I came across Queen and Country in the 500 Essential Novels and seeing it on the shelf in Traveling Man I was astounded to see how thick the volume was. Underneath was a recommendation from one of the staff members so I decided to pick it up during my grueling selection process I go through when it comes to buying comics.
Queen and Country is written by Greg Rucka, unbeknown to me, not a fellow countryman, which comes as the first highpoint for the comic. The story follows government operative Tara Chase and her colleagues and overvrlings on various missions of international security. Right away the series reminds me of TV series Spooks and was apparently inspired by old ITV series The Sandbaggers, it does have a low budget TV feel to it, and this is no bad thing.
To its credit the series is interesting and varied, its not over the top and a lot of the storyline is clever and sometimes quite deep, Tara's character is interesting and is layered enough to keep her interesting through the missions. The art is unconventional, this is good though, it makes the series stand out from something like 2000ad's recent Graysuit, and it doesn't hurt the tone at all, the shift in artist however does do a little bit of damage however.
The first arc drawn by Steve Rolston sees Tara as, while not unattractive, a bit of a plain Jane, she's not some buxom heroin but more of a regular girl in less than regular circumstances, which is a nice change to the usual action girl stereotype. By the second arc Brian Hurtt draws Tara as being slightly more attractive, but she don't lose any of her previous aesthetics, visually you can see she is still the same character. Unfortunately, by the third arc Leandro Fernández draws Tara as a buxom action girl, always wearing tight revealing clothing. 'Oh dear' my mind thinks, the other characters stay pretty much the same, but the visual change of Tara is so jarring that it practically ruins the third arc, which is up to standard in all other respects.
Other than that Queen and Country is certainly worth it, and I didn't even know that Rucka was American till I'd finished the story. Its interesting comparing it to Hellsing, which is also a story about British intelligence (Though more unconventional) because Queen and Country has exactly what Hellsing lacks in being convincingly British, and thats where it scores points in my book.
Showing posts with label American Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Comics. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Saturday, 9 May 2009
500 Essential Graphic Novels Review and Free Comic Book Day
500 Essential Graphic Novels – Gene Kannenberg Jnr
Doing a review of a book of reviews is a bit curious to say the least, but 500' was a far too interesting collection to miss. To be fair, the title's a bit of a misnomer, the book covers 100 graphic novels (which includes Collected editions too) with each having about four other 'Further Reading' attached, but thats OK, because what we do get is well worth the cover price.
The best part about the book is the fact that it covers the broad range of the comic book spectrum, giving us the top ten of Adventure, Non-Fiction, Crime, Fantasy, General, Horror, Humour, Sci-Fi, Superheros and War, nice because we get a look outside of the Cape and tights world, but also get to look at the best of that too. The book also is indiscriminate, putting Manga and European comics side by side by Genre, when it could have easily cop'd out and given Manga its own section.
The book is an excellent cataloger of comics to keep an eye out for, and each review is good enough to let you know weather it'll be for you or not. As its primary purpose 500' completes its objective flawlessly. However, as a bit of criticism there are some curious omissions and placements which stands out a bit. Hellsing is missing, and while I've pointed out that me myself am not entirely set on it just yet, it feels a bit wrong that its not there to make up the whole “Hell” triumvirate with Hellboy and Hellblazer. Also, Heart of Empire is included, but Luther Arkwright is relegated to the 'further reading' where in my opinion it is the better of the two books. Also, things like XIII are nowhere to be seen.
Then there's classification. Sandman is in Fantasy, yet the similar Hellblazer is in horror, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is in sci-fi, yet I would more likely put it under Adventure or Fantasy, The Pro, a superhero comedy, goes in Humour, yet Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, a war comedy, goes in War. Other similar examples are abound, but don't worry, It doesn't detract from the collection, and you could put it down to the wonderful broadness of the medium. All in all its worth buying if your a big fan of comic and want to find out what you haven't read yet.
