Daxam fights back....

Wow....

There are great moments and then there are great moments. GL Corps really blew me away this month. The current arc, Emerald Eclipse, concludes next month and this issue in particular (#37) is a joy to read.

There are great moments in any medium, there are those great mind boggling, horizon broadening, plot twist moments that suddenly have you re-examining everything that you've just read. There are also those slightly more simple guilty pleasure moments, I'm going to call them the 'Helm's Deep' moments. That moment when Gandalf rides to the rescue at dawn, or in the movie when the elves come to help (I don't care what anyone says I love that addition), those are moments that make you smile uncontrollably.

This issue of GL Corps has one of those.

So how does Daxam throw off the yoke of slavery that the Sinestro Corps have so recently imposed upon them? Well.......... GL Sodam Yat a Daxamite himself is alerted to the plight of his people and rushes across the galaxy to their rescue headfirst, all half-cocked, into insurmountable odds. He can't do anything, there's no way, you think. He then flies into Daxam's red sun releasing all of his energy, nobly scarifying himself, to reignite the sun, turning it into a yellow sun. Great you say, he's reignited the sun to give his soon to be lifeless planet a few hundred thousand years more, way to play the long game GL Yat you think.

Except that a yellow sun suddenly gives every Daxamite Superman-esque powers, they start floating and shooting lasers from their eyes. It's just bloody brilliant stuff.

Before you ask, yes I have been smiling uncontrollably since I read it and giving myself silent high-fives. I now can't wait for next months issue, and isn't that what it's supposed to be all about?

The Courtyard

Alan Moore does some Lovecraftian horror in this two issue collection.

I know it's a cliche and I really don't say it very often, but books like this are why I read comics. There I've said it now. It's utterly brilliant, I keep thumbing through it as I write this, remembering not only the pleasure I took reading it but the incredible feeling of foreboding that pervades every page. It really is wonderfully crafted psychological horror.

It's only two issues in length but there isn't a single wasted page and you're enveloped completely and utterly in Moore's creation from the very first page. It's much like being told a story under the duvet by torchlight. Even considering the relative brevity of the collection it tells a wonderfully complete story, one that feels whole and leaves you incredibly satisfied. That's not to say that I couldn't read more, I'd happily read stories like this by Moore from now until Cthulu actually rises.

I won't give away much of the plot but it revolves around an undercover agent trying to get to the bottom of some rather gruesome, and seemingly related, murders. The ending you see coming pretty much from the second page but it's handled so unbelievably well that it still provides that all important payoff. The last few pages are outrageously creepy, then much like at the end of a story under the duvet, the light goes out and you're expected to return to the real world as if nothing had happened.

Les Aventures de Tintin

In my continuing quest to discover the reason for writers disenchantment with Dr Banner I turn to this guy. If anyone could solve the mystery it'd be Tintin.

The story of Tintin says a lot about the world of comics. Tintin is a megastar in mainland Europe, a cult hero in Britain, and a nobody in America.

The truth is that Tintin is a peculiarly European creation, he can be, and has been, modified to be of any nationality, or none, he is a true 'international' (although I've always hated people who describe themselves as such). Tintin is also not confined by borders nor is he imbued with any superpowers, rather an inquisitive mind and a good helping of luck. Tintin is the essence of the everyman, and the antithesis of everything American comics stand for.

America, and American comics, have always been obsessed with the superman, Tintin never really stood a chance. It's still incredibly puzzling to any European that Tintin isn't loved in America, never mind almost entirely unread, but it is understandable. Also, returning to the idea of borders, the heroes of the DC and Marvel universes are generally confined to quite strict borders, Gotham, New York, Canadian woods. Sometimes, in fairness, those borders have a cylindrical nature, so for instance Coastal City... and space, Westchester... and space. In general though the confines of the superheroes are in complete opposition to how Tintin is portrayed.

One final point is what Tintin says about these shores, Britain, as I said he is a cult hero here, not as overwhelmingly popular as on mainland Europe but still loved. The answer is that Britain sits somewhere between the two great continents, smugly aloof, picking and choosing what we will from both cultures. The everyman is loved, the Superhero is loved, and we have no real interest in picking between the two.

My conclusion, I would say, is that if the Hulk had been a European creation the book would probably be entitled 'Dr. Banner' (he probably wouldn't have been a Bruce either, though David would work), but in the American comic book world if Tintin didn't stand a chance then probably neither did Banner.

Let's not be overly pessimistic though, I've noticed more and more humanisation of characters in comic books over the last few years, and more and more real world events slowly creeping in. So perhaps in the near future Tintin and Bruce Banner will be able to skip through the pages of American comics together.... too much? I thought so.

Why does everyone hate Bruce Banner?

