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Snapshots for 6/1/05
There's no way that Don and I can cover all of the material we have for review in full reviews, so these capsule reviews will offer some brief comments on other recent releases.
THE EXPATRIATE #2
by B. Clay Moore & Jason Latour (Image Comics)
 The Expatriate so far reminds me of nothing so much as Howard Chaykin's ill-fated Vertigo book American Century. Exotic and treacherous women, corrupt government officials and a gruff American expat on the run, not to mention a setting on a tropical island, all call to mind that book, but the similarity that is the largest problem is that American Century rarely gave a clear view of what was going on, and neither has The Expatriate so far. Moore and Latour are good for mood, with a very distinctive visual style and some memorable confronations between the various characters, but the stakes are thus far a mystery, and there's so much going on that none of it ever rises to the level of being more important than the rest. We know Jack is on the run, but we don't know why. We know someone is hunting him, but we don't know who. We know that violence and sex has ensued, but there aren't really any consequences that matter. The Expatriate has plenty of style, but so far, I don't have any reason to care about the story or the characters, and without that connection, style hardly matters. 4/10
HACK/SLASH: THE FINAL REVENGE OF EVIL ERNIE
by Tim Seeley & Aadi Salman (Devil's Due Publishing)
 I didn't know much about Evil Ernie going into this issue of Hack/Slash, but Seeley provides an approachable read, giving the reader all the information they need to know about the character in order to understand him in the context of the issue. Seeley is joined on art this time by Aadi Salman, whose moody, painted-style approach is very attractive, if perhaps a little too expressionistic for clear storytelling in the action sequences. Salman and Seeley provide some memorable moments, but an overall story that didn't really click with me. The largest problem here is Evil Ernie, though, because the focus is split pretty cleanly between stars Cassie and Vlad (characters I like) and Evil Ernie (a character I don't). With the Hack/Slash formula pretty well-established, the slasher villain bears a lot of the responsibility for making each individual one-shot entertaining, and I didn't find Ernie's heavy metal/sarcastic crazy persona at all entertaining. There are some interesting developments here in the relationship between Cassie and Vlad, but for the most part, this feels like Hack/Slash spinning its wheels, giving us a slight variation on the stories I've already read, and with a villain that I find uninteresting getting half the screen time, that adds up to what is my least favorite Hack/Slash thus far. 4/10
INVINCIBLE #23
by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley (Image Comics)
 We've secretly replaced this fan's monthly dose of superheroes with a Silver Surfer riff. Let's see if he notices! Or, to put it another way, this issue of Invincible is pretty much completely unlike any other, as it features only a couple pages of Invincible himself and instead focuses on Allen the Alien, the guy who has had a couple memorable interactions with Invincible in previous issues and who provides a definite link to the larger space adventure aspect of the series. Honestly, the change in tone and approach is kind of jarring, but once I got into the groove of seeing Allen return to his home planet and report on things from an alien perspective, I enjoyed it as a change of pace and also as some foreshadowing for some big problems that could be crossing Invincible's path with a space-based origin down the line. Kirkman gets a little over-cutesy with the narration at the beginning, and risks losing any new readers coming in off Invincible #0 with a story that, at first blush, seems to have almost nothing to do with the book in general, but by the time the issue has ended, he's brought everything around to relevance and turned in a likable story of space adventure at the same time. Plus, as always, Ottley's work is terrific, and disturbingly never better than when one of the heroes is getting pummeled into a bloody pulp. 7/10
MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN #1
by Bruce Campbell, David Goodman, Rick Remender & Hilary Barta (Dark Horse Comics)
 This is based on a screenplay, and it always makes me nervous when you get something like that, because it sounds like "inferior adaptation," but Man With A Screaming Brain actually reads pretty well as a comic, complete with cliffhanger ending and cartoonishly overwritten phony accents. It's almost too goofy in some respects, but it's a perfect imitation of the B-movie milieu it's working in, and the bizarre characters are a lot of fun, from the former KGB cabdriver to the gold-digging wife to the obnoxious American businessman. Sure, they're as cliche as the pidgin dialect that the Russian supporting cast is given, but that cliche fits in fine with the style of the story, and it's clear that everybody here is having a good time, from Campbell and Goodman on down to the cartoony and attractive artwork from Remender, Barta and colorist Michelle Madsen. Fun B-movie antics, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing. 7/10
NOBLE CAUSES #10
by Jay Faerber & Fran Bueno (Image Comics)
 My initial thought, looking at the cover, was that Faerber had telegraphed his big reveal, and I still think that he'd have been better off holding that card in reserve, but the identity swap does come with some other surprises, namely how it was accomplished and just how permanent the ramifications might be. At any rate, a little shakeup in patriarch and matriarch of the Noble clan is welcome, as they are probably the most stable of the bunch, and instability breeds good drama, especially in a book with a soap opera feel. Faerber is also doing great things here with parallel storytelling... since I have often complained that he's trying to pack too much into the book, I feel I should mention when I think he's doing it right, and I liked the story switching between Doc Noble and the adventures of the expeditionary force on another world. Noble Causes #10 comes with a couple of big questions, and I'm anxious to see the answers, which means I've been pulled into the book as much as the viewers of the soap operas that the comic is based on. 7/10
THE PACT #2
by Jay Faerber, Valentine De Landro, Marvin Law & Kris Justice (Image Comics)
