This week, all the usual suspects: Scud, Buffy, and discussion of the latest Scott Pilgrim news. Finally, they say no news is good news - in which case, good news for comics! Continue reading »

As is traditional, we’re going to take be taking the Good Friday/Easter Monday holidays off for a well-deserved rest. Regular service will resume on Tuesday, though check back on Sunday for the regular Sunday Pages news/commentary/speculation roundup! I was going to post an easter-related comics picture, but they’re surprisingly hard to find. Still, the thought was there.

Thor currently has an incredibly bizarre position. After going through Ragnarok and disappearing from the Marvel Universe altogether in 2004, he had a faked-out return during Civil War and eventually came back properly in Thor (Volume 3) #1 in 2007, written by Straczynski. Since then, he hasn’t appeared outside his own title, and I kind of felt like maybe the relaunch was sort of under the radar.

Not so. In February 2008, Thor #6 was the number FOUR best-selling comic in the industry. Wrap your noodle around that one. Number FOUR. Beating Ultimates V3 #3 (thankfully) and Frank Millar’s Batman. Beating the debut of Millar and Hitch on Fantastic Four. Beating two of three Spider-Man: Brand New Day issues released that month. This, with the SIXTH issue of his title.

So, as you can imagine, it seemed like it was worth giving Thor a try.

And I have to admit… I’m impressed. Perhaps I had low expectations because most of the time, I don’t like Straczynski’s writing. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve got no specific interest in Thor. Perhaps it’s just Djurdjevic’s amazing artwork. Whatever the reason, this was easily the best issue of Thor that I’ve ever read, which is admittedly, not a huge number.

The plot of Thor’s new title is centred around Thor rebuilding Asgard following Ragnarok, and recovering the fallen gods. He’s the current Lord of Asgard, and claims that he can’t bring Odin back because Odin died before Ragnarok. In this issue, we learn that, this is pretty much a lie - Thor just doesn’t want to bring Odin back. Conversing with Thor in a sort of mystical beyond-the-grave dream-time, Odin tells Thor why this is, and relates the story of how he came to succeed his own father as Lord of Asgard in much the same way in a story that frankly threatens to make Odin more interesting than Thor.

I don’t know how much of Straczynski’s Norse mythology is made up and how much is Marvel’s (or Straczynski’s) take, but Odin’s story is a fantastic use of the book’s unique position. Northlanders might be showing street-level Norsemen brilliantly, but Marvel has the gods side of it stiched up. Djurdjevic’s interiors are amazing, grimy and cold and exactly like you’d expect Asgard and Norway to look - it’s frankly criminal that he’s been churning out nothing but Daredevil covers for ages now.

There are some of JMS’ idiosyncracies present that grate a little, and I can’t help but feel that a talking Raven is a little too cribbed from Sandman. While I’m still unsure how interested I am in a Thor ongoing, this one issue has at least convinced me that I could easily enjoy it. I may well be back next issue.

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue at random, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

A step into the slightly more recent past for this one – but hey, there’s only so often you can look at early ‘90s DC crossover madness, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to face Armageddon 2001 #2 this week (soon, though – you have been warned). So instead, let’s hop over to a tiny, struggling independent publisher called 88mph Studios (a name which, if you’re any kind of geek, should tell you everything you need to know about their intentions), and the first issue of a rather excellent little miniseries from four years ago – Ghostbusters : Legion.

The series puts something of a twist on the continuity of the movies – it’s designed as a continuation of the first film (ignoring the second in Superman Returns-esque fashion), taking place six months afterwards – but as if that film had happened in 2004 rather than 1984. It takes a little getting used to the fact that the characters who’ve only recently battled Gozer are now living in a world of mobile phones and internet, but once you get over that hurdle, it works rather well, and avoids any awkward anachronisms.

Where it really succeeds – surprisingly, perhaps, for a comic – is in maintaining the comedic tone of the films, rather than slipping into the more straightforward and earnest sci-fi of the cartoon series. There are genuinely funny gags, and the broad strokes of character as established in the film – Peter the slick charmer, Ray the earnest do-gooder, Egon living in his own bonkers world – are present and correct. It picks up on various subplot elements, too - Janine growing ever-more-desperate in her attempts to catch Egon’s attention (even down to a specific reference to his one-time fungi-collecting hobby), and Louis Tully still obsessing over Dana. Tully, in fact, represents perhaps the biggest departure from the original movie, in that he’s made the most of the fame brought upon by his involvement with the Ghostbusters, and become an overnight “geek superstar”. I’m not convinced it entirely works - it doesn’t square at all with his portrayal in the film - but it at least makes for a good visual gag with the “Keymaster Cologne” advertising hoardings.

Just as assured as Andrew Dabb’s writing is the art, by Steve Kurth. It’s a quite vibrant, slightly cartoony style - fairly reminiscent of Todd Nauck, as it happens, although it is a little loose and sketchy in places. Presumably for licensing reasons, there are no recognisable actor likenesses (except for on the variant covers by Dan Brereton) - but this actually works quite well, placing them somewhere between the Real Ghostbusters versions (there’s actually a nod to that in issue #2) and their film counterparts; although of all of them, it’s Ray whose redesign convinces the least, looking perhaps a bit too much like Matt LeBlanc as opposed to a character that could ever have been played by Dan Aykroyd.

