Welcome back to my corner of the Wednesday review extravaganza here at Multiversity! It’s definitely a fun week for comics here, even outside of the ones that I’ve prepared for you for reviewing! So before we go any further into this, why don’t we take a look at our rating system:
0: Uwe Boll will direct the adaptation of this comic
0.1 – 1: Burn upon touching
1- 1.9: Abysmal
2.0 – 2.9: Art. Writing. Editing. All bad.
3.0 – 3.9: You’d be a masochist to pick this up.
4.0 – 4.9: “I’ll give it another month…but that was not good.”
5.0 – 5.9: “Really? The Watcher? In the face? I guess it was fun.”
6.0 – 6.9: “Hmm. That was decent.”
7.0 – 7.9: Well made but a few problems
8.0 – 8.9: Nearly flawless
9.0 – 9.9: Outstanding
10: Perfection. Issue of the year contender
Now that you are once again familiar with that, we can move on! This week, I’ll be reviewing Batman Beyond #1, Captain Swing And The Electric Pirates Of Cindery Island #2, Joker’s Asylum II: Clayface, and Astonishing X-Men #34. Are these four books worth adding to your collection? Let’s take a look after the jump.
Batman Beyond #1
I was a fan of the cartoon when I was a kid. Not a huge fan, but I definitely would wake up actively to watch it. That said, I wasn’t really convinced I would enjoy this comic. I grabbed the Superman/Batman Annual that re-introduced this world back into the DCU, but even then I didn’t know if I would enjoy this comic because, despite liking the annual, it was a different team. However, despite all that I decided to trust in DC and grab the first issue of the Batman Beyond mini, with the obvious hopes that I would – you guessed it – enjoy the comic.
To make an already long story short, I actually did and quite a lot. The first issue picks up as if we had never left Beyond’s universe, with an unknown villain breaking out of jail and Terry McGuinness operating as Batman, thus confusing and enraging said villain. As McGuinness continues to do his best to clean up the streets with Wayne’s help, we see him engage in battle as well as briefly put his detective skills to work before the final reveal of who the nemesis is. Now, to me that nemesis ended up being the ultimate selling point because, despite not knowing who it was before, it basically ensured I’ll keep coming back as I love that villain. I won’t reveal who because I don’t want to spoil it for anything, but suffice it to say, I’m eagerly anticipating where the story will go.
Already I love Adam Beechen. On the one hand, it’s for his choice in antagonist alone, but on the other, the issue is just well written. It’s a fun and action packed comic, and it definitely still has the feel of the cartoon. It’s definitely been a while since I’ve popped in those DVDs, but I was taken straight back to the world of Neo-Gotham in the same way that Levitz managed to do in the S/B Annual, although this was a tad bit brighter. The references were there, the action was well written, and the set-up for the end of the first issue was great. I was really happy with the buy, much more than I thought I would be, and Beechen was the biggest part of that.
Unfortunately, I’m not really feeling Ryan Benjamin’s art. Perhaps it’s because I was spoiled rotten with the fantastic art by Renato Guedes in the aforementioned Annual, but Benjamin’s art doesn’t feel too much like the show. As I said, it’s a lot brighter (though that’s not necessarily his fault at all), and at the same time it kind of feels like a dirtier version of the sleek artwork the TV show had. Batman Beyond was very edgy in it’s art – not edgy as in it pushed boundaries, but quite literally that it was a lot of straight lines that looked almost razor sharp. Benjamin doesn’t really capture that in his artwork, and some panels are really just off, such as an opening shot of Bruce and Ace in the cave.
Continued belowI’m still looking forward to the remainder of the series though. I like that this is a mini because I’m not sure how long Beyond would be able to carry on, and as I said I love the choice of villain. I think there is a good strong direction for this title to go in, and with just six issues, it should be a nice tight mini.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Buy
Captain Swing #2
If there’s one name I trust in delivering over the top antics in comics that I wouldn’t count on anyone to think of, it’s Warren Ellis. His work on Avatar has been nothing short of universally fun and amazing, and it has all been proof that Ellis deserves our respect as a writer. Captain Swing is definitely no exception, and all the things that I didn’t like about the first issue are gone in the second issue, as this issue definitively blows that one right out of the sky.
Now, I do have to somewhat fault the title in that, during the time it took for issue 2 to come out, the book did lose a little bit of it’s allure. Captain Swing was very high “up there” on the list of Ellis titles I was anticipating, but the wait in between these books is killing me – even if it is for fantastic artwork. So the book does get faulted on that. However, what I can’t fault it on is that it’s great. The first issue was a tad slow and didn’t spend enough time on the fun pirate element of the title, and definitely didn’t give enough focus to this crazy electrical steampunk vibe it has. This issue definitely gives us much more of that, as the issue introduces us to Swing’s crew, ship, and hideout – all powered by that fantastic thing known as electricity!
Ellis is definitely at home in his element during this issue. The book has a fun bounce between pages of prose and the action of the comic as we’re introduced to Swing’s rag-tag crew of cutthroat pirates and scalawags. Ellis’ dialogue really pushes the story much more forward than the issue, and actually having Swing as a full time character in this issue makes it much better than the last. We also add to it a sense of mystery now, as Swing details an unknown and unseen villain lurking in the shadows of the book. With us now reaching the halfway point of the series, it certainly does up the ante of what to expect in the remaining two issues (whenever they come out).