Bonus Free Comic Book Day Review
In a move unusual to me, I decided to buy a few issues of this and that, just to see what the crack is, and pick up a few issues along the way. Here's what I found:
Battle For the Cowl: The Underground
Nice to see Batman's most famous foes pottering about as usual, The Riddler's a particularly likable protagonist in this, and puts him in good graces to be a potential foe in the next film.
Deadpool #9
After the slightly disappointing turn of events that was the Wolverine film, its nice to see that Deadpool's still on top form, him and Taskmaster lusting after Black Widow like nothing else matters is particularly hilarious.
Marvel Spectacular #2
Collection of three shorts, Citizen Cage was a pretty run of the mill “superhero on his day off” story, Galacta was a curious piece and the manga style art was an odd choice that really worked int the story's favour, Bloodstone was your standard monster killing action story but its nice to see that Elza hasn't been forgotten about since Nextwave.
Savage Dragon # 148
Good old fashioned ass kicking super heroics, reminds me of Jack Staff a bit, didn't sell the character to me so much that I'd want to go out and read the collections, but it's definitely got me keeping my eye on it.
Resurrection #0
Pretty much something that looks like a future shock out of 2000ad, to hard to call on what little we're given, also the bonus Tek Jansen strip was funny, but not that funny.
OK Until next time, set Phazers to FUN!
Doing a review of a book of reviews is a bit curious to say the least, but 500' was a far too interesting collection to miss. To be fair, the title's a bit of a misnomer, the book covers 100 graphic novels (which includes Collected editions too) with each having about four other 'Further Reading' attached, but thats OK, because what we do get is well worth the cover price.
The best part about the book is the fact that it covers the broad range of the comic book spectrum, giving us the top ten of Adventure, Non-Fiction, Crime, Fantasy, General, Horror, Humour, Sci-Fi, Superheros and War, nice because we get a look outside of the Cape and tights world, but also get to look at the best of that too. The book also is indiscriminate, putting Manga and European comics side by side by Genre, when it could have easily cop'd out and given Manga its own section.
The book is an excellent cataloger of comics to keep an eye out for, and each review is good enough to let you know weather it'll be for you or not. As its primary purpose 500' completes its objective flawlessly. However, as a bit of criticism there are some curious omissions and placements which stands out a bit. Hellsing is missing, and while I've pointed out that me myself am not entirely set on it just yet, it feels a bit wrong that its not there to make up the whole “Hell” triumvirate with Hellboy and Hellblazer. Also, Heart of Empire is included, but Luther Arkwright is relegated to the 'further reading' where in my opinion it is the better of the two books. Also, things like XIII are nowhere to be seen.
Then there's classification. Sandman is in Fantasy, yet the similar Hellblazer is in horror, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is in sci-fi, yet I would more likely put it under Adventure or Fantasy, The Pro, a superhero comedy, goes in Humour, yet Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, a war comedy, goes in War. Other similar examples are abound, but don't worry, It doesn't detract from the collection, and you could put it down to the wonderful broadness of the medium. All in all its worth buying if your a big fan of comic and want to find out what you haven't read yet.
Bonus Free Comic Book Day Review
In a move unusual to me, I decided to buy a few issues of this and that, just to see what the crack is, and pick up a few issues along the way. Here's what I found:
Battle For the Cowl: The Underground
Nice to see Batman's most famous foes pottering about as usual, The Riddler's a particularly likable protagonist in this, and puts him in good graces to be a potential foe in the next film.
Deadpool #9
After the slightly disappointing turn of events that was the Wolverine film, its nice to see that Deadpool's still on top form, him and Taskmaster lusting after Black Widow like nothing else matters is particularly hilarious.
Marvel Spectacular #2
Collection of three shorts, Citizen Cage was a pretty run of the mill “superhero on his day off” story, Galacta was a curious piece and the manga style art was an odd choice that really worked int the story's favour, Bloodstone was your standard monster killing action story but its nice to see that Elza hasn't been forgotten about since Nextwave.
