By Miles Baker and Owen K. Craig
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
New Avengers #36
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Yu
Coloured by Dave McCaig
Marvel Comics, 2007
After reading a bunch of astute observations about the New Avengers, I dropped the series. People were right: I didn’t care for the art, it was wildly inconsistent from panel to panel, and there was too much “oh no he didn’t” humour going on. Someone said that every member of the team sounded like they were a gay hair stylist — and, again, they were right. And it’s not that it’s a problem to be a gay hair stylist, or that it’s not conceivable that a gay hair stylist could become a superhero, it’s just that they were all the same gay hair stylist regardless of age, experience, or publication history.
But we meet again, New Avengers.
Little has changed, except that the art is even worse than before. I’m sorry, Dave McCaig, but these colours are worse than the colours in Watchmen. I like primary colours, too; they are nifty and bright and remind me of recess. But, Holy Photoshop, man! Take a look at the whole page and not just each individual character. I’ll be willing to admit that what Yu gives you to work with is a mess, and you are dealing with garish superhero costumes, but there must be something you can do to make this art the tiniest bit attractive.
And you, Yu — less is more. Less lines, man. Everyone looks ancient, haggard, and like they consume three packs a day. And sometimes, small breasts are fun to draw, too. You should try it.
As for what’s happening in the plot? Meh. The legal and illegal team of Avengers start working together, and that’s nice to see. But I wish that more time had passed before they kissed and made up. Like, this is only the New Avengers’ second outing, and they are already teaming up with their sworn enemies? Just seems a little soon, like you could have milked that a little more until I was thirsty for it. I wanted the characters to earn back a little trust first, something to make their falling out count a little more.
Owen’s Book
Salvation Run #1
Written by Bill Willingham
Pencils by Sean Chen
Inks by Walden Wong
Colour by John Kalisz
DC Comics, 2007
Salvation Run is an unfortunate book. In this week’s “DC Nation” column (seen in the back of all DC comics), Dan Didio states that originally Salvation Run was going to be an Elseworlds series written by George R. R. Martin. Seems to me that that would’ve been awesome. After all, seeing most of the DC villains shipped off to a planet and forced to create their own society is an amazing idea. So how did they falter here? I don’t think that the answer will surprise anyone: Countdown. Yep, that’s right, the book is now a Countdown crossover.
I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression; I liked the book. Bill Willingham (filling in for Martin, who wasn’t available to write it, after all) does a great job with the characters, but there seem to be a lot of gaps here, presumably filled in during Countdown’s main series. That leaves Willingham in the ugly position of having to choose between confusing new readers or boring readers who also read Countdown. He opts to reference a lot of what happened in dialogue between Flash’s villains, who have formed a group fighting for their lives against some sort of threat. Sean Chen has a lot of fun drawing the diverse villains and their flamboyant costumes (made even more fun by John Kalisz’s colours), despite featuring way to many characters with their mouths wide open. Does everyone scream when they fight?
I’m going to keep buying the series, because it has a lot of potential. I just hope that in future issues Countdown is left out of it and Salvation Run is allowed to be its own thing.
