Miscellaneous (non-Superhero) - Page 7

Micronauts, vol 1: Rebellion 2003 (SC TPB) 110 pgs.

Written by Scott Wherle. Illustrated by Eric Wolfe Hanson, E.J. Su. Inks by Barbara Schulz, with Steven Hall, Clayton Brown.
Colours: Hi Fi Color Design. Letters: Dreamer Design. Creative direction: Josh Blaylock.

Reprinting: Micronauts (Image series) #1-5 (2001)

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Published by Image Comics for Devil's Due Productions

The micronauts was a line of sci-fi toys in the late 1970s, early 1980s -- inspired, presumably, by Star Wars. The villain of the toys, Baron Karza, looked a lot like Darth Vader (no, I mean, a lot). The toys gave rise to a Marvel comic book spin-off that, surprisingly, proved not only a decent commercial success, but also wasn't regarded too badly by critics (Marvel would score a few reasonably successful toy tie-ins, including Rom and G.I. Joe). Although I believe the comics out-lasted the toys, both had their day and were discontinued. But there remained a lingering affection for both in the consciousness of those who grew up with them.

And now, the toys have been re-released, along with some novel tie-ins and a new comic book series. Made by Devil's Due productions, not Marvel Comics, and distributed by Image Comics, the new series isn't a continuation of the Marvel series, but a re-invention of the concept. But the current creators are well aware that the Marvel comics left an impression, so there are plenty of subtle and not-so subtle homages to the original series. There's even a dedication to Bill Mantlo -- creator and chief writer of Marvel's version.

The story begins on earth, and a scientific investigation into a mysterious dimensional rift in the U.S. desert. Before too many panels have passed, armoured beings emerge from the rift, killing everyone save teenage Ryan Archer, who is dragged back through the rift. For what reason is the question...and it kind of remains the question for a long time to come.

Just out of nostalgic curiosity, I picked up the first issue of the new series and thought it was an O.K. but vaguely unsatisfying read. The art by Eric Wolfe Hanson was good, with detailed backgrounds and a kind of eerie, glowing cityscape that put one in mind of the 1980s sci-fi flick, Tron (also about an earthman drawn into an alien reality, ruled by a despot) -- although Hanson's Ryan didn't look much like the teenager he was supposed to be. The dialogue was O.K., but there wasn't a lot to the story. I picked up the second issue...and got more of the same. It wasn't bad...but there was nothing much to excite, either. The characters were largely ill-defined, the action was minimal (as Ryan continued being a prisoner), and the plot seemed to progress at a crawl. Without any hard feelings, I declined to continue with the series.

Recently, though, Image has collected the first story arc in a TPB. Knowing, then, that there was some sort of resolution after issue five, I decided to track down the issues I missed, and give it one more try.

And the result remains pretty much the same. It's not that this is truly bad...but not enough really occurs to make it good. The art chores switch in mid-story to E.J. Su, who does decent work, similar enough to Hanson that the change isn't glaring, while not being as good, and with Su evincing a slight Japanese Manga influence. Su also ratchets up the gore a little -- perhaps warranting a slight "mature readers" caution.

By the end of this story arc, Ryan is still a vaguely defined character who spends most of his time saying: "I don't understand" or "what's going on". Allies he acquires, like the armoured Acroyear are not badly depicted, but you don't get much sense of what their driving motivations are. There's eventually a prison break -- this first story arc is basically about how Ryan is captured and then escapes with some friends. And there's some running about and shooting and fighting. But a character briefly explains to Ryan the machinations involved in arranging the break...and you're left thinking depicting that might have made a more interesting story than what we got. By the end of these issues we have a sense of why villain Baron Karza captured Ryan -- apparently he has some ill-defined je ne sais quoi that makes him important, and by the end is even demonstrating strangely prescient abilities. But it all seems just a tad...wishy-washy. There isn't even much use of the "Land of the Giants" concept -- that the micronauts, when on earth, are only a few centimetres tall.

