WINCBD! – Matt’s Stack (10-6-10)

Hey comic fans! Do you like reviews of comics? You do? Oh good. Then I’ve got a good post in store for you.

However, before we go into that, I should mention: I, your favorite Matthew, will be at this year’s New York Comic Con, along with fellow Spoiler Alert/resident MC grump, Josh Mocle. The two of us will be conducting various interviews as well as attending various panels, and if you would like to say hi, please do! I will be the well dressed one with the beard, he will be the not as well dressed one without the beard hanging around the guy with the beard! We also have a plan that involves talking to comic fans, so you’d like to be interviewed and show up in a video for this site (possibly, maybe!), definitely find us! I won’t tell you any more than that until the con ends and we start posting our collected footage.

So with that out of the way, RATINGS:

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

This week my reviews include Neonomicon #2, Secret Six #26, Thor: For Asgard #3, and Strange Science Fantasy #4. A god mix of books, some of which I really love and others of which I am trying to love. Which is which? Find out after the jump.

Neonomicon #2
…what did I just read?

You know, there was a time when picking up a new comic by Alan Moore meant that, more often than not, you’d pick up a brilliant comic. It’d push the genre in different directions and be a comic that other comics that just WISH they could be like.

Now, he’s writing Neonomicon.

Now – this isn’t to say Neonomicon is a bad comic. It’s just an incredibly surprising book to read with Alan Moore’s name on it, because this doesn’t feel like much of an Alan Moore comic. This seems like the kind of stuff you’d buy in the NC-17 section of the comic book store, because this is an NC-17 comic. Before you go ahead and read this comic, you should probably know that.

So – the book begins as a meditation on the works of HP Lovecraft. The book itself is steeped in Lovecraftian mythos, and the first few pages of the book all elaborate on the possible real aspects of the story. It quickly devolves into our two cops breaking into a Lovecraftian “cult” only to find themselves in the midst of one of the most deranged orgies you’ll ever see in a comic.

To be quite honest, I think the book is equally split into half. The first half is quite interesting. The second half is excessively deranged. It gets to a certain point where I think that a story can cross the lines even for me, and I get pretty lost at the point where the story becomes a gang rape topped over with crazy Lovecraftian monster blow jobs and jizz. Yeah – that happened. No, I didn’t quite care for it. And if you think I’m just playing a goof, click here for confirmation (SFW, I promise).

On the plus side, Jacen Burrows is an absolute madman when it comes to the art. While this book certainly doesn’t show off some of his better talent, each panel and page is absolutely crisp. Last issue was particularly haunting for him, and with this issue… well, he certainly doesn’t stray from the details. If you ever wondered what a Lovecraftian monster’s penis might look like, then this is the book for you.

Of course, some of my inherent distaste towards the issue just comes from the fact that this is not the comic that I wanted to read, nor the comic that I set out to buy. I wanted Lovecraftian horror, and I got that. I just could have done without all that rape.

Final Verdict: 4.1 – Pass

Secret Six #26
The last time I reviewed Secret Six was the first time I ever bought it in stores after every other member of this site insisited that I started reading the book. I caught up with every Secret Six issue ever, only to find it disappointing. This issue was a lot better, and with this issue I can understand why people glorify the book so much – because it was pretty damn good.

Since we last left them, Bane and his new troupe had begun to take over an unheard of foreign nation, and it was up to the Secret Six to take them down. Of course, the Secret Six aren’t exactly in the best of places relationship wise, so having this “band of brothers” go against their former “leader” in such a big way – in a land where dinosaurs still exist – adds general turmoil. To say the least.

This issue does a much better job at conveying the emotional resonance that this team has carried for the past 25+ issues. The book regains it’s fluid motion (after last issue’s jumping around extravaganza) and grounds the story more, which was the first thing that made it much more accessible. The books dynamic is returned as the aim of the issue is not to place characters in locales but rather to allow the characters to do what they do best – get into bad situations, make humorous contents at inappropriate times, and punch things. Punch them nice and good.

I’ve never been as big of a Simone fan as the other posters of this site, but this issue was one of the better ones I’ve read. Simone was firing from all cylinders with this issue, with a decent amount of high paced action with Bane, and a wise ass mouth on Deadshot and Ragdoll. We also get some great moments for Alice in this issue, despite her new handicap. The character dynamic is what makes this book work, so aside from the fact that there is a second and less endearing group of Secret Sixers, we still manage to get a very unique take on the team book dynamic from Simone and Califore.

Of course, the better part of this issue was actually it’s shocking “twist.” It is rather rare that a book will catch me off guard these days, and while I’m sure there will be a nice resolve with the next issue (as there almost always is for things of this nature), it still managed to leave me legitimately surprised. It’s the showing of a better comic book when you can see covers for future issues as well as read solicits and still manage to get left in the dark for the plot as it unfolds.

