This chronic feature lets me review what’s recently passed before my bloodshot pupils.
So pull up a chair, break out the sarcasm filter and welcome to:
Mr. Zad’s comic critique
Batman: Hush: Volume 1, trade paperback (DC Comics, $12.95 each). The man whose artistic abilities were largely responsible for Marvel selling more than 1 million issues of an X-Men comic book in 1991, Jim Lee made an impactful return to the drawing board in 2002 through a 12-issue, monthly story arc to flex his illustrative might with the Dark Knight.
The result gave DC Comics some much needed momentum as the company found itself slipping in sales numbers to the resurgence of Marvel Comics’ lines. It also gave the Caped Crusader one of his more intense adventures since the backbreaking days with Bane, a trained killer and brilliant military strategist who achieved superhuman powers when experimental surgery went awry in the 1990s.
Jeph Loeb’s story of a trench-coated stranger with a bandaged face attempting to wreck Batman’s life adequately gives Mr. Lee an enormous narrative palette to pencil some wonderful moments for him, along with leading the superhero to an endearing liaison with Catwoman and confrontations with Poison Ivy, Killer Croc and Superman.
This is a sorely needed reprint of the first five issues of the story arc featured in Batman Nos. 608 to 612. (The hardcover sold out within seconds of its 2003 release, while single issues are harder to find than Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.)
However, what comic book fans may most remember about the trade paperback, besides the legendary art style of Mr. Lee, is a CD-ROM precariously stuck onto the back page of the book. The ROM’s content, culled from the DC Comics Web site (www.dccomics.com) boasts more than 900 pages of previews from what the head honchos consider the top 100 trade paperbacks they’ve published, and also includes 11 video interviews of its stars.
Readers should be cautioned that only the latest Web browsers with extremely current versions of the Quicktime and Adobe Acrobat plug-ins will allow entrance to the interactive world, and the video interviews are miserably produced with background noise often drowning out the speakers.
Each of the book’s four pages appears as a PDF (portable document format) download that looks pretty amazing on a large color monitor and acts as a great promotional ploy to go out and buy its source.
To the point
A selected peek at titles that didn’t inspire a bloated evaluation:
Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game, trade paperback (DC Comics, $9.95). Cartoon Network’s hip animated show about the ongoing adventures of DC Comics’ team of younger superheroes has given reason for a new Teen Titans monthly series conforming more to a traditional comic book universe rather than the cable channel’s stylized shenanigans.
The first seven issues have been packed into one book in which writer Geoff Johns merges the band of heroes by incorporating 1980s senior team members Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven with the latest teenage versions of Robin (Timothy Drake behind the mask), Superboy (Connor Kent, a clone of Superman), Kid Flash (Bart Allen behind the mask and once called Impulse) and Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark, friend of Wonder Woman’s who was granted powers by the mighty Zeus).
The story offers both a historical look at the legend of the Teen Titans, reviewing the tragic demise of some of its members, while mixing in a new adventure as Deathstroke the Terminator, a chronic enemy to the team, believes the only way to prevent youngsters from getting hurt in the superhero game is by killing them first. I found the storytelling and illustrations of Mike McKone and Tom Grummett an exciting package that will make hard-core Titan followers smile and turn new readers into immediate fans.
Last Train to Deadsville, Nos. 1 and 2 (Dark Horse Comics, $2.99 each). Publisher Mike Richardson’s attempt to corner the comic book market’s horror genre continues to be a hit and miss proposition (read the Rob Zombie-fueled The Nail for an example of a miss), although Deadsville has the early mark of a hit.
Yes, I realize readers have seen a hard-boiled detective battling evil before, but something just hooked me on the private investigator, Cal McDonald, who has a way with dames as well as with demons.
This Carl Kolchak with a Sam Spade sensibility hangs out with a zombie partner with a deadly sense of humor, and each issue manages to uncover the worst the supernatural has to offer.
It’s a bit too graphic for those just entering their teen year thanks to some gooey Kelley Jones panels and writer Steve Niles’ use of pointless profanity. But those in a noirish frame of mind will still appreciate the monstrous adventures.
The Pulse, Nos. 1 through 3 (Marvel Comics, $2.99 each). My favorite angst-ridden superheroine who switched from battling crime in tights to a private detective, now moves into the role of editorial consultant through an ambitious but solid effort from prolific comic book scribe Brian Michael Bendis.
The cash-strapped Jessica Jones also moves from the mature comic book series, Alias, to a more teenage accessible one in The Pulse. Here, she deals with her relationship with Luke Cage, accepts Daily Bugel editor J. Jonah Jameson’s assignment and works with the paper’s top reporters as they pursue the killer of one of their own.
Mark Bagley, as always, delivers the perfect style to punctuate the likes of Spider-Man, the Vulture and the Green Goblin, causing mayhem in a city that loves to read about its superheroes.
Zadzooks! wants to know you exist. Call 202/636-3016, fax 202/269-1853, e-mail jszad kowski@washingtontimes.com or write to Joseph Szadkowski, The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington D.C. 20002.
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