Reading it, you find yourself assuming the reason writer Scott Wherle is taking so long to get the ball rolling is because he's got some grand plan mapped out in his head and, confident of his great epic, he's letting it unfold gradually. But then it turns out issue #5 is his last issue and one begins to suspect the opposite. Wherle's taking so long to go anywhere...because he's got nowhere to go. He's just keeping the writer's seat warm until the next scribe comes along, who may or may not have a vision for the series. Perhaps the fact that Devil's Due president, Josh Blaylock, is credited with "creative direction" is the problem. The actual writer isn't given a creative freehand, the way Bill Mantlo was with the Marvel series.

What makes this all so glaring is comparing it to the original Micronauts comic -- where Mantlo stuck around for some 60 issues or so. Whether Devil's Due's version is derivative, or an intentional homage, there are clear parallels in this story arc to the first issue of the Marvel series, in which the hero -- Arcturus Rand -- is imprisoned and hooks up with Acroyear and Bug, a bug-like inmate (in this series we have a Vaerian). Rand -- a more proactive character than Ryan -- escapes with his new allies, but not before we learn there is something mysterious about Rand that Karza fears.

Sounds like a synopsis of this story, doesn't it? But all that took place in just one issue!!!

And Mantlo still managed to work in weirder and more esoteric ideas, little hints of characterization, and even made things a little more plausible in that we at least had some idea of why Rand might have something special about him...whereas here, we still have no idea how Karza even knew Ryan Archer existed! In that one issue alone Mantlo established, not just the primary conflict with Karza, but a secondary one between Acroyear and his traitorous brother Shaitan. Plus it was all beautifully illustrated by Michael Golden.

When trying a comic, it can be argued that you need to read a couple of issues to get a sense of the story, or the characters. But after five issues, I still felt I had very little sense of either. Granted, since a new creative team will be assuming the mantle, perhaps one can't judge the whole series by this. But, frankly, if you're looking for a blast of space opera, miniature people and nostalgia, I'm inclined to suggest that you hit the back issues bins of your local comic shop for the original series. Issues #1-12 are nicely drawn by Michael Golden, and though many of those issues feature self-contained adventures, they comprise an epic story arc (there's a lingering plot thread, so I'd say #1-14 brings full and satisfying closure to the first storyline). It's uneven, with some logic lapses and some questionable ethics, but overall, it's by far a more satisfying, faster paced, and exciting read.

This initial story arc of the current Micronauts is not bad in scripting or art but, so far, it's been a tad underwhelming.

This is a review of the story as it was serialized in Micronauts comics

Cover price: $__ CDN./ $12.95 USA.

Written by Ricardo Barreiro. Illustrated by Qulque Alcatena.
Translated by Barreiro & Chuck Dixon. Letters. Timothy Harkins. Editor: Timothy Truman.

Originally published as "La Fortress Movil" (1987)

Rating: * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Published by 4 Winds Publishing Group

In a fantasy land, a man, Bask de Avregaut, finds himself a prisoner on board a huge, wheeled fortress, moving inexorably to a confrontation with an enemy.

Billed as a "classic", Moving Fortress is O.K. on a certain, undemanding level, but it's awfully thin on story and characterization -- its seize-of-Troy-wannabe-plot could havee been told in half the pages (less even) without short-changing anything. Even the main character functions more just as someone to tell the tale than as a character in his own right.

Its main strength is the enthralling and intricate, black & white art by Alcatena, on one hand peopled by realistic characters, and on the other full of bizarre, dreamlike images in sets and costumes. It puts one in mind of a big-budget, special f/xs-heavy movie where you admire the production design, but wish they could have saved it for a stronger narrative.

To make matters worse, in his introduction, editor Timothy Truman goes the tiresome route of wrapping himself in the flag of school boy sophistication, decrying the "adolescent writing" of American comics, and claiming how much better comics in other countries are, where they're (supposedly) regarded as a mature, literary art form, with legions of devotees. In the pictures, the Argentinian-produced Moving Fortress is not unimpressive, but as a story, as an adventure, as a human drama evoking human emotion...well, give me an "adolescent" superhero comic any day.