With an issue as good as this one, I feel bad for giving the previous issue a bad review. This issue was a return to form to the earlier issues of the book with a very focused plot, action oriented sequences, and a tale that really plays to the strength of Simone’s writing of the characters and Califore’s talent as an artist. I definitely give this book the ol’ thumbs up with an issue like this, and I am still insanely looking forward to Bane riding a dinosaur.

Granted, I still wanted to see more to do with that whole crazy cowboy issue, but that’s just me. Also, as an odd additional note, the comic reads really well with the LOST Season 6 soundtrack. Funny how that worked out!

Final Verdict: 7.4 – Buy

Thor: For Asgard #3
I honestly can’t get enough of this book. I had no idea I would love it as much as I do when I picked up the first issue, but with every issue that comes out I become more and more engaged in this dystopian political thriller version of Asgard the magnificent.

We’re looking at a six issue mini here, so with this book particular book being the halfway point we really need to get the book in gear. Considering the first two issues were so action oriented and disaster oriented, it seems funny and almost silly of me to say we need to push it forward because it is already moving along and such a brisk pace. This issue reveals why Thor can no longer lift his hammer, gives a strong hint as to who the villain behind the story is, and puts Thor in a position to try and solve everything while leaving Asgard in a worse position than it was than when the freaking Rainbow Bridge was destroyed.

Rob Rodi is pretty much knocking it out of the park for me when it comes to Thor. With the main book, I’ve actually become quite attached to the character, and with it’s three writers (JMS, Gillen, Fraction), it’s a daunting task to tell me a Thor story I can get really into. Rodi is doing all that and more. This book has so much going for it. It’s an intriguing political thriller that obviously mirrors current political climates. It also acts as a great fantasy story that really captures the essence of Thor and Asgard. The opening sequences and Thor’s dream, as well as the final few pages of the issue, really succeed in tying this story all together within the world of Asgard and successfully utilize major Thor characters that had been previously missing in the book until now. Rodi loves his Thor, to say the least.

And Binachi – oof! This book is made for him! I often note that I am not a big fan of Binachi’s work, but this book looks magnificent. Frequently using irregular panel structure as characters move fluidly between the panels, Binachi truly captures the epic scope of Thor and his godly brethren. Normally you only see this kind of powerful characters on covers let alone all the way through interiors. Binachi even goofs off a bit at the beginning, as the dream sequence Thor has is basically just pin-up art. It honestly looks so good that I don’t even mind, though.

I’ve given you a review of this book 3 times now, and every time I review an issue I love it. I won’t review a fourth, because you get it – I think the book is great, and I really recommend getting it. There are a ton of Thor comics currently out there right now, yes, but Rob Rodi and Simone Binachi have one of the best of them. If you’re a Thor fan and you’re not getting this comic, you are sincerely missing out, and this comic alone proves why the Marvel Knights line is so frequently awesome.

Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy

Strange Science Fantasy #4
What a completely novel comic in such a charming package.

For those who don’t know, Strange Science Fantasy is a series of one-shots that allow Scott Morse to tell a series of altogether strange stories, all of which pay tribute to the Golden Age of comic books. Wrapped in a beautiful package that you’ll only find in a Darwyn Cooke comic, this is one of the best comics you can buy for classically stylized comic fun.

With the fourth issue, we get a look at G.I. Gantic (LOVE that name). A soldier who has all too much luck, he is picked after fighting in the Big One to fight off an alien invasion by sneaking aboard their ships and going to the planet. What does he find there? Why, only the secret of life and the universe as we know it. So how exactly does this all American soldier react to the greatest secret of all the known world? You’ll just have to buy it to find out!

And you’re more than in for a treat if you do. Artists like Darwyn Cooke quite often pay tribute to this classic era of comic books, but Scott Morse is the only other artist that so effectively hits it out of the ball park like Cooke does. This book is such a tribute to the Jack Kirby style of art and spacey story telling, it’s really hard not to fall in love with every story issue by issue. It’s a one shot, so you don’t need any prior knowledge. Just pick it up and enjoy it. Often time comics try too hard with one-shots to pull you in to an elaborate one and done story, but Strange Science Fantasy takes various science fiction ideas that all have a strangely familiar ring to it.

I have to of course admit that I still think the previous issue is the best one of the planned six, but this book has an undeniable charm that certainly makes it one of the more worthwhile comics to buy. This book quite literally oozes charm at all levels (but it doesn’t ooze in the same way that Alan Moore’s comic did, which will just make you uncomfortable).

If you’re look for a comic that effectively pays tribute to the incredible days gone by of comic bookery, look no further. Strange Science Fantasy is a comic book that any good comic fan can pick up and enjoy along with the rest of their weekly books and be that much richer for it.

Heck, the comic was so good that it made the drunk hipster reeking of PBR touch me and try to take off my headphones to tell me he liked it. If that’s not a glowing review, I don’t know what is.

Final Verdict: 8.9 – Buy