 I kind of hated the first issue of The Pact, so I wasn't super-excited to check out more, but I knew that each issue was self-contained and featured a completely different creative team, so I checked it out anyway. Turns out, that was the right call, as the second issue of The Pact is a lot more fun, and a lot closer to the spirit and level of quality that I've come to expect from the books that star these heroes individually. Faerber of Noble Causes tackles the issue, which focuses less on a cliched superhero vs. supervillain fight and more on a group of superhero kids hanging out and talking about what it means to be a superhero. Faerber doesn't skimp on the action, and the art team does a really nice job of the form-shifting rock monsters, but it's all in service of a character-driven story, and it shows a great understanding of the characters as well as a reason for "The Pact" to exist. Still not sure that teaming up all these characters is a great idea, as they tend to work better in their own context, but this issue at least is fun and pretty well-drawn, and that makes it at least worth a look for those who aren't getting enough of these characters in their own books. 7/10
PS 238 #11
by Aaron Williams (Dork Storm Publishing)
 Well, I've got to give credit to Aaron Williams, this may be the first superhero comic I've ever seen that resolved a conflict between chaos and order using the playground game of four-square. However, as I remember four-square from my playground days, it was a lot less complicated than the variant Williams uses here, and as a result of this and some confusion about how many kids were transported to play, the four-square sequence isn't the clearest read. Fortunately, the gags and imagination that make PS 238 such an enjoyable read are in full force, from the Spawn-like Malphast learning about Magic: The Gathering and Weird Al to the delightfully fun baseball game that serves as a backup tale for the issue. It's not the strongest PS 238 issue, as the book is usually full of both clear storytelling and Williams's endearing wit, but there are still enough fun moments to make it recommended to regular PS 238 fans or that rare four-square enthusiast in the crowd. 6/10
SEVEN SOLDIERS: ZATANNA #2
by Grant Morrison, Ryan Sook & Mick Gray (DC Comics)
 One thing is clear in reading Seven Soldiers, and especially Zatanna: Morrison is having fun. While the first issue of Zatanna seemed to promise a dire opponent who could shake the pillars of reality, this issue reveals him to be as dangerous as open flame, and almost as easily contained for someone with Zatanna's skills and allies. There's a lot of fun banter between Zatanna, her new apprentice and her old friend, and plenty of glimpses of DC's magical past, which might be true to the comics or entirely made up by Morrison or somewhere in between. Then there's the art by Sook, Gray and colorist Nathan Eyring, which is just amazingly gorgeous and capable of important subtlety as well. It's a lot of fun to play "spot Gwydion" in the panels leading up to his manifestation, although Sook doesn't let this little Easter Egg hunting game interfere with clear storytelling and beautiful renditions of the three women at the center of the tale or their strange, gothic yet modern world. Seven Soldiers: Zatanna is about magic in the best sense of the word, potentially dangerous but essentially showy and a whole lot of fun. 9/10
VILLAINS UNITED #2
by Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham & Wade Von Grawbadger (DC Comics)
 This issue seals it for me, Villains United is the only Infinite Crisis tie-in that's likely to hold my interest. There are virtually no references to Identity Crisis or Countdown, just a good solid story of supervillain warfare, and Villains United is reminding me in all the right ways of the late, lamented Suicide Squad. I was particularly pleased by the scene between Catman and Deadshot in the kitchen, and the other brief looks at how the Secret Six spend their downtime, but then, Simone has always been good at this kind of quiet character stuff. She also deliver big-time on the action this issue, though, as Eaglesham and Von Grawbadger get to put on a show put together from our lead six and a shockingly large number of DC supervillains ranging from well-known to really obscure. The first confrontation between the Six and their foes goes in a direction that makes perfect sense but which is very different from my expectations, and I'm curious to see where the creative team will take it from here. 8/10
THE WALKING DEAD #19
by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn (Image Comics)
 The Walking Dead just keeps getting better, and there's no end in sight to the potential stories Kirkman could tell. He says he's got it planned up past issue 50, and that's easy to believe, because despite a pretty quick pace to the stories and a crazy amount of character death, there are always new characters, new twists and new ideas to be explored. This issue sees the introduction of one of those new characters, a badass woman from the outside who is mostly an enigma but who makes quite an impression, from her first appearance on that awesome Tony Moore cover to the actions she takes to get into the prison. However, the mystery woman is almost an afterthought when you consider the main action of this book, an all-out zombie killfest with the twist that one of the humans in the midst might be even more dangerous, and the action taken by one of the leads to keep everyone safe is both shocking and completely and totally logical. The Walking Dead is easily one of the top ten books being published in all of comics now, and whether you're reading it in single issue form (and thus getting the cool Moore covers and fun, jam-packed Kirkman lettercols) or trades, you should definitely be reading it. 10/10
Y: THE LAST MAN #34
by Brian K. Vaughan, Goran Sudzuka & Jose Marzan Jr. (DC Comics/Vertigo)
 After last issue's revelation, I was expecting some kind of further twist, but it turns out that the revelations are basically true, and that Yorick and company have once again bounced into something more complicated than it seemed at first. This issue has all the elements that make Y: The Last Man great, including examination of a social issue and how it might be affected by the loss of all the men, some shocking imagery (that shot of the Sydney Opera House... Jesus!) and plenty of great character interaction, characterized by snappy dialogue. I hate to make it all sound formulaic, as it's anything but. Instead, Y: The Last Man manages to remain both comfortably familiar and always surprising, as you can always count on the book to do things you never expect, and usually to leave you with a cliffhanger that makes the next issue seem all too far away. That's the case this time out as well, and I remain as wrapped up in the book as I have ever been. 9/10
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