Savage Dragon # 148
Good old fashioned ass kicking super heroics, reminds me of Jack Staff a bit, didn't sell the character to me so much that I'd want to go out and read the collections, but it's definitely got me keeping my eye on it.
Resurrection #0
Pretty much something that looks like a future shock out of 2000ad, to hard to call on what little we're given, also the bonus Tek Jansen strip was funny, but not that funny.
OK Until next time, set Phazers to FUN!
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Quick Fire Recap: August 08 - April 09
Ok, So its been a while, I ain't done anything since summer, so to make up for it, here's quick fire reviews of all the comics I've read since Summer, which I was supposed to give you a rundown of back then, also stick around at the end for some special stuff.
Heart of Empire:
Sequel to The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, its a far more mainstream affair this time round, but the artwork is fantastic as usual, especially in vivid colour this time. Read it on an airplane making me feel slightly awkward when reading to sex scenes when there's a kid in the aisle next to you.
Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness:
Pretty good all round crossover, funny and frightening, Ash is far more likable than half the Marvel characters in the story, serves as a nice apocalyptic prequel to the first Marvel Zombies.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol 1 – 7:
Probably the best manga I've ever read, still ongoing. All the characters a likable, stand out and drive the plot, each of which is usually a clever unconventional murder mystery. The Jokes are actually funny, the art is great and not irritating or unsuited. Only one criticism and thats that the character development is rather slow, everything else is fantastic.
Batman: The Killing Joke:
Good but Short stuff from Alan Moore, nice little extra mini story by Brian Bolland in the back, worth every penny.
Marvel Zombies 2:
Far more sympathetic and whimsical than the first, still a great and interesting take on Marvel heroes, a worthy sequel.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier:
More of a “Fun Fax” than anything. Alan Moore has a great time messing around with literary characters, making it a little self indulgent. Storyline gets a bit derailed but its worth it for the 3D section at the end. Read it on an airplane making me feel slightly awkward when reading to sex scenes when there's a kid in the aisle next to you.
X-Men: Die by the Sword:
Quick story tying up all the loose ends from New Excalibur and Exiles, feels premature, characters aren't given enough room to breath, feels like your cheated out of a proper ending. Would have been greatly improved by just having the characters sitting in a pub talking about stuff. Not a great ending to Cap and Co's recent outings.
Alice in Sunderland:
Absolutely fantastic twist on the genre by Bryan Talbot. The graphic novel goes through Lewis Carol, British History and Comics in general. To say any more would be to do the work an injustice. Just get a copy and read it right away.
Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician:
Usual high standard of storytelling of Hellblazer, nice hark back to days like The Books of Magic and setting up of things to come.
Hellboy Vol 1 – 6:
Finally got round to picking up the much revered comic. Interesting, Unconventional and not what I thought it would be. Very, very clever and appeals to the part of me that likes learning things. Mignola always gives you as little more than what you usually do too.
XIII vol 1:
Finally tracked down the European comic after so long. Great old skool storytelling, a damn shame there's no plans to translate any further installments, I want to know what happens dammit!!
The Boys: Good For the Soul:
More great stuff from Ennis' Superhero satire. Keeps the high standard of dirty laughs from the previous volumes wile moving the story along nicely. More please.
Jenny Everywhere:
Open source comic book character, really fascinating idea, and real dedication from the community keeps her rolling along. Naturally some strips are lacking more than others, but its standout strips like “When Casting Calls” that really give the character a story worth telling. Contributed a story myself to the cannon, details below.
Nextwave:
Crazy awesome stuff from Warren Ellis, similar in vein to Transmetropolitan. A brilliant take on Marvels less known characters, I hope in the future there will be more to come.
Invincible: Ultimate Collection vol 1:
Fantastic postmodern take on the superhero genre. The twist on the superman origin is particularly brutal and it certainly leaves you wanting more. Nice cameos from a few characters, Ultimate Collection has a good load of extras in it too.
