buy an issue a week for a year will do so no matter what’s on the page, DC doesn’t see the need to make individual issues enjoyable in and of themselves. However, I guarantee that no good novel has ever been composed solely of dull chapters, nor any good symphony solely from mundane melodies, and if Countdown as a whole is no better than this issue in microcosm, then Countdown is not good.
Owen’s (Random Archive) Book
For the next few weeks Owen is working in the small Northern Ontario town of Meaford and is not able to access a comic book store. Instead, before he left he used random.org’s random interger generator to create some random numbers. He then counted down the shelf number, comics box, and comic until he found his RANDOM ARCHIVE COMIC OF THE WEEK! No matter what the publisher, what the issue, what the arc, or what the year he will be reviewing books from the past with little or no context.
The Authority (Volume Two) #2
Written by Robbie Morrison
Art by Dwayne Turner
Wildstorm Comics, 2003
I’ll admit, I have no previous exposure to The Authority. I’ve heard it’s good stuff, I’ve been meaning to check it out, but I never have. I have some passing familiarity with the character of the Midnighter but that’s about it. I’ve got to say, though, that I’m intrigued. The book was confusing to me, no doubt about that. There was no recap page (not even an explanation of the concept) and I was thrown right into the middle of an action scene that no doubt began at the end of the first issue. I was given a brief intro to most of the characters towards the end of the issue, but I found myself burdened with confusing questions on just about every page: how did that guy create a universe? Who was that woman that slept with The Doctor? Is their ship alive? What is the bleed? And so on, and so on.
It was clear jumping into the second issue (not counting the first volume I don’t know how many issues were in that) that the characters were dynamic and interesting. They all had unique personalities that drew me in. The art was clean and clear, with great characterization (although at times the layouts were difficult to understand, especially when shifting settings, which happened a lot in the action scene). It was also clear that this was a high-concept book meant to mess with my head. Interdimensional suicide bombers, hyper-intelligent liquid machinery, and such ideas are all interesting, but it’s a bit overwhelming to drop in right in the middle of it.
Still, it was a really neat read that I enjoyed, confusion aside. I am definitely interested in reading more of The Authority…from the beginning, though.
