By Miles Baker and Owen K. Craig
Posted October 9th, 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
Iron and the Maiden #3
Written by Jason Rubin
Pencilled by Francis Manupul with Joel Gomez
Aspen, 2007
You can assume a book is going to be bad when the whole staff of the comic book store tells you that it’s bad. “Don’t try to read the words,” I was told by one guy. “Awesome,” I thought, “another chance to rip into a bad comic.” It’s great finding a gem that you continue to buy, like The Spirit, but it’s a lot of fun bitching and calling people stupid.
But I actually didn’t think this was that bad.
It’s not fantastic. The plot is from a path so travelled it’s actually the 401, but I at least understood most of what was going on and it illustrates why we shouldn’t have hover cars — both of which surprisingly rare in comics. The story centres around some super hitman named Iron who wants out of the gangster game because of some “Bim,” which I can only assume is short for bimbo which is pretty offensive.
There’s actually a lot of that going on in this book: things that are pretty offensive but might be so cartoony that they come around to being a parody. Like Iron’s black gangster friend Pony “Mushmouth” Moore who speaks in a lot of “mudafuckas” and no punctuation. It’s pretty funny, he uses the device well, but when he’s the only black character it gets a little suspect. Same with the Maiden character, the only female who isn’t a stripper or hanging off a man.
The book leaves me uneasy about its politics, but I’m not willing to so outright condemn it when the art is so polished.
Owen’s Book
Countdown Presents The Search For Ray Palmer: Crime Society #1
Written by Sean McKeever
Pencilled by Jamal Igle
DC Comics, 2007
It’s no secret that DC’s Countdown series/crossover/event are not being well received. Enough nasty things have been said that I don’t feel much like saying any more myself. With that in mind, there’s a lot to like about this book (although not its ludicrously long title, yeesh). Rather than focus on the storyline of Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, and Jason Todd, this book chooses to tell us the complete backstory of a new character named the Jokester. The idea is that in a world where Superman, Batman, etc. are villains, perhaps the Joker (or Jokester in this world) would be a hero of sorts.
It’s an idea that could have fallen flat, but under the pen of Sean McKeever it actually kinda works. I stress kinda, there are some decisions I don’t understand, such as why bother making him Earth 3’s (one of the may alternative realities in the DCU) Jack Ryder if you’re not going to do anything with it, and other decisions I do understand but still think hurt the book, such as the story having no real ending but instead bleeding back into the Countdown main series.
On top of that, the art is clean and expressive, making the book a lot of fun to look at. Jamal Igle (who I’ve never heard of, but if this book is any indication could do well for himself) clearly had a lot of fun with the new character designs, and made each page a visual treat.
I suppose there’s something to be said for low expectations, but in this case a rating of “not bad” is actually a good thing. It’s more than I can say for Countdown itself (darn, I said I wasn’t going to say anything nasty. Ah well).
