5/2/12: World’s Finest 1, Daredevil 12, G.I. Combat 1, Fury MAX 1
World’s Finest #1
World’s Finest jumped into my hands based almost entirely on the creative team making me nostalgic for the 1980’s. Paul Levitz pens the story, with George Perez and Kevin Maguire on art. Looking at the issue classic titles virtually exploded off the cover: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES! THE NEW TEEN TITANS! JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL! It’s an impressive pedigree, but an almost impossible standard to live up to.
The issue opens with Helena and Karen sharing a dinner together that’s interrupted by an explosion at one of Karen’s Starr Enterprise facilities. Ignoring the pleas of employees and the commands of fire officials both rush in to inspect the damage and find the cause.
The best part of the issue is the seven page flashback drawn by Kevin Maguire. I have an incredibly limited grasp of Earth 2 in DC’s history (haven’t even read Flash 123), and had a vague notion that maybe this was supposed to be Bruce’s daughter and Clark’s cousin. The New 52 Earth 2 is obviously different from the old, but that much at least appears to be true. Supergirl and Robin, as they’re known in their home dimension, attack someone/thing that’s basically a giant ball of light with a man in it, and they wake up on Earth 1. As an editor’s note helpfully points out, we should see the new comic series Earth 2 to find out more. But this story is about the girls trying to get home, and the remainder of the Maguire drawn pages show them adapting to a world where Batman and Superman both seem alive and very much younger.
The Perez pages resume and we’re ready for the fight to come next issue.
My thoughts are that Kevin Maguire is a master of his craft. He really has surpassed George Perez as the go-to guy for facial expressions. And I don’t say that lightly; George is one of the very few people that can make you fall in love in a panel. Perez does still have some of his magic left, and there are a few pictures of Huntress that are as good as anything he’s ever done. The rest of the time, however, his work is simply good. That would be fine if it was anybody else, but when you’re among the best ever good just doesn’t seem good enough. And I don’t like Karen’s cheeks. But the backgrounds are all nice and I like the costumes, although Power Girl’s non-cleavage outfit may make some fans upset. Given her new continuity and place in the newDCU, it makes sense. I’m a cleavage man so if I can accept it, I hope everyone else can too.
The two leads have a playful, familiar banter, obviously for knowing each other years before we meet either. Nothing in the writing really overly impressed me, but it does make for an accessible first issue in what could have been an incredibly confusing mess. I did like the nod to the post-Crisis Huntress. It feels like not a lot happens and there’s too much running through ruble, but after a second reading I’m chalking it up to the shorter page count then when I was more actively buying floppies.
I’m on the fence on picking up the second issue. I’m not reading Earth 2, and am concerned how much of that books story will be connected to the World’s Finest events. The issue is decent, with some great art at times, but I’m not invested. I may have to wait for some good word of mouth, and see how many pages Maguire draws for the next one.
Daredevil #12
To start, I have to sing the praises of this cover. It’s a very sexy cover, and the colours are gorgeous. But it’s the placement of “HERE COMES…DAREDEVIL THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR!” right over the crotch that makes both the dirty old man and the immature kid in me laugh.
Just two pages into in the issue we find out that the cover is mostly a tease (the way covers should be!) and are treated to a story of Daredevil on a date with Assistant D.A. Kirsten McDuffy. I appreciated the cover even more reading the story, because of its implied but ultimately innocent sexuality. The less graphic a comic is, the more I enjoy it. The most risqué moment in the book is Kirsten in a bra that’s been written on with “You Are Daredevil”, but it’s a cute, funny moment building on Kirsten’s desire to prove that Matt really is a super-hero.
To better understand his world Kirsten blindfolds herself and has Matt take her on a date through an amusement park. There’s a very cool splash page of the two of them just two pages in, as a Farris wheel looms directly behind Matt spiraling out like radar lines. Conversation turns to Foggy Nelson, Matt’s best friend, and a story of their college days that links them together even now. This ends up taking the majority of the issue, and the closest thing to Daredevil we see is an outline as Matt’s shadow. I didn’t miss the costume. Matt and Foggy’s attempt to prove the latter innocent of plagiarism was completely engrossing, and it was a blast to see the overly-confident, cocky college Matt again. He’s a really fun character, and I hear that Matt in general has been a lot looser since his return from the Shadowland arc. Mark Waid has never let me down, and Daredevil has gotten rave reviews that look to be completely justified. The stories finale, and how it plays out, feels completely natural for the two characters.
Chris Samnee does the art for the issue, and it’s just as charming as I remember it from the tragically short-lived Thor: The Mighty Avenger. It doesn’t look silver-agey, but it doesn’t look like what I expect from a modern comic. The art is in the some magical in-between land, where it looks classic but not dated. Darwyn Cooke can do the same thing.
I will definitely be looking to buy the next issue of this. Issue 12 serves as a great jumping-on point, that despite lacking in action keeps you entertained. I don’t know if the art team will change (I hope not), but Waid’s writing is enough to make me want to stick around on its own.
