Comic Picks By The Glick

Out of all (three) conventions I go to each year, this is the only one that leaves me wanting more.  WonderCon gets one day so that I can raid the half-off bins and catch a panel or two.  I’m not going there to gorge myself, that’s what Comic Con is for.  Yet after four days (and a preview night) of that, I’m ready to head home and decompress from it all.  Fanime offers lots of panels run by fans on a wide variety of subjects, plenty of anime to watch, and a dealer’s hall/artist’s alley that offer lots of interesting stuff to buy.  More than those other cons, it offers me the chance to get away from it all as I actually have to fly out to San Jose.  By the time I have to head to the airport on Monday, I’m wishing that the con lasted an extra day.  So while this con is over with (and now the wait begins for next year’s), here are some highlights from the 2015 edition of Fanime:

(Yeah, about that trend I have going for Monday’s posts:  I just got back from Fanime and am completely wiped out.  This is the last post I have in the bank, so it’s going up now.  Expect a review of “Black Lagoon vol. 10” to make up for this oversight later in the week.)

I’ve been thinking about the Joker’s new look in “Suicide Squad” and I think I know how to make that dumb “Damaged” tattoo on his forehead actually work in the film.  Because make no mistake, regardless of what you think about his other tattoos this one is so on-the-nose that it just becomes laughable.  Yet that’s the solution here:  Have the character embrace its obviousness.  Make one of his team members, preferably Rick Flag or Deadshot, come up to him and ask what’s up with the whole “Damaged” tat?  Then have the Joker respond in perfect deadpan fashion, “How else would they know?” and then he starts laughing (of course).  I don’t know if that tattoo will actually make it into the film or if they’ll just edit it out.  But you can have this idea for free if you want it, DC.

It turns out that Image will be doing away with retailer-exclusive variants for single issues of their comics.  Apparently they don’t do much for a title’s long-term health and only serve to feed the speculator market.  Instead, they’ll be offering retailer-exclusive trade paperback editions instead.

This may seem like it’d be more up my alley, but it’s just a cover.  I could not care less.  For a retailer-exclusive stunt that actually did get me to order a collection through my local comic store, you have to go back to Vertical’s release of Tezuka’s “Black Jack” manga.  In order to boost sales of the first three volumes, they were offering them in hardcover with an EXCLUSIVE STORY that wouldn’t be in the paperback edition.  Yes, it was a huge markup from the paperback edition, but… EXCLUSIVE STORY!  I’m a sucker for additional content like that, and Vertical even provided commentary as to why the stories in question haven’t even been reprinted in the Japanese editions.  So to anyone at Image who is reading this:  Now you know what you have to do in order to get me to buy any of these retailer-exclusive trade paperbacks you’ll be offering in the future.

So, “Age of Ultron:”  Thoroughly entertaining and a worthy sequel to “Avengers.”  No, the story itself and the title villain’s scheme weren’t all that impressive, but the film was filled with plenty of entertaining details and situations to compensate.  The featured-in-previews scene where everyone had a go at picking up Thor’s hammer played great on the screen, Vision’s brief role actually got me to care about him (as opposed to how I feel about him in the comics), James Spader’s relaxed villainy as Ultron was immensely satisfying, and Hawkeye gets the “most improved” award thanks to his secret family life and “Mind control.  Tried it, didn’t like it,” rejoinder.  Really, there were so many moving parts in this film and while you could tell a lot of it was setup -- is anyone not expecting Andy Serkis to be back as Ulysses Klaw in the upcoming “Black Panther” movie -- it felt rather effortless and not very plot-grind-y.  By the end of the film, I still felt energized for the current direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And in “Bendis Delay” news, “Uncanny X-Men #600” has been delayed until October.  Not because it isn’t done, but because Marvel editorial apparently feels it makes more sense to do it that way.  As I write this, Marvel editorial has yet to offer an explanation as to why it makes sense.  It should be noted that we’re currently scheduled to get two new issues each of Bendis’ long-delayed creator-owned projects -- “Brilliant” and “Scarlet” -- before “Uncanny X-Men #600” ships.  Anyone want to take any bets as to whether or not that’ll actually happen?