I didn't hate Moving Fortress, nor would I necessarily run away from anything else by Barreiro or Alcatena, but without a more complex story and more penetrating characterization -- and emotion -- it leaves one feeling kind of...nothing.

Barreiro and Alcatena produced further exploits of Bask, at least one of which was published in an American translation, I believe.

Cover price: $12.98 CDN./$8.98 USA

Written by Ron Marz. Pencils by Brandon Peterson, with Kevin Sharpe, George Perez. Inks by John Dell, Jason Baumgartner, Pablo Marcos.
Colous: various. Letters: various.

Reprinting: Mystic #8-14, CrossGen Chronicles #5 (2000-2001)

Additional notes: covers; couple of pin ups; re-cap of the first 7 issues.

Rating: * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Published by CrossGen Comics

I'm not familiar with the CrossGeneration Comics' universe, and how various titles may or may not relate to each other. A character in this has a sigil mark on her hand, and CrossGen publishes another title called Sigil that looked to be a science fiction series (based on the TPB cover), but I'm not sure what the relationship is between the two. But I'm not sure it matters in so far as following this story is concerned. Mystic takes place on another world/alternate reality/whatever, where magic is a common part of life, and where the world is a mixture of the medieval (with castles and robes), the modern (suits and ties, or TV signals broadcast as "spellcasts" to crystal balls rather than TV sets) to light sci-fi (hover cars). The magic is largely focused in seven guilds, often at odds with each other.

The premise, established in previous issues (collected in an earlier TPB) is that the spirits -- the chief power -- of the seven guilds have come to reside in one debutante, Giselle Villard. This makes most of the Guild Masters rather unhappy, worried their prestige will fade if it is discovered none of them are the receptacle of their various guilds' guardian spirits. All of this is handily recapped in an opening page in this collection.

The story here has some of the Guild deciding to free an evil, all-powerful demoness, Animora, to slay Giselle -- a demoness it took the combined might of a previous generation of Guild Masters to defeat in the first place. Freeing her wouldn't seem to be the best idea. Meanwhile, Giselle, oblivious to all this, is slowly falling under the sway of Darrow, a charming but mysterious and ultimately sinister suitor.

Mystic: The Demon Queen is a reasonably enjoyable romp, boasting pleasant, detailed visuals, bold colours, and decent dialogue. But after all is said and done, it's a tad on the thin side. The main story is stretched out over seven issues...but I'm darned if I know how they did it. In content, it seems more like, maybe, a double-sized annual or something. That isn't to say that it comes across as plodding or anything, but writer Ron Marz seems to be able to stretch out a scene, no doubt helped by the artists' use of big panels and the like. Instead of a massive epic of twists and turns, threaded with Byzantine sub-plots, and rich character exploration, we get what amounts to an agreeable little adventure that happens to be broken up into seven chapters. There is, of course, revelations concerning Darrow, but even then nothing as complex as one might have imagined. In fact, with the sinister Darrow trying to exert influence over Giselle, I half thought we were looking at a Dark Phoenix wanna-be -- but no. Despite some minor scenes, where Giselle briefly turns on her friends, then everyone seems to forgive and forget, Giselle never falls very far under his influence.

The creation of a convincing reality never quite occurs, which should maybe be part of the point, whisking the reader away to this alien reality. But maybe because, as noted, the story doesn't really wander off on many tangents, we don't get to see much of the world or how it functions. The art, though attractive, is a tad plasticy in a way, though whether that's a problem with the pencils, inks, colours, or the shiny paper, I don't know. Still, it's Good Girl Art, with plenty of pretty women, and a fair amount of cleavage, for thems as likes that sort of thing, without being too crassly salacious or lurid to be distracting -- or offensive -- for those who don't. Character- wise, Gisselle and the other good people are pleasant enough without being especially interesting (though I enjoyed her talking cat-creature) and the book is an agreeable read, without quite being particularly memorable.