G.I. Combat #1
Brett Booth’s cover to G.I. Combat 1 is 90% awesome. The dinosaurs look great, and really stand out on a comics rack. The one problem is that I didn’t even notice the helicopter and soldiers on it until I got home. My eyes were drawn to the top half of the book, which has an amazing roaring tyrannosaur accented by lightning. The bottom features the bright yellow box advertising that Unknown Soldier is also in the issue, and the colours left me completely overlooking the tiny man right next to it. This might just be my problem, but I found the cover incredibly effective for letting me know there were dinosaurs but less so that soldiers would be fighting them.
Booth doesn’t do any of the interior art. The first story of this anthology series, ‘The War That Time Forgot’ is penned by J.T. Krul with art by Ariel Olivetti. Olivetti can be a talented artist, but I really don’t like his work here. It doesn’t look like a comicbook to me, and that’s what I want my comics to look like. There’s an add right next to the first page drawn by Mike Bowden that I’m much more interested in, and it’s for American Ninja Warrior. His pterodactyls look very imposing, but the later dinosaurs don’t inspire anywhere near what the cover did. All of the vehicles (air craft carriers, helicopters, and tanks) look like they screen caps from Syfy Channel movies or PS2 games. I don’t like it. I enjoyed his Punisher: War Journal issues a few years back, but his art is not a strong match for the title.
Each of the two tales in G.I. Combat is 14 pages, and about half of those are dedicated to helicopters vs pterodactyls fight. It has the most impressive splash of the book. A lot of people we don’t know are killed off, leaving our two main characters Elliot and Stevens to determine what’s going on for this mysterious mission they were sent on. There was a little background and camaraderie as the two speak with Steven’s wife at the open, but neither of them are really defined any further then ‘family man’ and ‘good at sex guy’. The final page’s reveal could be exciting, but the art just kills it with how unnatural everything looks.
‘Unknown Soldier’ by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Dan Panosian follows. The first thing I notice is a huge improvement in the art. It’s scratchy, but not unrealistic. The people and weapons and even a horse (just about the damndest animal there is to draw right) all look like they belong in the comic.
The story is largely an origin for the Soldier, taking us from the 2005 London Bombings until the modern day. It’s not an unfamiliar story – violence claims a man’s family, and he turns to vengeance – but Gray and Palmiotti handled themes of dark morality and violence exceptionally well in Jonah Hex. I wasn’t convinced by this issue that the Unknown Soldier’s tale was worth following, but the writing team has a very strong track-record with this kind of individual. I’m more than willing to give its next issue a try, because I know there’s a lot more to this team then they were able to do with this issue. It did work to establish who he was and where he came from, and I’m betting future issues will improve with the fact the ‘Unknown Soldier’ will be moving forward.
The $3.99 price tag is a big drawback to the issue, especially if like me you were really underwhelmed with one of the stories. ‘The War That Time Forgot’ may surprise me next month though, so here’s hoping.
Fury MAX #1
I haven’t read anything Garth Ennis has written since his Punisher MAX run came to an end in 2008. In it, Frank Castle was often less of a man and more a force of nature. Nick Fury has an equally larger-than-life presence, and I was excited to see him being handled by Ennis once more. Another bonus is that Goran Parlov returns to draw the title, having done arguably the best Punisher MAX issues, ‘Barracuda’ from 31-36.
Nick Fury is a tired, old, immortal soldier who’s recording the exploits of his life. Starting in Indochina after the Korean War, this issue is largely set-up. But the character introductions come at a nice clip and everyone is given a chance to leave an impression. First is Nick himself, frustrated at being tucked away in some dark corner of the world after an upsetting incident for the brass during the war. He’s disillusioned with the direction of the United States and of world after its Second World War. In comparison George Hatherly is young with stars and stripes in his eyes, and has missed all of the major combat in recent history. Given his clean-cut good looks, he’s a like a white-washed version of what a soldier should be. Together they really are the grizzled old veteran and the hotshot rookie.
Shirley Defabio is a beautiful and badass secretary from Chicago that’s travelling with a congressman, McCuskey. He’s here to access what aid is needed in keeping the communists from claiming the region. She comes into the story being hit on in a bar, and the scene doesn’t end until a bloody nose and two broken bottles later. Sergent Chef Steinhoff is a hulking former Nazi, a legionnaire who had nowhere to go following the war. He comes off a generally affable fellow, assuming you’re not one of the soldiers he’s trying to improve in vain.
All of the pieces are put into place in this issue, and from the preview in the back next issue the shit really hits the fan. In Punisher MAX Ennis was always gifted at developing the world around Castle without focusing on him, and I’m expecting the same thing here but with Nick getting a little more attention.
Goran Parlov brings a great sense of expression to his characters and the ability to create explosive scenes of violence. The latter is only briefly on display in this debut issue, but the former gets plenty of opportunity to shine during the set-up. His characters all have a distinct look, and with as many scenes as this issue has of people sitting and talking, standing and talking, and driving and talking, it could have gotten boring really fast. But there was always something I liked in every panel. And the cover is terrific, my second favourite of the week after Daredevil’s. Captures just what I’d want from a Nick Fury book: exotic locals, adventure, and a little sex.
I will definitely be buying this again once the second issue rolls out. I’m not so interested in the plot yet, but all of the characters are likable and I don’t want to miss how tensions and the stakes are ratcheted up in the following stories. As much as I liked Daredevil, this is the book I’m most looking forward to getting again. Biased revealed, a large part is that MAX being a separate, unconnected reality has me more excited than the Marvel 616 which had left me disillusioned in the past.