We’re being told that “The Impossible Will Happen” in the issues of “Hellboy in Hell,” “B.P.R.D.” and “Abe Sapien” advertised in these solicitations.  I, for one, believe this particular strain of hype.  Mainly because we’re getting a new issue of “Hellboy in Hell” here, and the fact that it’s coming out sounds like the impossible is happening to me! *rimshot*  More seriously, Dark Horse editor and co-writer of “Abe Sapien,” Scott Allie, has said that the overall story of the Mignolaverse has reached a point where some of the crazier story ideas the writers have come up with can now start to play out.  While cynicism is easy here, Mignola and company have earned a lot of goodwill with me so the possibility that the upcoming developments in these series will make for great reading is quite real.  Once they’re all collected sometime next year, of course.

Is it a good thing when the end of an arc makes you go, “About damn time!”  That’s the conundrum I faced when I got to the end of this volume and Musashi finally set out on his way to Kokura Castle, a confrontation with rival Sasaki Kojiro, and (presumably) the end of the series.  The problem is that after the past four volumes, released over the course of two years, the title’s momentum has effectively ground to a halt.  That’s mainly due to the fact that this whole arc has been focused around one specific plot point:  Musashi’s quest to find his Eye of the Tiger become a less bloodthirsty fighter.  As mangaka Takehiko Inoue has developed it, this has led to lots of ponderous musings from his protagonist that retreads a lot of familiar ground regarding his development over the course of the series.  This, combined with the length of the arc and lengthy release schedule has made it real difficult to get invested in Musashi’s development for a while now.  I’m willing to bet that, much like “Slam Dunk,” this will all read better in one sitting.  Right now, this whole storyline has felt more interminable than anything else.

Of course, Inoue is one of the best in the business and I shouldn’t feel as surprised as I do that he manages to get the title’s momentum going again at the end.  Musashi’s transition to a man more at peace with himself and those around him is highlighted well here as he pledges to go to Kokura in exchange for the supplies needed to keep the village alive.  We also see him interacting with the villagers in a relatively normal way as he starts training some of the women in swordplay.  Then there’s his relationship with crotchety farmer Shusaku who has been his main antagonist/source of inspiration for this arc.  It reaches a fitting end as Shusaku provides the final bits of wisdom, and an actual impetus, for the swordsman to finally move on after all this time.  As a result, we now have a kinder, gentler, but no less formidable Musashi ready to prove his skills against one of the best swordsmen and most demanding officials in the land.  It’s a good setup that leaves me feeling optimistic about the title’s direction going forward.  You know, whenever we get around to seeing the next volume.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Yeah, I’m not as impressed this time around.  Most of the sex-themed humor has lost its appeal with a couple deeply misguided attempts to mine rape (implied and attempted) for humor early on.  The narrative is also bogged down in countless circular arguments regarding whether or not what Maria is doing is good that come off as repetitive as they fail to shed new light on the situation after a while.  As for the new status quo imposed by Michael at the end of the first volume -- that Maria will lose her powers as a witch if she gives up her virginity -- it’s not really explored or tested in any way.  She’s still prohibited from using great powers in the sight of humans, but that restriction is consistently trampled upon for comedic effect throughout the volume.  The introduction of other witches who make their living off of the war is an interesting idea.  However, it’s not given much development beyond its introduction.

What strikes me as a better way to exploit this setup would be to have allowed Maria to use her powers to the fullest extent, while also placing her in an actual relationship.  We know she has the hots for Joseph, but there’s no real sense of temptation there.  That Maria remains disinclined (or even frightened) of any sexual activity here effectively renders Michael’s declaration a non-issue.  Given that this was meant to be one of the core conflicts of the series, it’s mystifying as to why mangaka Masayuki Ishikawa fails to really dig into it here.  There was a recent anime adaptation of this series and I have to admit that I’m actually more interested in checking it out after reading this volume.  If only to see whether or not the anime’s creators were able to do better justice to this setup.  Anyway, I’m mainly buying this to show support for Ishikawa in the (still pretty vain) hope of getting “Moyasimon” license-rescued.  In spite of its issues, “Maria” isn’t actively awful enough to get me to stop reading.  With only two volumes to go I might as well see things through.

Dark Horse announced some new manga licenses at their Anime Central panel over the weekend.  They included “Giganto Maxia” by Kentaro Miura of “Berserk” fame, a license rescue of “RG Veda” by Clamp (previously published by Tokyopop), and a “Danganronpa” manga based on the anime which was based on the videogame.  So far we’re well within what I’ve come to expect regarding new licenses from the publisher:  New works from established creators, license rescues, and anime spinoffs of dubious quality.

Then there’s “I Am a Hero” by Kengo Hanazawa.  A new series from a creator who hasn’t had anything published yet in the U.S.

...YESSSSSSSS!!!