Anyone who wears purple trousers to work is OK with me. Most Hulk writers however don't seem to think that a purple trouser wearing, hyper-intelligent, nuclear physicist with the greatest glasses in history makes particularly good reading or writing material these days.

The first thing I want to mention is that the Ultimates are the shining exception to this rule. Millar, as usual, seems to know exactly what I want to read. Loeb, on the other hand, has thus far disappointed me greatly.

Loeb seems to divide opinion more than pretty much any other writer in the comic world. The Long Halloween is both loved and loathed in equal measure. Some consider it a great example of crime fiction, others are of the opinion that Loeb didn't have a clue what he was doing. For my part I don't consider it to be a particularly good murder mystery but do think it's still an excellently written piece of work, and no matter your own personal opinion it's fair to say that Loeb considers murder mystery in comic book form to be his forte.

It's not particularly surprising that Loeb made Hulk big dumb fun, as that's how most people seem to treat him... but I'm still disappointed. He could easily have swung the other way and made this a slightly more cerebral run than the Hulk is used to, with of course the hyper-intelligent Dr. Banner showing us a new side more akin to Ichabod Crane... well a man can dream can't he? I mean Rulk is an unknown, Gamma infused, killing machine and well I think it's fair to say that Banner is the world's leading authority on all things Gamma, so 2 + 2 = ?

It's not like it's just Loeb though, during the entire Planet Hulk/World War Hulk run the good Doctor is no more than an inconvenience to the storyline. Now don't get me wrong I adore both Planet Hulk and WWH, and entirely understand why those stories kept the Hulk's alter ego at a distance, but that amounts to roughly 20 issues and almost two years worth of Hulk stories with little or no sign of one half of our protagonist.

If we go back further to the PAD days, undoubtedly one of the finest runs in Hulk history, Bruce Banner didn't really exist. The smart green Hulk was more of an amalgamation of the two personalities rather than being truly Bruce Banner.

Recently I read one commentators view that he/she was sick of the old Jekyll and Hyde cliche, and was actually fairly dismissive of the whole idea. I think it's fair to say that that particular view is not an unusual one, but sometimes I wonder if these people have ever actually read the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Firstly, it's written from the perspective of a friend of Jekyll's concerned about his recent strange behaviour, and leaves Mr Hyde as a shadowy mostly unseen character. Secondly, although Hyde gives the book its flair the real interest is in the slow and painful decline of Jekyll. Thirdly, and most salient in this case, the enjoyment is gleaned from the mystery surrounding the whole affair. It is after all entitled 'The Case' of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Then again as time passes in the novella Mr Hyde becomes more and more powerful, with Dr Jekyll spending less and less time as himself. So perhaps the Hulk is following it's inspiration fairly closely after all.

Red Hulk

Red Hulk is a bit of a curious fish. I enjoyed this collection of the first 6 issues, for the 20 minutes it took me to read them, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's particularly good. I held off buying the first issue when it came out as I intended to sign up to a 12 issue subscription. In the end the collapse of the free world and obliteration of the pound meant I didn't bother, and so I finally got my teeth into them with this collection.

So far as mild distraction or entertainment goes I'm not a difficult person to please, so I'd definitely say that Hulk is big, silly, and fun while it lasts. The main positive I'd mention is quite simply that I like Rulk. Hulk is one of those characters that it's difficult to find a suitable adversary for but Rulk definitely fits the bill. I love the positively brutish gun that Rulk uses. There are also plenty of Marvel cameos for your viewing pleasure, many of them feel unnecessary and slightly rushed but I think they work in the context of this particular book.

There's also plenty not to like. I don't enjoy the artwork, everyone looks like they've taken a double batch of steroids by accident. I don't enjoy the crippling lack of dialogue, even though it is enough to move the story along at a satisfactory pace.

I'm going to leave Loeb and the murder mystery element out of this post as I'm going to discuss it in more detail in the next post but let's simply say that it's a stretch to consider this book a whodunit.

The Hulk collector inside of me still wants to own all of these issues and if I can get them cheap I'll probably pick them up eventually. However, I baulk at the idea of paying Marvels new improved cover price for the 7 lines of dialogue that seem to make it into each issue. I'll continue to read this run but only in collection like this one.

On a final note, this collection is almost worth it just to read the little cartoons at the back written by Audrey Loeb, Hulk Splash is a particular favourite!

The Troyjan War

Incredible Hulk issues 413-416.

In this four-parter by PAD the Hulk goes head to head against the whole Troyjan empire! The Troyjans are an ape like alien race that you don't see much of these days. The Troyjan prince Trauma comes to earth to claim Atalanta (one of Bruce's mates) for his bride. This starts a rip roaring 4 issue trek through space with some notable cameos along the way, the Silver Surfer is a particularly welcome addition.