However, as much as I can be annoyed at a release date being pushed back, I can’t fault a good comic for still being good, and that’s exactly what this is. Despite the wait, it’s very easy to get back into the swing of Captain Swing. As I said, this issue is much better than the first issue, and part of it has to do with it’s accessibility despite how long it took to come out. I liked seeing more Swing, I liked seeing more of his crew, and while I feel like the story is a tad slow for a four issue mini, it should be interesting to see where this goes. Ellis has never disappointed me with his mini’s so far, even those that were three issues when they should have been ten. He’s good at condensed storytelling, and I can’t imagine that Captain Swing will end up any different.
Final Verdict 7.9/8.0 – Buy
Joker’s Asylum: Clayface
If memory serves, the first Joker’s Asylum was incredibly hit or miss – and to be honest, it was mostly miss. I can only think of one stand out issue in that whole run. That’s probably why I ended up paying no mind to the recent return to Joker’s Asylum. However, the fan reaction has been so immensely large with specific issues, and the Killer Croc issue alone was astounding, so I began to get my hopes up on the idea again. Too bad Clayface had to come around and ruin that.
To put it simply, this is just a bad comic. It follows Clayface as he falsely runs a movie theater that plays his old movies. Fortunately for him, a series of kids show up to watch the movies, idolizing him and his freakish nature and allowing themselves to be willing sacrifices to his dark nature. Then, as you can probably guess, Batman comes around and ruins everything. Go figure.
Ultimately, I found this issue to be incredibly boring. At times it felt like it wanted to be a tribute to old horror movies but it never quite hit that point. In fact, it never really quite hit any point. By the time I’d finished reading, I didn’t feel like I gained any new knowledge or insight into Clayface as a villain or a character, whereas the other issues give you an odd insight into every villain’s inherent madness. Clayface just sort of operates, kills some people, and then the story ends after a quick fight with Batman. I find that to be completely missing the inherent point of this series, which to me is a chance for a villain to shine on his own without ties to the caped crusader. This means stories where the Riddler falls in love and Killer Croc debates his humanity, or even Harley Quinn trying to reunite with the Joker for Valentine’s day. This is basically a Batman one-shot story with Clayface as the villain, and it’s not even a good one at that. I can’t say I found myself impressed with either Kevin Shinick or Kelley Jones either. Shinick’s writing just wasn’t endearing to any of the characters, and Jones never really found a comfortable format or style within the issue. It largely felt like a mess that was over before it really began.
If I were you, I would definitely pass on this issue. While the Croc issue was great and the Riddler issue quite good as well, Clayface ends up being in his own comic as entertaining as he is a villain in general. The comic brings no interesting new developments to the story of Clayface, and instead just tries to operate on a horror gimmick that I don’t think Shinick understands – at least not in this context.
Final Verdict 4.6 – Pass
Astonishing X-Men #34
Speaking of delayed Warren Ellis books, how about that Astonishing book he was writing? This book was so delayed that Marvel actually had Ellis do a second Astonishing mini with almost the same title to come out in it’s absence. And how long ago was it that issue #33 came out? Almost half a year ago. The previous installment came out on December 16th, 2009, and that is honestly probably the reason why I didn’t enjoy this book so much.
Delays hurt books – it’s the fact of the matter when you’re reading an on-going title. If you’re getting it in trade then fine, you’ll get your story piece by piece, but for those of us playing at home, we forget what’s going on. On top of that, we lose our attachment to characters and stories, and it reflects negatively on our opinions of the title. Such is the case with the latest issue of Astonishing X-Men. I love this title, and I think Warren Ellis was writing a great arc. Unfortunately, I had severely forgotten the developments of the past three issues, and only really remember some bad ass artwork. My enjoyment of the issue kind of spiked downward as soon as I started reading the issue and realized, “Wow, I really don’t remember any of this.”
That aside, I still feel I can give the issue an honest enough critique. First of all, I actually didn’t really care for Warren Ellis’ writing here. Maybe it’s because now I’m judging his character development based off the Astonishing mini, but the opening scene with Beast and Cyclops just feels wrong. I don’t feel like Cyclops would let Beast rag on him as much as he did, and certainly not to the extent that the dialogue ended up. I also think that after all the good work done to Abigail Brand post-Whedon, her one scene was kind of insulting and stupid. To a certain degree I feel like the issue is rushed in the writing, and with the next issue closing off this arc I don’t feel like we’re getting the full story so much as we’re getting a very rapid tale that could potentially have a very disappointing ending.
Continued belowHowever, despite all that, Phil Jimenez’s art here is pretty killer. There are a couple goofy scenes, such as one with an open-mouthed and shocked Cyclops, but overall the art is the strongest element of the book. It’s great to look at, and has been throughout. There aren’t as many intense sequences as in previous issues, but the Sauron portion of the book was pretty great, and Jimenez’s rendering of him was awesome. While I’m going to assume that the art was the main reason for the delay, I will only half say that with art like this, it’s worth the wait. I don’t mean that as an endorsement for a delayed book, but it definitely looks pretty killer.
I have a hard time giving this a rating. The delays here really grind my gears, and I didn’t really enjoy the comic as much as I wanted to, but I’m afraid that I’m biased or giving a negative slant because of the delay. Ultimately I’d say that those of you who waited for trade did the right thing. Granted, you’re waiting a while, but we all are. I can only hope that the final issue ties the arc together in an entertaining way, but I will say that so far, Ellis has not lived up to Whedon’s previous run on the book, and considering that Astonishing has the easiest tools to play with in the X-universe, that’s a shame.
Final Verdict: 5.8 – Browse