Overall, the book seems a tad breezy, and as if to counteract such criticism, chapter four (issue #11) tries an unorthodox visual trick with panels...but it's a little too self-consciously "artistic".

The final story, from CrossGen Chronicles, has Giselle learning the history of the earlier Guild Masters' battle with Animora. Like the main story, it's O.K., while seeming a tad thin and straightforward for its 32 pages. We know pretty early that something happens to one of the Guild Masters, but Marz doesn't really throw any curves as the story unfolds.

Ultimately, this is enjoyable enough, but nothing that screams "must read". With that price tag, it might be worth checking for in the discount bins first.

Cover price: $__ CDN./ $19.95 USA 

Nick Fury: Who is Scorpio?
see me review here

Northwest Passage: The Annotated Collection 2007 (HC) 268 pages

Written and illustrated by Scott Chantler.
black and white: Editors: Randall C. Jarrell, James Lucas Jones, Jill Beaton.

Collecting: Northwest Passage #1-3 (2005-2006)

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: 1

Additional notes: extensive commentary and annotations by Chantler.

Published by Oni Press.

Northwest Passage is an old fashioned historical adventure in the vein of someone like James Fenimore Cooper. Though what makes this slightly atypical is that Canadian writer/artist Scott Chantler sets his story in Canadian history, when fur trading forts were the beacons of European civilization and traders were as much explorers as merchants. The reason that's unusual is because it's actually not that common for Canadian storytellers to set their stuff in Canada -- particularly if meant to have a pulpy, entertainment vibe (consider a previous work by Chantler, in collaboration with fellow Canadian J. Torres, was Scandalous -- a very good, but very American-centric, drama set in Hollywood during the 1950s). And the fact that this was published by an American publisher, and received strong reviews in the American press, would seem a vindication for Chantler...and Canadiana!

The story focuses on Charles Lord, a one time fur trader and legendary explorer, who has spent the last few years behind a desk as the governor of a Hudson Bay Company trading fort. On the verge of returning to England after decades in the Canadian wilderness, adventure rears its head when an old Indian friend of Lord's, Eagle Eye, shows up at the fort, near death and with a warning. Before Lord fully knows what's happening, an enemy from his past has taken the fort, killed most of its inhabitants, and Lord and the few survivors are on the run in the woods -- outnumbered but determined to take back their fort, not the least because Lord's own estranged son, the half-Indian Simon, and his nephew are still there.

Northwest Passage (the title being more symbolic than literal, in much the same way the movie Chinatown wasn't actually set in any Chinatown) was initially published as three vaguely digest-sized volumes of 70 odd pages each. And it's perhaps an interesting reflection on the nature of comic book formats. Because I had bought the first issue, found it moderately interesting, but -- despite my patriotic leanings -- hadn't really found myself too eagerly seeking out the next instalments.

Yet read in its collected form, and not as a serialized adventure, I found it much more effective and compelling as a graphic "novel".

This is more like an adventure novel than simply super heroes without costumes. There is action and swashbuckling daring do, but it's also more subdued, with plenty of talking head scenes and as much concerned about the characters, their emotions, and their machinations and strategies as any knockdown drag out fight scene. Which is maybe why it reads a bit better collected -- there isn't quite enough in the individual issues (particularly at 70 pages!) as they are meant to be nothing more than parts of the whole.

This may well be artist Chantler's first stab at scripting -- and he delivers an impressive debut. There's a sure footedness to the writing, and a genuine ambition to some of the scenes and the handling of the characters, the slowly unfolding of back stories and hidden agendas. This is a graphic "novel", with a large cast of generally interesting characters to be juggled, alliances to be formed and shattered, and even some allusions to legend (in his accompanying annotations, Chantler says he was paying homage to the legends of Charlemagne with his hero Charles Lord). The heroes are heroic, but given shading and humanizing flaws. (Perhaps my biggest qualm would be that the villains are French vs. the good guy English...putting the conflict on an ethnic level, though Chantler goes some way toward emphasizing it's a renegade group).