Besides the generally great storyline the main interest comes in the recurrence of Dr Banners old bugbear, rage. At this point in the series Bruce Banner is in control but with the Hulk's body, this story starts to show the cracks in this particular arrangement. The story begins with Bruce on the good Dr Samson's couch receiving a dose of head shrinking. Samson points out that even though the Hulk is for all intents and purposes gone, Bruce still resorts to violence to solve all his problems. Once Atalanta is spirited off by Trauma the good Dr Banner becomes very, very, mad. His rage eventually leads him to kill Trauma, this could have been handled rather flippantly, I mean Trauma is the bad guy after all. However it's handled rather better than that, upon Trauma's death his father, Armageddon, is overcome with grief and simply lets our heroes go. Bruce also sees exactly where his rage led him and tries to offer condolences to Armageddon, but to no avail, in a somber and very fitting final scene.

I think it's definitely fair to say that there's a fair amount of Planet Hulk in this series, PAD came up with all the good ideas first.

Green Lantern Corps #36

So the Sciencells beneath OA have just been emptied of the greatest scum in the universe. I had assumed this issue would be big, silly, and fun, the front of the issue even has the word 'Riot' in large red letters. I wouldn't have minded big, silly, and fun, but actually this issue provides much, much more. I think in fact that this could be my favourite issue to date, there are three separate, very different plot lines that add up to an absolutely cracking issue. There's a wonderful sequence with Sinestro, who just seems to get better and better as a villain. There's the riot itself, which is a blitzkrieg on the senses, and there's a classic David and Goliath encounter between Mongol and Sodam Yat.

Phwoar.

You could certainly be forgiven for thinking that this title would be Green Lantern's poor relative but I just can't stop reading it and long may it continue.

Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #5

I'm really enjoying this series. Damon Lindelof is one of the guys who writes Lost, which I must say I 'lost' (pun intended) interest in about halfway through the second season. This Ultimate series is written much like an episode of Lost with flashbacks and non-sequential story telling the order of the day, and I must say that it really works.

The premise you can probably guess from the title. Nick Fury sends Wolverine in all half-cocked to finish the job that a nuke to the face couldn't and kill the Hulk. The first thing to be said is that the story fits in rather snugly between Banner being executed aboard the aircraft carrier and his dramatic (and bloody brilliant) return in Ultimates 2.

I'm very much enjoying the way the Hulk/Banner character is being written, it's not anything ground-breaking. Hulk/Banner seems to have everything under control resulting in a Hulk with Banners intellect, although which one of them is in the driving seat is open for debate. That is of course until one of those pesky rages. As I said it's not ground-breaking but it's how I like the Hulk to be written.

The series deserves particular plaudits for the outrageous punishment handed out to poor old Wolverine and I can't wait for the final issue.

Green Lantern #40

Every Green Lantern comic for the last few months has had 'Prelude to Blackest Night' plastered across the top. You may therefore think that these issues are an irrelevant lead in to the main event, but how wrong you'd be. Green Lantern is fantastically written, an incredibly consistent comic from issue to issue. This one is definitely no exception, the entire corps head out to the Vega system to deal with Agent Orange the wonderfully malevolent, and gollum-esque, devourer of power rings that you see pictured here. It's all incredibly high octane stuff from start to finish.

Geoff Johns manages to pull off slightly outrageous Sci-Fi without at any point seeming cheesy. It's a comic that always has you begging for more at the end of each issue and long may it continue.

Dark Avengers #4

This is a rather average issue.

The Dark Avengers bring their 4 issue fight with Morgana Le Fey to a rather dull conclusion, really not much of anything happens in this issue. If you're not familiar with the premise of Dark Avengers, Norman Osborn is made the new director of Shield in the aftermath of the Secret Invasion. His first action is to disband the current Avengers and put together a new team made up of some of the Marvel Universe's shadier characters, Venom, Bullseye, Osborn, et al. With Dark Avengers I therefore feel the writers have a bit a fresh slate to create something new and interesting with these characters. Unfortunately so far most of the emphasis has been placed on the characters that most of us already know plenty about and I really want to read more about the others that have thus far been very much in the background. I'm definitely going to continue reading this series but hopefully the next story arc will engage me slightly more than this one has.

On a definite plus note the Sentry's tortured storyline has thus far been great and looks to be a real highlight of the series.

N-Zone

It required the recommendation a friend whose opinion I trusted before I began delving into Ultimate Fantastic Four. This is because, let's be honest, the Fantastic Four are a bit rubs, and even though, yes, I love Warren Ellis and Mark Miller I still couldn't quite bring myself to read it. As it turns out I'm pleased to have been proven incorrect in my assumptions! The fantastic Four themselves still have some of the worst super powers ever, there's no way round that, but Millar and Ellis make it work and the stories are a bloody brilliant read.

