Each week Miles and Owen 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
Ultimate Fantastic Four #43
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Pasqual Ferry
Marvel Comics, 2007
I’ll admit it, I’ve been following Ultimate Fantastic Four in trades. A certain Videogames and TV editor has been buying them and passing them along to me so I can follow the adventures of the teenage version of Marvel’s first family. It’s been a good ride: they’ve had a string of smart writers who’ve done away with a lot of the campy elements of the Fantastic Four’s villains and updated them appropriately. My only real complaint with the title is that the Four are always too busy dealing with intense action and aliens to become a family, or at least really close. They fight, they bicker, but they need some downtime.
I like that U.S. government, who are funding the Fantastic Four, are pissed at Reed Richards because, while he has saved the world a lot in his 43 issues, he’s caused almost all of those problems. And now he’s doing it again because he found a cosmic surfboard.
As I’ve been following in trades, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with the team at the beginning of the issue (this being the second part of a five-part story). All I know is that there is a silver board that is attracting a silver man in space, who is also bald and naked, and he is as big as a planet.
But he’s shrinking, so that’s good.
A lot happens in this issue, but I’m not sure why it happens, all I know is that it all links to the surfboard. And while Jonny Storm makes fun of how ridiculous that is it doesn’t change the fact that there is a silver board that surfs the cosmos — precisely the campy elements I was praising the series for doing away with. Also, Mike Carey has added a new, very annoying sister for Reed who apparently has superpowers (I only know this because she mentions it a lot) to add just a little more camp.
The art, however, is really good. I quite like Pasqual Ferry’s very-computer-table style. It works well for the sci-fi stylings of the UFF, but his colourist, Justin Ponsor, elevates his style and steals the show with his realistic textures and shading.
While I’m sure Mike Carey is happy to put his stamp on the Silver Surfer, the story is obviously here to tie into movie that came out a couple of weeks ago and I don’t think it’s working. Warren Ellis already did an Ultimate Galactus story (Gah Lak Tus) and he chose not to include our silver friend, so why do it now? Besides the movie I just mentioned.
Owen’s Book
Amazons Attack #3
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by Pete Woods
DC Comics, 2007
Amazons Attack #3 will be the first “random book of the week” I’m having to review mid-storyline. In this case, I’m jumping in not knowing anything about it except some characters I recognize and what the title is telling me. Apparently the amazons are attacking. Luckily, despite an absence of a recap page, there is an opening scene in which a tv news reporter catches me up on everything I need to know. I suspect if I had been reading the series such a page would be boring and/or frustrating to me. A recap page can be easily ignored by returning readers (unless it’s one of the hilarious ones from Irredeemable Ant-Man) but when recap dialogue is integrated blandly into the story I personally find myself wanting to skip it but worrying I’ll miss something important. In fact, I wanted to skip it as a new reader, which is not a good sign.
Off to a rocky start, the book picked up as I went on. Hippolyta shows off her new-found crazy and the president reinstates the McCarran Act, which allows or the arrest of anyone who may be consorting with the enemy. The latter event is an interesting idea, as when the enemy is an Amazon nation that leads to the arrest of anyone with a feminist outlook. It’s a chilling idea which I hope the series runs with, rather than tossing aside. Next comes the obligatory gratuitous appearances, which feel out of place to me. Maybe it’s being sold as a cross-over event, but I think this book would benefit from a lack of Batman, Superman and giant monsters (seriously, what were those? I wasn’t clear on that).
On a positive note, I would like to congratulate DC on the use of editorial notes directing readers to tie-in stories. It’s a nice touch that helps me to follow up on story-points I want to read more of (not that I will, but it’s nice to have the option). Sure, it may be irritating that I’m not getting the whole story in this book, but at least it’s not expected that I know, or revealed to me in a paragraph in the letters page. The editorial notes tell me exactly what panel ties into what issue.
On a negative note, I am geting really tired of last pages being revealed by the covers. Here the last page reveal is “oh my God! Supergirl and Wonder Girl might be with the Amazons!” For me, that was pretty much implied by the cover image of Supergirl and Wonder Girl standing with the Amazon army. This is far from the first time it’s happened recently, and it needs to stop. I miss when we used to be surprised by the last-page cliffhangers. Seriously, stop doing this!
A scattered review I admit, but in the end I’d say that’s rather appropriate as that’s pretty much how I feel about Amazons Attack #3. There are bits I liked, but I didn’t feel any sense of build. Nor were there any characterizations I felt that attached to. There were interesting moments that I hope play out, but somehow I doubt I’ll be reading next issue to find out.
