Comic Picks By The Glick

This series has been on the cusp of being really good for a while now.  Holding it back has been the supernatural mystery of the revivers and some storytelling that doesn’t surprise as often as it should given the subject matter.  With vol. 5, writer Tim Seely makes some big strides towards addressing these issues.  By the end of it, I was more involved in the fate of the inhabitants of Wausau, Wisconsin, than I have been at any other point in the series.

Jonathan Hickman’s penchant for planning out his storylines is well known.  I mention this now because this is the first time I felt that he may have bitten off a little more than he can chew.  This would normally be a really bad thing, except that there are plenty of positives to make this volume another compelling read in his “Avengers” saga.  The sins of ambition, if you will.

You can't go wrong with any of the numbered volumes of the Rabbit Ronin's adventures!  As for his latest, "Senso," well...

Hey, so it turns out that I was mistaken and Earl Tubb, protagonist of the previous volume, really was beaten to death in the street by Coach Euless Boss.  That does make him seem more threatening, but Jason Aaron wants you to feel something different for this particular bastard here:  sympathy.  “Gridiron” is all about Euless’ formative years in high school as he wants nothing more than to play football.  Problem is that the deck is stacked against him in just about every conceivable way possible.  He lacks the physique, has a terrible father, bad guys shoot him in the foot, the coach has it in for him -- it seems like there is no way that Euless’ dream is going to come true with all this working against the boy.  However, he has two things working in his favor:  The knowledge from old, blind, African-American ballboy Big, and a blistering determination to never give in no matter the cost.

It’s that last part which is the most relevant to the story as the things we see Euless do as a young man really inform the adult he winds up as in the present day.  While his intentions are pure at first, the corruption that sets in doesn’t just seem inevitable but natural as well.  I also liked seeing how his treatment growing up inspired nothing but contempt for the town he runs like his football team.  In his twisted mind, Craw County is responsible for making him the man he is today and he’s not going to let them forget it.  Specifically, the moment where he beat a man to death in its streets and nobody raised a finger to stop him or bring the man to justice.  It’s compelling work from Aaron, and artist Jason Latour who brings these scenes to life on the page in all their gritty glory.  There are also a couple of last-minute surprises in the volume’s final pages which let us know about the latest challenges Coach Boss is going to have to face down.  One involves the last words of an old friend, and the other is someone I’m very much hoping to see bust down some conventions in this kind of story.  These first two volumes of “Southern Bastards” have been good, but I’m expecting the next one will finally make the series great.

There are two significant character deaths in this volume.  One of them involves someone who has been relatively sympathetic throughout most of his tenure in this series.  His turn towards hatred in the last few volumes has actually been one of the more believable character developments of this final arc of “Gantz” as his reasons for hating the alien invaders were at least well-founded in his mind.  That his final act actually involves saving some of the aliens he has been trying to kill doesn’t come across as glaringly inconsistent is down to the fact that we feel he was a nice kid warped by tragedy and hope for his redemption on some level.  (Or at least that’s what I felt.)

The other, well… I really couldn’t give a shit.  The character spends most of this volume embracing the nihilistic and selfish worldview he has embraced for most of this series.  It appeared for a while that he may have found a reason to care about his fellow humans (maybe just the littlest one fighting on his team), but that turned out to not be the case.  In the end, he winds up being a simple punching bag for Kei to show the audience how much better he is than this particular character.  As if we didn’t already know.  That the character in question winds up spending his final moments crying for his mother isn’t so much sad as it is grossly disappointing.  It was obvious that this kid was a horrible bastard who deserved everything that was coming to him.  Seeing him cry like a baby in his final moments doesn’t feel satisfying, it feels like a foregone conclusion where our only recourse is to go, “GET ON WITH IT!”

As for our protagonist, mangaka Hiroya Oku spends most of this volume rehashing plot points he had presented to better effect in previous volumes.  Kei is reunited (again) with Tae who impresses upon him the idea that not all the aliens are evil and that they shouldn’t all be wiped out due to the actions of the ruling class.  Then she dies again -- only it’s a fake-out by the mangaka!  The couple then returns to Earth while the endgame begins in earnest.  I’ll be sticking around for it, but DAMN!  This final arc has jerked me around more than “Future Diary” without the joy of watching a figurative train wreck unfold before my eyes.  Only two volumes to go before the series either flubs its landing completely, or sticks it in the most awkward way possible.

For all the noise I made about Si Spurrier’s “X-Men:  Legacy” run being likely to crash and burn within a year, it turns out that it was his take on “X-Force” which turned out to be commerically disappointing.  After a defining run from Rick Remender and a “not bad, but not particularly great” effort from Sam Humphries, it fell to Spurrier to provide a different take in the hopes of reinvigorating the brand.  Up until now I figured that Spurrier’s solution was to mix the action with lots of quirk and black comedy.  With his final volume, it becomes clear that was only part of his plan.  Spurrier’s real aim was to show how ridiculous and unworkable the idea of damaged heroes going on secret missions with no accountability was.  It makes for a great read, but it’s easy to see why his run only lasted fifteen issues with that as his agenda.

“Superman:  Earth One” is a lost cause for me at this point as I still feel no inclination to check out the third volume which arrived earlier this year.  Its counterpart, however, is a different story.  “Batman:  Earth One” arrived on the heels of “The Dark Knight Rises” and gave us another look at the character as he was starting out on his crusade against crime.  Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank delivered a polished story that had some unique takes on established characters like Alfred, Detective Bullock, and the Penguin, and delivered unique tension in showing us how this less-experienced Batman handled Gotham’s criminal element.  Vol. 2 delivers more of the same, which is to say that if you were onboard with what the creators were doing previously then you’re likely to derive some satisfaction with it.  The main problem here is that in the nearly three years since the first volume, another story has come along to steal the thunder from what Johns and Frank are doing here.

The good news, for anyone who decided to stick around after the first volume’s rocky and dated start, is that things are getting better.  It takes a while for Jonathan Joestar and Dio to finish their business from the previous volume, in the form of an epic battle in the former’s mansion -- while it’s on fire!  Then mangaka Hirohiko Araki breaks out the tropes to introduce us to Baron Zeppeli.  Not only is he here to let Jonathan know that Dio is NOT DEAD, but the man is going to teach our hero the fighting technique that will allow him to defeat his nemesis.  After a week of (off-panel) training, Jonathan heads off with Zeppeli and crafty thief Speedwagon (because someone needs to serve as comic relief here) to Dio’s stronghold town of Windknight’s Lot.  There, he encounters vampirized and zombified versions of Jack the Ripper, knights Tarukus and Blueford, and some regular zombies ready to defend Dio to their (un)deaths.  Much punching, rending of limbs, and posing ensues from here.

It’s not at the level of the “Stardust Crusaders” arc, but I can see the sparks that eventually allowed the series to catch fire.  Aside from being incredibly gory, there’s some genuine creativity with how it’s handled here.  Jack’s initial encounter with Jonathan and co. occurs when he pops out of the decapitated horse that was drawing their carriage.  Then we get to see where he keeps all those knives he likes to use (it looks pretty painful).  The trend of villains with tortured backstories who have dedicated themselves to Dio also begins here with the two knights, and it’s nice to see some henchmen who don’t come off as disposable thugs.  Araki’s art also gets bigger and bolder here, inching towards fully stylized future glory.  Yeah, it’s a lot of burly dudes fighting with a hero who’s kind of bland as shonen manga protagonists go.  I’m still inclined to stick with it to see how much better the series can get before it really hits its stride.