The Invisibles:
Grant Morrison's bizarre follow up to his surrealist take on Doom Patrol doesn't disappoint, and it certainly takes you to places no other comic series does. Brilliant characters, imaginative storytelling, mindfuck ending.
Warhammer 40'000: Fire and Honor:
Finally Boom Studios come out with an Imperial Guard story, and apart from being a little on the short side, It doesn't disappoint. The characters all act like its another day on the job, and theres some nice visual references to the 40k universe. The Tau are portrayed as being a tad unsympathetic however.
Captain Britain and MI:13: Secret Invasion:
Paul Cornell makes up for all of Clairmont's letdowns from Die By the Sword. MI:13 is a great follow up to Cornell's earlier Wisdom series and really stands out from the crowd and takes advantage of the British setting. Nice ensemble cast, has the potential to be really special in the future.
Hellsing vol 1:
Still on the fence with this English set manga, while its not stereotypically British like I expected, its certainly missing that British humor of things like Dog Soldiers and The Boys to make it stand out as convincing. Willing to give it time to breath however, Vol 1 was a little too action orientated, we'll see how it pans out in future volumes.
Sinister Dexter: Eurocrash:
Great collection of SinDex stories, Eurocrash is a fantastic crime tragedy story, a rare feat given that it originally ran in five page chapters. Mission to Mangapore lacks some of the drama but is certainly a fun ride.
Other Stuff.
Saw the Watchmen film, really enjoyed it yet can understand how its not for everyone. Half looking forward to the Wolverine film but not sure on the direction they're taking Deadpool. Been doing a lot of artwork myself, which can be found here: http://elpresedente.deviantart.com/ and contributed a Jenny Everywhere story which can be found at the bottom of the stories section here: http://theshifterarchive.com/ . Series I plan to read in the future are: Fables, Sandman, Strangers in Paradise, Strangehaven, Cable and Deadpool and Metabarons if I could find it anywhere, also exited about the new Phonogram series, which I am eagerly awaiting a collected edition of.
And I'm out, hopefully the gap between the next entry will not be as long. Cheerio!
Heart of Empire:
Sequel to The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, its a far more mainstream affair this time round, but the artwork is fantastic as usual, especially in vivid colour this time. Read it on an airplane making me feel slightly awkward when reading to sex scenes when there's a kid in the aisle next to you.
Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness:
Pretty good all round crossover, funny and frightening, Ash is far more likable than half the Marvel characters in the story, serves as a nice apocalyptic prequel to the first Marvel Zombies.
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol 1 – 7:
Probably the best manga I've ever read, still ongoing. All the characters a likable, stand out and drive the plot, each of which is usually a clever unconventional murder mystery. The Jokes are actually funny, the art is great and not irritating or unsuited. Only one criticism and thats that the character development is rather slow, everything else is fantastic.
Batman: The Killing Joke:
Good but Short stuff from Alan Moore, nice little extra mini story by Brian Bolland in the back, worth every penny.
Marvel Zombies 2:
Far more sympathetic and whimsical than the first, still a great and interesting take on Marvel heroes, a worthy sequel.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier:
More of a “Fun Fax” than anything. Alan Moore has a great time messing around with literary characters, making it a little self indulgent. Storyline gets a bit derailed but its worth it for the 3D section at the end. Read it on an airplane making me feel slightly awkward when reading to sex scenes when there's a kid in the aisle next to you.
X-Men: Die by the Sword:
Quick story tying up all the loose ends from New Excalibur and Exiles, feels premature, characters aren't given enough room to breath, feels like your cheated out of a proper ending. Would have been greatly improved by just having the characters sitting in a pub talking about stuff. Not a great ending to Cap and Co's recent outings.
Alice in Sunderland:
Absolutely fantastic twist on the genre by Bryan Talbot. The graphic novel goes through Lewis Carol, British History and Comics in general. To say any more would be to do the work an injustice. Just get a copy and read it right away.
Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician:
Usual high standard of storytelling of Hellblazer, nice hark back to days like The Books of Magic and setting up of things to come.