Chantler's black and white art style is of a cartoony style that might seem a bit at odds with the essentially serious grown up material ("grown up" in the sense that it's not childish, not in that there's anything of a particularly "mature readers" variety -- there's no cussing, and the violence and deaths are not especially gratuitous or gory). I find myself waffling back and forth towards that as an art style. On one hand, instinctively I'd say I prefer realist art, but I've come to appreciate that there is an effectiveness to a cartoony style, even when depicting non-cartoony material. There's a stripped to the bone elegance, where characters reduced to simpler caricatures can taken on an added reality. Certainly Will Eisner (a personal idol of Chantler's) and Chester Gould have proven that. So although the visuals may've been another reason I was less than excited when I read the first instalment, by the end of this collected edition...it's hard to imagine another art style bringing to life the scenes and characters quite as efficaciously. Chantler has a sharp eye for composition, so even the "talking head" scenes are well staged, and his character designs are well considered.

The basic story is introduced, developed and resolved in these pages -- but as with so many comics, Chantler isn't quite prepared to deliver full closure. So though the book does form a story, there's a certain unsatisfying openness to the end. And the reason that's doubly frustrating is because Chantler does what so many comics writers do -- he leaves it open for future stories...but seems in no hurry (if at all) to tell them. Just glancing sat Chantler's personal blog, and his detailing some of his upcoming projects, there's no mention of future Northwest Passage instalments.

Now as I say, unlike some such works, if Chantler never returns to it, this still works on its own...but I just find myself increasingly impatient with comics writers who, presumably enamoured of the prestige inherent in crafting a "magnum opus", kind of seem to be setting up some epic arc...then lose interest and drift on to other things. (To be fair, just because Chantler is focusing on other projects doesn't mean he doesn't fully intend to return to Lord and his crew).

I mentioned at the start of this that it's not all that common for Canadian writers to see in their country and history the stuff of rousing adventure -- too enamoured of "exciting" American history (and unaware much of American history has been filtered and embellished by the imagination of American storytellers). Historians might debate how realistic the story is, but it's still fun to see an old fashioned adventure story set unapologetically against a backdrop of the Canadian woods and fur trade forts.

In his notes, Chantler remarks that a number of American commentators questioned the friendly relationship between Lord and Eagle Eye, and he points out that the European-Indian relationship was slightly different in Canada than it was in the U.S. In the U.S. the Indians were largely seen as enemies, an impediment to colonization, whereas in Canada, where business more than colonizing was the initial desire, the Indians were seen as useful allies. That isn't to say there weren't conflicts, nor that the Indians weren't badly treated -- but the underpinnings of the relationships were not quite the same. Heck, the fact that the U.S. Cavalry was essentially an army intended to fight Indians can be contrasted with the Northwest Mounted Police (later the RCMP) which were ostensibly intended to simply be a law enforcement organization (I reiterate: that doesn't mean the Indians were treated equitably in actuality). But, of course, Cavalry's and Mounted Police were many years after the time of this story. But since Chantler himself brought it up, I thought it was interesting to note a way where the "Canadian" aspect of the story might have made it different than an "American" version of the tale might have been. (Heck, the fact that a whole race -- the métis -- arose in Canada defined as being of mixed European and Indian ancestry certainly indicates a lot of commingling).

Ultimately, Chantler has succeeded at crafting a genuine graphic "novel" -- evocative of the kind of "boy's own" adventure of a Cooper or a Robert Stevenson. There are ways I can quibble with it (the climax seems a bit anti-climactic, the overall story fairly straightforward -- I had thought the taking of the fort was the first step in some greater scheme but, no, that is simply the villain's goal). But with its large cast and story twists and turns (the sub-plots are more twisty than the main plot) it's a work that kind of lingers with you and you can see wanting to have on the shelf, to dig out again somewhere down the line to re-experience.

Cover price: $__ CDN./ $19.95 USA.

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