Issues 13-18, written by Ellis, are to date my favourite story arc. Reed plans a trip back to the titular N-Zone, the alternate dimension that gave them rubbish super powers in the first place. The N-Zone is a brilliantly created piece of Science Fiction, an unsettling dying universe populated by the desperate remnants of intelligent life. The Four do a spot of sight seeing before happening upon a space station huddled close to a dying star for warmth. It is here that our heros meet the wonderfully creepy Nihil, an ancient creature not quite ready to join his universe in its death throws. Needless to say, it all kicks off.

A genuinely unexpected story arc and all the more brilliant for it. Cracking Stuff.

FCBD

It's free comic book day tomorrow and Blackest Night #0 has definitely caught my eye. I'm a bit of a Green Lantern fan, it's space opera at its finest, and I'm really looking forward to the Blackest Night series. This issue promises to be a direct run in to Blackest Night #1, which in itself is rather exciting and probably an excellent marketing ploy by DC. It also, quite brilliantly, includes a guide to the entire spectrum of corps that you should expect to find in Blackest Night. There was a simpler time when lanterns of the green variety where the only ones you needed to be aware of, but there are now corps of pretty much every colour you can think of, each with their own nuances, allegiances, and aims. So if you're planning to read Blackest Night this summer but don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Green Lantern mythos this looks to be an excellent introduction.

My excitement is palpable..... but unfortunately I'm needed at the fish factory tomorow and at the moment still don't see anyway of actually being able to make it to the comic book store. If I just had a power ring of my own I could leave a suitable copy of myself at my desk like in Emerald Dawn II....

Ultimate Human

My love of the Hulk really started with the excellent 90's cartoon series and slightly more hazily the Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby days and this story conjures up warm memories of both those series. This story collects all 4 issues of Ultimate Human and starts with a haunted Bruce coming in desperation to Tony Stark for a possible cure to his quite literal inner monster, and it even has that glorious finite feeling that each episode of the above TV series have, with the Hulk bouncing away at the end to who knows where.... I also love Hulk stories that play up the dichotomy of Banner and Hulk and that's why I love the Ultimate incarnation of Hulk, with the weasely Bruce Banner in direct opposition to the truly monstrous Hulk.

This story is of course not all about the Hulk and Warren Ellis writes a bloody good Tony Stark, smooth, suave, funny, and again wonderfully different from the quite pathetic Banner. The third star in this story is Ellis' brilliant re-interpretation of the Leader. In this version the leader is one of Britain's finest, an MI6 agent who believes so strongly that Britain should have its own super soldier program and so desperate for quick results to prove this premise to his superiors that he tests the serum on himself. The British government is swaying more towards a European super soldier program, which would no doubt be exceedingly close to the mark. Upon application of the serum he still has the massive head you'd expect but his body is unable to support it and so he's wheelchair bound. Desperate to now get his hands on a working sample of super soldier serum he decides to get himself some Hulk blood. I really can't overstate how great the leader and his back story is. Anyway I won't drop any spoilers but needless to say all hell ensues as expected, and it definitely doesn't disappoint.

A massive two flippers up.

Viking #1

I have a masters in Medieval History from the university of Antarctica, and have a particular passion for the Viking Age..... so it's fair to say that I was eagerly awaiting this series.

The cover certainly beats most issues on the shelves this week, and I'm very pleased to say that the artwork inside is, if you can excuse the pun, top drawer. It's wider than standard modern age comics and each two page spread is a glorious feast for the eyes (it's also refreshingly free of adverts).

As for the content... it left me wanting more, but not necessarily in a good way. There's not much here, the briefest introduction of what I assume will be the main characters. The two protagonists on the front cover are Egil and Finn and they would appear to trying to set themselves up and the new bad-boys in town, but this issue is very light on story.

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and pick up the second issue, but it'll have a lot of work to do to make me interested enough in these characters to keep reading.

Hulk hands.

Hulk hands.... a necessity for the penguin about town.

383

I love this cover, so much so I have it framed in my room, so it seemed like as good a start as any to The Sakaarian. The issue itself is fairly mediocre, a classic transitional story that shouldn't really be read on its own, out of context. It's a shame really since the fight with the Abomination is set up quite nicely, Emil is stalking his actress former wife and the Hulk is sent in to deal with his old foe. The actual confrontation of Hulk and Abomination is a bit of a let down (The issue after this one however more than makes up for it!).

In other events Betty goes blond in preparation for the nineties, while trying to come to terms with the new look Bruce Banner (At this point we have Bruce in control but with the Hulk's body). Some of the best moments in the PAD/Keown run happen in the side-stories about Betty and Marlo, leading up to Marlo's genuinely shocking death in issue 398, they give the run a grounding in real-life that is so often lost in superhero comics.

It's an issue I'd love to re-write as a self-contained, one-shot, 30's style detective story. That's always the idea I get when I look at this cover.