Julian Hazeldine on 
MisterSmith on 
Ian Symes on 
Noriko Takaya on The Sunday Pages #27
by James Hunt ~ September 21st, 2008
This week marks the start of the new Sunday Pages format, incorporating capsule reviews alongside news tidbits. Since Julian’s now joining us, you can identify his contributions by the initials [JHa] and mine by [JHu], while Seb , obviously, gets to keep the more concise [SP]. We’re still feeling out the specifics, so be sure to let us know how you’re finding it, and whether or not you think it could be improved! Look inside for mini-reviews of Action Comics #869, Amazing Spider-Man #572, Greatest Hits #1 and X-Factor #35, as well as some discussion of Neil Gaiman’s reaction to the new Hitchiker’s Guide book.
Review: Action Comics #869
Renewing focus on the bottle city of Kandor (presumably in readiness for an upcoming storyline that will see thousands of Kryptonians unleashed upon Earth - yeah, that doesn’t dilute the impact of Superman’s existence at all), Geoff Johns plays a quite startling continuity twist on a major character, leaving you wondering exactly where he plans to take it (and how he’ll maintain said character’s relevance). Other than that, the same type of Brainiac story we’ve seen countless times before rolls on in the least interesting issue of the arc so far. Gary Frank’s art is still solid, and his Reeve-esque Superman excellent - but he doesn’t get Supergirl right at all. Oh, and despite the fact that an obviously-imminent event is majorly foreshadowed by the issue’s cover, nothing of the sort actually happens within its pages. Sloppy. [SP]
Review: Amazing Spider-Man #572
In the fifth part of “New Ways to Die” Slott and Romita Jr. give us a rare Spider-Man/Bullseye fight, perfectly executed by all involved, which alone makes the issue worth the price. Both creators aren’t entirely at their best, though, and in a rare slip-up, Romita Jr. spectacularly fails to get a grip on the character design of Freak (whose depiction would be unrecognisable, were he not explicitly named on the page) while Slott ends the book on a cliffhanger only a mother could love. A symbiote-wearing Mac Gargan back in the Scorpion costume? It sounds only half as ridiculous as it ends up looking. It’s unusual to see two usually-dependable creators tripping up in this issue, but even taking that into account, the scale and pace of action should mean that the storyline comes out a winner overall. [JHu]
Review: Greatest Hits #1
Promising start to this Vertigo miniseries about a team of British celebrity superheroes in the ’60s, its narrative jumping between “then” and “now”. Writer David Tischman’s conceit is hardly the most original thing in the world - it’s a bit X-Statix, a bit Authority, a bit MI:13and a bit various other things as well - but it’s entertaining enough. Glenn Fabry, meanwhile, is really starting to come into his own on internal art (having spent years as one of the industry’s foremost cover painters), and here he’s arguably the best he’s ever been. Hard to see exactly where it’s going just yet, but seems worth finding out. [SP]
Review: X-Factor #35
Another reasonable issue, with a welcome return of Madrox’s “rogue duplicate” plotline. However, the book continues to be let down by Larry Stoman providing some of the worst art in an X-title since Igor Kordey was having to draw an issue a week of New X-Men. I’m having to rely on the colouring not just to differentiate between characters, but to tell what gender they are… [JHa]
News: Gaiman’s reaction to 6th Hitchiker’s novel
As a big fan of the Hitchiker’s Guide books, I was fairly upset at the idea of someone who isn’t Douglas Adams writing a new one - especially since there are a few other choices who I think would’ve been far more legitimate than the guy who wrote Artemis Fowl. One of those people would’ve been Neil Gaiman, who acted as both friend and biographer to Douglas Adams. Gaiman has responded directly to the idea of a new Guide book on his journal, stating:
Douglas asked me if I’d like to adapt Life, The Universe and Everythingfor radio I said no, and that was with Douglas alive and asking. (Dirk Maggs did it, and did an excellent job.) It seemed a thankless task.
Which clears up that idea. “Thankless” is right, though. We can’t know how Adams would’ve felt about having someone else write another Hitchiker’s book, but as the target audience, I know I feel pretty damn despondant about it. Without Adams’ involvement, you have to wonder what, exactly, the point of it is. Hitchiker’s guide was never about the characters - always about Adams. [JHu]
News : Quitely, Grant x 2 and Haward at Forbidden Planet London
Those of you who are around London this coming Saturday, 27th September could do a lot worse than making your way over to Forbidden Planet, Shaftesbury Avenue for 1pm. Uber-artist Frank Quitely rarely seems to make public appearances, so this is a fantastic opportunity to meet and greet the man described by this very site as “the singular greatest artistic talent currently working in the industry”. He’s there with Alan Grant, Jamie Grant and Jon Haward, signing copies of Wasted, their new Scottish drug-themed adult humour anthology comic. And although I don’t know what FP’s policy on signed items will be, even if they don’t let you get your All Star Supermans and We3s signed, Wasted itself is only £3.25, so it’s no great hardship. And hey, if you pop along, you may even find yourself bumping into one or all of the Comics Daily team, which is even more exciting! [SP]
Shameless Plugging : NTS, Den of Geek…
Since we haven’t done a “proper” Sunday Pages for a few weeks, I’ve missed the chance to give a hearty old plug to my new monthly comics column on the relaunched Noise to Signal. If there are any longer-term readers of my reviews out there, they may remember that “Panel Beating” was the name I originally used for my first comics review column. Well, much as with James over at Den of Geek, I liked the pun so much I’ve decided to keep it for a new generation of monthly columns in which I’ll spout forth on whatever comics-related subjects - topical or otherwise - take my fancy. The first column after the relaunch is, appropriately enough, about the history of “relaunch issues”. Meanwhile, speaking of James, following a brief holiday he’s returned triumphantly to Alternate Cover, with columns on digital comics and the rubbishness of Absolute Black Dossier… [SP]
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September 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE SERIES:
How exactly are they planning to write another HG book? With every character dying, and all in Earths in the “Whole Sort of General Mish Mash” being destroyed, where could the story possibly go?