Hellboy Vol 1 – 6:
Finally got round to picking up the much revered comic. Interesting, Unconventional and not what I thought it would be. Very, very clever and appeals to the part of me that likes learning things. Mignola always gives you as little more than what you usually do too.
XIII vol 1:
Finally tracked down the European comic after so long. Great old skool storytelling, a damn shame there's no plans to translate any further installments, I want to know what happens dammit!!
The Boys: Good For the Soul:
More great stuff from Ennis' Superhero satire. Keeps the high standard of dirty laughs from the previous volumes wile moving the story along nicely. More please.
Jenny Everywhere:
Open source comic book character, really fascinating idea, and real dedication from the community keeps her rolling along. Naturally some strips are lacking more than others, but its standout strips like “When Casting Calls” that really give the character a story worth telling. Contributed a story myself to the cannon, details below.
Nextwave:
Crazy awesome stuff from Warren Ellis, similar in vein to Transmetropolitan. A brilliant take on Marvels less known characters, I hope in the future there will be more to come.
Invincible: Ultimate Collection vol 1:
Fantastic postmodern take on the superhero genre. The twist on the superman origin is particularly brutal and it certainly leaves you wanting more. Nice cameos from a few characters, Ultimate Collection has a good load of extras in it too.
The Invisibles:
Grant Morrison's bizarre follow up to his surrealist take on Doom Patrol doesn't disappoint, and it certainly takes you to places no other comic series does. Brilliant characters, imaginative storytelling, mindfuck ending.
Warhammer 40'000: Fire and Honor:
Finally Boom Studios come out with an Imperial Guard story, and apart from being a little on the short side, It doesn't disappoint. The characters all act like its another day on the job, and theres some nice visual references to the 40k universe. The Tau are portrayed as being a tad unsympathetic however.
Captain Britain and MI:13: Secret Invasion:
Paul Cornell makes up for all of Clairmont's letdowns from Die By the Sword. MI:13 is a great follow up to Cornell's earlier Wisdom series and really stands out from the crowd and takes advantage of the British setting. Nice ensemble cast, has the potential to be really special in the future.
Hellsing vol 1:
Still on the fence with this English set manga, while its not stereotypically British like I expected, its certainly missing that British humor of things like Dog Soldiers and The Boys to make it stand out as convincing. Willing to give it time to breath however, Vol 1 was a little too action orientated, we'll see how it pans out in future volumes.
Sinister Dexter: Eurocrash:
Great collection of SinDex stories, Eurocrash is a fantastic crime tragedy story, a rare feat given that it originally ran in five page chapters. Mission to Mangapore lacks some of the drama but is certainly a fun ride.
Other Stuff.
Saw the Watchmen film, really enjoyed it yet can understand how its not for everyone. Half looking forward to the Wolverine film but not sure on the direction they're taking Deadpool. Been doing a lot of artwork myself, which can be found here: http://elpresedente.deviantart.com/ and contributed a Jenny Everywhere story which can be found at the bottom of the stories section here: http://theshifterarchive.com/ . Series I plan to read in the future are: Fables, Sandman, Strangers in Paradise, Strangehaven, Cable and Deadpool and Metabarons if I could find it anywhere, also exited about the new Phonogram series, which I am eagerly awaiting a collected edition of.
And I'm out, hopefully the gap between the next entry will not be as long. Cheerio!
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Review: Y: The Last Man
So one day, a friend of mine who was known and respected for his high standards when it comes to films and books, and refers to Star Wars as 'fucking shite', one day is quizzing me on comics, a medium he had little experience of, and mentions in passing that he'd heard of a series called Y: The Last Man and expressed an interest to read it. Well I thought if someone with such sophistication when it comes to films is interested then it must be good. So I went off and began reading one of the best comic book series ever.
