Eternals 2 & 3
Two of comicdoms heavy hitters, Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. take a stab at updating the old Jack Kirby cosmic heroes. Set on the fringes of the Superhero Registration Act with the Eternals living as normal humans, having no memory of who they really are and what powers they possess. With issue three, the series really starts to hit it's stride as we learn of a rebel Celestial (the beings who manipulated life on earth and created the Eternals) buried deep in the earth. Gaiman seems to be enjoying himself playing with Marvel's toys (Iron Man makes a guest appearance) and handles the biblical allusions (the rebel Celestial clearly represents Satan) expertly. I've watched John Romita Jr. grow as an artist from his early days on Iron Man through his work on Spider-Man and Daredevil, discovering his own unique style along the way. His work is now instantly recognisable, something few artists can claim these days. He's one of the artists whose name on a book will get me to buy it and his work here is up to his usual high standard.
The Exterminators 7 & 8
This series about the employees of the pest extermination company Bug Bee Gone started out great but after the initial six issue story arc (now collected as The Exterminators: Bug Brothers ) it seems to have lost its way. There is far too much time spent on the main character's love life and not enough on the gross but blackly comic exploits of the freaky workers. Issue eight lacks even the pleasure of Tony Moore's wonderful pencils with fill in artist Chris Samnee not in the same league.
Fantastic Four 539
J.M. Straczynski now has control of another of Marvel's biggest titles and what's he doing with it? Pulling the team apart. Well, it's not all his fault, most of the blame falls to the government and the Superhero Registration Act. Reed Richards is on one side, his wife Sue on the other with Ben Grimm in the middle while Johnny Storm lies in a coma. This issue we see a couple of vintage FF villains, The Puppet Master and The Thinker, try and take advantage of the war going on between the heroes. The art is almost as good as Straczynski's witty script thanks to sterling work from Mike McKone.
Fell 6
One of the best (and cheapest) books around at the moment. Warren Ellis turns his hand to a spot of detective writing and graces us with Detective Fell and his exploits in Snowtown, a place that's like the worst neighbourhood in the worst city you can imagine. Only worse. Each issue tells a separate self-contained tale usually drawn from real life events. Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night ) captures the seediness of the place brilliantly, to such an extent that you feel like you need a shower after reading.
Article comments
1 - moebiusgraphics.com
RE: Frank Miller's BATMAN VERSUS AL-QAEDA
After finishing 120 pages prior to the premiere of SIN CITY in the spring of 2005, Miller's only completed about ten pages of the book in the past year. And with other, more lucrative movie work ahead of him outside of comics (300, SIN CITY 2, THE SPIRIT), plus STILL not having yet finished the abortion that is ALL-STAR BATMAN, don't count on seeing this comic any time soon.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
I’m not even convinced it will get released even if he does finish it. Have DC confirmed they will publish it? As far as I’m aware there hasn’t been an official announcement from them.
I take it you’re not a fan of All Star Batman? From a story point of view I think it’s one of the worst things Miller’s done. Still at least Jim Lee’s art looks great. I hadn’t heard the news about The Spirit film so thanks for that. While I’m certainly excited about it, once again I’m not convinced it will happen. Has there been any confirmation from other sources than Miller? He’s certainly the perfect choice though so I’ll keep my figures crossed.
3 - yenrag
"Ron Garneys artwork is not up to the task." You're wrong.Instead of making blanket sttements that hurt peoples careers, list reasons that can help them. Its called a critique. Otherwise your review is worthless.
Best,
Ron Garney
4 - yenrag
"Ron Garneys art isnt up to the standard" Your wrong Ian. It most certainly is. Instead of making blanket statements about someones work that potentially can damage a career, try making constructive comments with reasons attached. Its called a critique, otherwise your review is worthless.
Best,
Ron Garney
5 - Ian Woolstencroft
Yenrag I see you needed two attempts to get your point across.
Firstly, telling me I’m wrong just because you don’t agree with me is far more a blanket statement than the one I made. In my opinion, Garney’s art isn’t up to the standard of the other artists I mentioned, that’s not to say it’s bad, just workmanlike. Not everyone can be a superstar artist whose name on a book will help to sell it. For every Jim Lee there are ten Ron Garney’s but every army needs soldiers as well as generals. My point was that in recent years Amazing Spider-Man readers have been spoilt by Marvel, with some of there top talent working on the book.
If only I had as much power as you seem to credit me with! The first of my regular monthly columns and I’m already damaging someone’s career. And if you were indeed Ron Garney (instead of his number one fanboy) I think your ego is big enough to take my criticism, after all I’m wrong and you are as good as John Romita Jr. and Mike Deodato Jr, at least according to your comment.
6 - Garth
Ian, I saw your comments about Edgar Rice Burroughs and I'm betting like you that anticipation will be high for a Mars series.
I know this at least anectdotely because I'm seeing a lot of activity on an older Edgar Rice Burroughs book at the auction site. A lot of people appear to have a lot of pint-up emotions about getting their hands on his materials.