MONDOmagazine

Miles’ Books of the Month

Amazing Spider-Man # 559-560
By Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin
Marvel Comics, 2008

AND

Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men
Written by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Marvel Comics, 2008

That’s right. I’m going to cheat this month. I’m picking three books. It’s my online magazine, so deal with it. Spider-Man wins because it was illustrated by Marcos Martin and I love that man’s art, and Astonishing X-Men is there for every reason you’ve ever heard to like it.

Dan Slott writes a good Peter Parker and Spider-Man. It’s a shame that there’s a shadow over the Spider-Man books right now because of One More Day, but the series has since been solid. With the exception of books written by Bob Gale, who is a terrible and dated writer, the series has consisted of good, genuinely funny stories.

There is one problem I have with the story, and it’s that they have de-aged Peter Parker in this series. For my lifetime, I’ve read about a grown-up and pretty-responsible Spider-Man. And that’s good—I’m getting older now and I like that he “got it together” and could serve as a role model. After all that he’s been through, he should have learned from his mistakes. Recently, however, Peter has seemed determined to ignore past lessons.

In these two issues, Peter more-or-less thinks, “I’ll become a morally ambiguous paparazzo because I need the money.” But he might also be thinking, “Oh wait, remember when I was a morally ambiguous wrestler and my Uncle Ben got shot? I wonder if anything bad will happen this time? Nah.”

You have to get over that kind of concern to enjoy this characterization of Peter, which I can. He’s a younger guy, and you have to enjoy watching him screw up. Helping me along the way is Martin’s beautiful art. I highly recommend you check out his Dr. Strange: The Oath (with my homeboy Brian K. Vaughan) and Batgirl: Year One (with my childhood homeboy Chuck Dixon because they show that this guy is a rock of awesome art. There is something about his style that is classic, yet modern. His paneling is innovative and interesting. Plus, everyone looks adorable.

Paper Doll is proving to be one of the coolest new villains they’ve created in Spider-Man. I’m glad that they are working on new villains because that’s a serious problem with mainstream comics—all the villains are either overexposed or toothless from years of defeat.

Joss Whedon and John Cassaday also created amazing villains for Astonishing X-Men. Agent Brand, with her turn towards hero, became about seven times cooler when she was about to be captured: “Two things you should know about me,” she says. “I never get gang-raped on the first date. And ‘Brand’ is not my given name.” Then she proceeds to make her hands turn blue from heat. She’s been holding that ace up her sleeve for 20 issues. It’s awesome.

It’s an almost flawless issue and John Cassaday drew the hell out of it. His composition, expressions, action—everything was expertly drafted. He also draws almost every character in the Marvel universe, and they all look different. It’s the fantastic last issue of a fantastic run, and to not mention it would be an oversight.

It’s been a good comics month.

Owen’s Book of the Month

The Starman Omnibus: Volume 1
Written by James Robinson
Pencils by Tony Harris (and others)
Inks by Wade von Grawbadger
DC Comics, 2008

It’s a first for me, but this month my choice for “Book of the Month” is not a single issue, but a collection. That said, anyone who knows me (or at least my taste in comics) won’t be shocked. After all, how could it be anything but The Starman Omnibus: Volume 1?

I have made my love of Starman clear in the past, so it’s probably no surprise that I considered this hardcover volume a must-buy. Even though I owned all of the trade paperbacks, I was irked by their omission of certain issues (including the Shade miniseries) and by some issues being out of order. The new omnibi will rectify that. By the time all of them are out all Starman issues will be collected in the proper order, and spin-off books such as the aforementioned Shade series will be included. This first volume was an absolute delight for me as a fan, from writer James Robinson’s fun introduction to the multi-page analysis of this volume’s storylines. They even included a reproduction of the panel from Zero Hour #1 where our hero was introduced.

As for the issues themselves, they’re spectacular. Starman was without question the best superhero comic of the 90s. Jack Knight is a fully fleshed-out character who grows and evolves over the course of the series. The series challenges the rules of superhero-comic storytelling while still embracing the genre. Tony Harris’ art is black, moody, and the perfect antithesis to the terrible art that was so prevalent in the 90s.

With gorgeous art, engrossing (not to mention entertaining) storytelling, an amazing supporting cast, and one of the best ever characters in comics, this was an easy choice for my book of the month. This is one of the best series in the history of superhero comics, and it’s finally getting the treatment it deserves.

Isaac’s Book of the Month

Robin #174
Written by Chuck Dixon
Pencilled by Chris Batista
DC Comics, 2008

It’s been a rough couple of years for Tim Drake, the third Robin. Yes, he’s lost all his friends and family to super hero style tragic deaths, but I’m actually referring to his montly publication. When the writing duties went to Bill Willingham, I wasn’t impressed by the voice he gave to Tim Drake — a mockingly self-confident tone that really belonged to Dick Grayson’s Robin, and, even then, only during the Golden Age of comics. 

It didn’t help that on art was Scott McDaniel, who I always confuse with Phil Hester until I realize I’m not looking at good art, and Damien Scott, whose stuff hasn’t looked good for quite a while — a shame, because he did some great stuff in Batgirl.

Then Adam Beechen took over the writing duties, continuing with the lighthearted Robin voice while besmirching Batgirl’s good name, featuring art by Freddie E. Williams II, whose style tends to be very bright, sculpted, and unnatural (especially his recent stuff in The Flash). 

Things got so bad, I almost dropped the book. I know, pretty extreme, right?

But the good times are here again, with Chuck Dixon back (the guy who started this Robin series and wrote it for years), and Chris Batista on art. I don’t know why I enjoy Batista’s art so much, even I have noticed a couple of anatomy problems that pop up with his stuff, but in general it’s just solid work. Could be that I just dislike Freddie E. Williams II stuff that much, I don’t know.

Most of this issue is a fight scene, with our hero facing an impossible number of bad guys while just trying to get out alive with Violet and Spoiler — Spoiler being someone who supposedly died a couple years ago during the much maligned War Games storyline.

Dixon knows how to write Robin properly. Before we were getting a Robin who could take on anything easily, and it just wasn’t fun to read. Here he has to use some strategy, take some hits to set up the win later – the kind of strategy that this iteration of Robin had always been known for. 

And, of course, the big reveal that Spoiler is the girl that everyone thought was dead, helping to somewhat (only somewhat) legitimize that War Games story. I’m a big fan of whenever a writer can take that second to add some detail that helps out an older story. It just makes for a more well rounded canon to follow, ‘cause if I only wanted to read good one-shots I’d stick with Elseworlds stories.