MONDOmagazine

I'm sorry Deepak Chopra, but this is beyond me.

Miles’ Book

Deepak Chopra’s Beyond #3 (of 5)
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Edison George
Virgin Comics, 2008

Sorry everyone who made this comic, but I didn’t like it. This issue, taken by itself, is bullshit. Maybe there’s something awesome I’m missing that happened earlier, but this is told as a serial and you shouldn’t have issues that are totally bullshit.

In the world of Beyond, a couple of really deep-thinking guys have found out how to fracture reality and influence dimensions to bring them to our world. Or something like that. All this issue does is take our main character through a trippy, dimension-hopping escape, where all he does is complain and say “I don’t understand.”

I sympathize, pal, I don’t understand either. This comic is poorly explained even with a recap page. At first I thought the colouring was just really bad, because colour schemes would change for seemingly no reason. Then I clued into the fact that reality seems to be having an off day and that our hero was probably shifting in time and space. At least I hope that’s what was happening, because otherwise this is a badly coloured comic.

I think Edison George will be an amazing artist in a few years. He’s got talent, some of these pages have amazing layouts, but he’s not consistent panel to panel — primarily in the shape-of-the-main-character’s-head department. He’s made a unique-looking character, and I dig that, but his jaw violently fluctuates from time to time. Also, the character design for his son is straight out of 1994. Shaved bowl cut? Come on man, look out a window!

Ron Marz? Sorry to say man, but your dialouge must have just come from Easter dinner because it’s hammy. Hammier than my last sentence. Hammertime! Especially the scenes between the protagonist and his wife who feels like she’s a hanger to drape a plot point on rather than a person. She’s just hollow and painted with numbers. But, then again, she does seem to have some reality shifty thing going on with her, so maybe that’s what’s supposed to be happening — she’s supposed to feel hollow. If so, good work Marz. If not, bad work Marz.

Everything about this cover says "Wacky!"

Isaac’s Book

Isaac went off the rails this week and reviewed a book that came out three weeks ago. We’re going to allow this because that’s pretty random and this is Random Comics of the Week.

Ambush Bug: Year None #1
Plot and pencils by Keith Giffen
Dialogue by Robert Loren Fleming
DC Comics, 2008

I’ve been waiting a while to try this comic out for size, and it didn’t disappoint. Do you ever want the zany stylings of Keith Giffen, but you’re just not in the mood for the ultra violence that comes with a Lobo Para Military Christmas special? Well, Ambush Bug is the book for you!

The whole of the book is like a love letter/inside joke to long-time comic fans, discussing topics from the loss of thought bubbles to the frequency of female characters getting killed in DC comics. The story is disjointed, but that’s not what this book is about. It’s about slapstick gag after slapstick gag, and it delivers on that front no problem.

The art almost has a faded look to it, and I bet that’s just what they’re going for, making it look like it’s a comic from the ’80s that’s been lying around fading in the sunlight and oxygen. Curse that sunlight and oxygen! How many JLI back issues and Invasion crossover copies have these scourges destroyed?

Even while I know a good amount of what’s being referenced in these pages, I know there’s a whole bunch more that’s out of my depth. I’ve seen ‘Mazing Man (a goofy-looking cartoony hero) before, but I don’t really know what his deal was. So maybe I don’t enjoy his being on death row as much as an older fan would — but I still enjoy it quite a lot! His stubble is a good touch.

While investigating the murder of Jonni DC, DC’s continuity cop of days gone by, as well as that of another female character, Ambush Bug interviews a host of characters. When he goes to this guy the Glop, the smell causes him to vomit profusely (where an arrow helpfully points it out, telling us “More gags than any previous Ambush Bug story!”), and Ambush Bug teleports away. He still needs to talk to this Glop guy, so he immediately calls him up on his cell phone, explaining that he had to leave, not because of any “stench” but because he received a telepathic distress call from Superman who needed Ambush Bug’s help fighting off space vampires. Glop is incredulous towards this notion, but before fully expressing this Ambush Bug cuts him off with a “GLOP, I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE BANSHEE WAIL OF THESE SPACE VAMPIRES!” Then proceeds to ask him about the Jonni DC murder.

That is merely a tiny fraction of the hilarity contained within these 22 pages. It’s old school. It’s got a lot of dead people lying around, and it has a pointless appearance by the Jack Kirby Sandman. Clearly, I enjoyed this book a lot.

Nothing to see here, folks.

James’ Book

NYX: No Way Home #1
Written by Marjorie Liu
Art by Kalman Andrasofszky and John Rauch
Marvel Comics, 2008

Usually, super heroics and teenagers go well together. It’s a pretty accepted trope that the heightened emotions present in adolescence and the heightened emotions inherent in the genre compliment each other nicely. Both Runaways and Young Avengers use and play with this convention, to great effect.

The problem with NYX is it gets rid of the super heroics, at least in this issue. It mostly concerns itself with reintroducing the main characters and establishing their status quo. But up until the last couple pages, nothing happens. Nothing. The kids go to work, the kids can’t pay rent, and then out of nowhere, someone’s murdered. Liu is so concerned with showing us what’s happening in these characters’ lives that she forgets to show us why we should care. It’s just boring up until that last page, and by that time it feels like too little, too late.

I haven’t read the original NYX, but I know Wolverine’s younger, female clone X-23 was introduced in it. And after reading this issue, I can’t help but feel like she was the main reason the previous series existed. Without the editorially mandated introduction of a new character, there doesn’t seem to be much here. Liu makes an interesting choice focusing on the everyday struggles of the kids instead of their powers, but they’re just not interesting enough for it to work.

On the upside, the art is fun, with bright, sunny colours. What I really appreciate, though, are the backgrounds. The whole book really feels like it’s happening in New York, and that really helps keep the story grounded. I might not like the overly mundane tone of the writing, but at least the art keeps the tone consistent.