It’s a shame that crippling delays and financial troubles put paid to anything further than the initial four-issue run (since we try not to do “industry drama” in our reviews, we won’t go into the story of what happened to 88mph, not least because there are conflicting reports and accusations flying around), as there’s definite potential here for a proper and worthy new entry into the franchise’s canon. Just like the movie, it’s a well-judged balance of action and character humour, and it pays due respect to all previous incarnations (well, except for Ghostbusters II, I suppose). It’s not earth-shatteringly brilliant work, but it’s an entertaining read, and if you’re a fan of the films, you should certainly enjoy it. The individual issues can still be found kicking around, and there was a simple trade collection put out by Titan here in the UK - it’s definitely worth a look.

Mighty Avengers, (or as CBR review jokester Hannibal Tabu would put it, the Republican Avengers) has, unlike it’s sister-comic, been largely staying out of crossovers-ville. There was that ill-advised tie-in with New Avengers, and we’re getting frequent skrull references, but with regards to the actual plot of the issues, it’s well out of the territory where you need to read oter comics to get what’s going on. In fact, it’s quite clearly become Bendis’ way of proving that he can write traditional, old-school Avengers comics. After the last two issues, well, I’m convinced.

After travelling back in time last issue, Doom, Iron Man and The Sentry struggle to get back to the present without screwing up the timeline. They eventually realise the Sentry can do pretty much anything he wants because eventually, everyone’s going to forget he exists anyway, so they get him to beat up Ben Grimm and get them into Doom’s time machine, which is being kept safe in the Baxter Building, and make it back to the present just to find out that Doom has double-crossed them as he disappears and blows up his own castle. It’s littered with satisfying moments - Doom’s explanation of why Reed has a time machine (”He took it from me.”), Doom using his sorcery against the Sentry, and Bob softly apologising to the Thing shortly before he has to beat him up.

Bagley draws the issue so brilliantly that it’s going to make any die-hard Marvel fan wince at the thought that he’s leaving for DC. His pencils have always had a somewhat retro-feel, and look utterly amazing, coloured with old-style Ben-day dots. The retro take even extends beyond the artwork, with faux-distressing on the page and old in-house adverts in the margins. Once the team’s in the present, it all snaps back to reality. It’s a real comics afficiando’s dream of an issue.

In fact, between recent Mighty Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man, it’s like someone, somewhere appears to have realised that pacing a comic for the trade is just one way of doing it. Could the shift back towards satisfying, single-issue stories be happening right now? Either way, this month’s Mighty Avengers is a ridiculously fun comic, conntrasting well with the current depressive state of the New Avengers title.

It’s not often I talk about covers, but then it’s not often that I enjoy a cover concept I have on Fantastic Four. The tagline for the title has been “the world’s greatest comic magazine” for years. Now it actually looks like a magazine - a celebrity lifestyle magazine at that, with the story events trailed as headlines. It’s not like similar things haven’t been done, but F4 is certainly doing the most modern take on the concept, and nicely plays up the Four’s status as celebrity superheroes which is an aspect of the characters that’s almost unique in the Marvel universe.

As you might expect, putting Millar and Hitch on the Fantastic Four means that it’s got undeniably shades of the (real, not Loeb) Ultimates running throughout it. That said, Millar appears to be trying something new. Instead of the damaged, dark look at superheroes, Millar is trying to beat Grant Morrison at his own game, revealing a concept so crazy that the last place I saw it was an episode of Pinky and the Brain. Reed’s ex-girlfriend, the Claremont-created Alyssa Moy (making a welcome return) has been building… a replacement Earth. A 1:1 scale model of our own planet, ready to evacuate humanity to. Now, leaving aside the science of this - surely, if they can build a new Earth, they could repair our own - it looks like there are going to be some amazingly big ideas coming out of Millar’s run. A substantial portion of the issue is devoted to merely discussing the specifics of how such an evacuation might be made to go smoothly - maybe this discussion is telegraphing later plot points, maybe not - it works because it’s simply an interesting read in itself.

While Ben warns Reed about letting Alyssa get to him too much, Johnny is meanwhile having his own women problems, getting rather too close for comfort with a new super-villainess. Johnny’s girlfriends have often provided brilliant source material for F4 stories, and this one looks like it’ll be no exception. I’m not even clear on her powers or name yet, but I’m already interested in who she is, and it’s always a good feeling when someone creates a new character that doesn’t seem tedious.

Hitch’s art is, as ever, nothing short of amazing. Although I find myself disliking his specific character designs for Reed, Johnny and Sue, the detail and storytelling is spectacular. It’s not quite as fresh as it was when he came to the Ultimates, but it’ll never be disappointing. Few artists can carry a double-page spread well, but Hitch is one of them.

The only problem I have with the issue is that Sue isn’t even in it. Admittedly, you can’t always cram every character into an issue of Fantastic Four, but it feels a lot more like it’s being paced for the trade, which given Millar’s insistance that it won’t be collected for at least 18 months, is a bit self-defeating… Still, it’s top-quality comics, as if that was ever in doubt. Millar’s F4 is a refreshing take on the characters, playing down the superheroics in favour of the fantastic. A must-buy.