Y: The Last Man tells the story of the last two males left on the planet, a lad and his monkey and has constantly battled with other series to what my favorite comic series of all time is. The characters are well rounded, realistic, flawed and likable, the atmosphere is flexible making room for tragedy, suspense and black comedy and the story takes us on a globe trotting adventure to rival both Indiana Jones and James Bond put together (A sort of Frankenstein's monster, Jamesdiana Bones). But it wasn't till I got the final volume and read the whole series in its entirety that I realized just how good Y: The Last Man was.
Writer Brian K. Vaughan takes no sides in the story, presenting how the world would be a better and worse place without men around, and how women are both two faced beasts and grounded emotional rocks (an interesting comparison, I watched the end of Alan Bleasdale's G.B.H last night and he said something similar in the interview afterwards). The series covers a lot of ground, and I like to think I've matured a lot because of it over the last three years, I guarantee that no matter who you are there'll be some part of Y: The Last Man that really means something to you. Vaughan writes the series like a well written classic, having done a Degree in English Literature, I'm well versed in spotting all the set ups that Vaughan seeds in early volumes that lead to connotation a long time later in the series. He also throws us lost of lovely comic book and pop culture references, the best being the Preacher references and slight Manga deconstruction in a later volume.
Of course, the whole series is not without a few minor shortcomings, the glaringly obvious one for me is that the series fall foul of the 'all women are hot' syndrome. This happens all too frequently in comics and in Y: The Last Man's defense its not the worst offender, not by a long chalk, but this kind of thing almost breaks the reality bubble. Are we supposed to believe that practically every woman Yorick comes into contact with would be a stunner? Really? All his female companions, from Scientist, to Secret Agent to Russian soldier, I would not say no to. By and Large all his antagonists and even Yorick's mother aren't half bad looking. Taking into account that there's a fair few lesbian scenes the whole things starts to sound a bit like a soft porn movie, but seriously, I can't help but feel Vaughan missed a trick where he could have included a far from good looking character who could have worked as a commentary on men's idolization of perfect women. I mean really, Post Apocalyptic, All Men Dead, would you really find that many hot women in that kind of society?
Another minor niggle is that, great piece of literature the end of the series was, we seem to have been left with no real moral of what the story represents. Be it Garth Ennis' Preacher's promotion of cowboy values, or Grant Morrison's The Invisibles celebration of individuality, most comic books by and large have some kind of message to bring across. Y: The Last Man is cryptic when it comes to such a message, what it it? Women are better off without men? Women aren't better off without men? Given my previous point on the seres eye candy, is this series doing females any favors or not? At the end of the day Y: The Last Man is a great piece of entertainment, but surely all stories should strive to be more than that, to educate, pass down our values to our descendants?
Despite all that Y: The Last Man is still one of the best comics ever, and its far and away better than most of the other things on the shelf or any piece of knickers galore Manga Japan can throw at us. Whoever you are, whatever you do, go out and buy Y: The Last Man now. Right Now.
Best Panel: Too Many to choose... I'll go for....... This One:
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w251/el_presedente_nr/yscan.jpg
...What are you still doing here? Get buying
Monday, 28 July 2008
Review: Deadpool Classic: Volume 1
I've always liked the character of Deadpool, If you know even the slightest about the character then you probably know the reason why. Just the idea of a character who knows that he is within a comic book is interesting in itself, but the fact that it is within the marvel universe, with its convoluted continuity and inconstant sense of tone, is it an ultra realistic mirror view of the world with realistic guns and real life prejudices or is is it a colorful word full of quirky characters and pew pew laser guns? Deadpool tends to capitalize upon this loophole, being the absurdity to point out the absurdity, and while we don't get much of his notorious forth wall breakery in this volume, being from his early days, we still get more sarcastic nonsense than is good for us, but we lap it up anyway.
Deapool Classic Volume 1 kicks off with his first appearance in New Mutants #98. Apart from novelty value of seeing his first appearance this inclusion in the volume adds practically nothing, being a chunk out of a story arc which we never get to see the real beginning or end of. The issue sort of sets us up for The Circle Chase, but to be honest, a simple written introduction would have sufficed, or might even been an improvement.
The first proper story in the volume, The Circle Chase is a fun little romp around the lesser trodden parts of the X-Men parts of the Marvel universe. Being from the mid nineties we are constantly beset on all sides by asterisk boxes telling us that the characters are talking about something that happened in a previous issue of some series we probably don't have, and the sheer number of them is unintentionally hilarious and ironically Deapool esque, as well as being kind of nostalgic. The Circle Chase is a competent enough story giving Deapool room to motor mouth everyone he meets but the story suffers slightly from the sheer amount of references to stuff that happens in other series, 'last time we me...' 'You ruined my career...' 'didn't I kill you...', etc etc. As I said before could have been solved by some kind of written recap so we know what the characters are on about.
Next up, Sins of the Past, is a lot less bogged down, and Is genuinely entertaining as Deapool spends the entire story trying to avoid being dragged into the adventure. The inclusion of Banshee and Siryn also pleases me as I like to see my fellow countrymen get represented in the Marvel universe (Ok I'm English and their Irish, but I still consider them my countrymen) and the whole Black Tom arc came in handy because it recently came to a close in New Excalibur. As said, Deadpool's at his finest here, I can't really say anything more without spoilers.
Finally we have Issue #1 of Deadpools monthly series, this is more like it. Deadpool's at his silliest best at this point giving us action and comedy in equal measure and the issue leaves us on the brink of an ongoing arc assuring my purchase of volume 2 whenever its released. The overarching theme of this volume seems to be the whole question of what is the measure of a hero and how Deadpool isn't it, a bit like Wanted in that regard, but poor old 'pool don't get any of the good stuff.
It may not be deep, but hey, if I want deep I'll read Watchmen.
Best Panel: Its so easy even Deadpool can do it:
http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w251/el_presedente_nr/?action=view¤t=deadscan.jpg
Deapool Classic Volume 1 kicks off with his first appearance in New Mutants #98. Apart from novelty value of seeing his first appearance this inclusion in the volume adds practically nothing, being a chunk out of a story arc which we never get to see the real beginning or end of. The issue sort of sets us up for The Circle Chase, but to be honest, a simple written introduction would have sufficed, or might even been an improvement.
The first proper story in the volume, The Circle Chase is a fun little romp around the lesser trodden parts of the X-Men parts of the Marvel universe. Being from the mid nineties we are constantly beset on all sides by asterisk boxes telling us that the characters are talking about something that happened in a previous issue of some series we probably don't have, and the sheer number of them is unintentionally hilarious and ironically Deapool esque, as well as being kind of nostalgic. The Circle Chase is a competent enough story giving Deapool room to motor mouth everyone he meets but the story suffers slightly from the sheer amount of references to stuff that happens in other series, 'last time we me...' 'You ruined my career...' 'didn't I kill you...', etc etc. As I said before could have been solved by some kind of written recap so we know what the characters are on about.
Next up, Sins of the Past, is a lot less bogged down, and Is genuinely entertaining as Deapool spends the entire story trying to avoid being dragged into the adventure. The inclusion of Banshee and Siryn also pleases me as I like to see my fellow countrymen get represented in the Marvel universe (Ok I'm English and their Irish, but I still consider them my countrymen) and the whole Black Tom arc came in handy because it recently came to a close in New Excalibur. As said, Deadpool's at his finest here, I can't really say anything more without spoilers.
Finally we have Issue #1 of Deadpools monthly series, this is more like it. Deadpool's at his silliest best at this point giving us action and comedy in equal measure and the issue leaves us on the brink of an ongoing arc assuring my purchase of volume 2 whenever its released. The overarching theme of this volume seems to be the whole question of what is the measure of a hero and how Deadpool isn't it, a bit like Wanted in that regard, but poor old 'pool don't get any of the good stuff.
It may not be deep, but hey, if I want deep I'll read Watchmen.
Best Panel: Its so easy even Deadpool can do it:
http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w251/el_presedente_nr/?action=view¤t=deadscan.jpg
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