Comic Reviews for April 9, 2003

I'm back!! Yeah, it's been a while... three months I think. Enough talk now; let's get to some reviews.

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411 1 (of 3)
Foreword by Bill Jemas; "Understanding the Culture of Nonviolence" by Dr. Arun Gandhi; "Blowup" by Bill Jemas, Chuck Austen and Phil Winslade; "Tit-For-Tat" by Mark Millar, Frank Quitely and Avalon Studies; "Seeds" by David Rees and Tony Salmon; page one art by David Mack: published by Marvel Comics

This is the hardest thing to review, quite honestly. This isn't a typical comic book, but more of a collection of stories promoting peace and nonviolent solutions to problems. Given that, this works more or less as a whole than on individual parts. The biggest problem is trying to create a story that will accomplish what you're promoting without turning it into an incredibly cheesy piece of poetry. Jemas' and Austen's story just manages to not fall into that territory. It works, but it just pushes the believeability of the characters to the breaking point.

Millar's story is the most successful here, mostly because of the fact that it's a true story. He chronicles nicely the trouble that has been happening over in Ireland for the past three centuries, while also giving a good nonviolent solution to the problem (paint the horse in the flags colors the day before the parade, quite humorous). Quitely's art is top notch, as always.

The final story works nicely as well. A guy decides to follow his son's dreams after returning from the front lines in Afghanistan, defying his own father's honor. The art at times is confusing, but it tells the story nicely.

On the whole, very good.

Score: A-

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Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface 3
By Masamune Shirow, translated by Frederik L. Schodt and Toren Smith; published by Dark Horse Comics

I really wish this were simpler to read. I might actually understand the technobabble and convulted plot lines that Shirow throws in there. Instead, it's rather chaotic. I'm barely understand anything that's there, and the art this time doesn't help. There are three pages in the beginning where Clarice is using a chain to tie up some guy... and I have no clue in hell what is happening. It's all pretty art, trust me. It hardly makes for decent reading though. Which is unfortunate, cause I do want to like this. I'll end up getting the rest of this though, since I'm a sucker for spending money.

Score: C

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Green Arrow 23
Black Circle: Urban Knights Part 1 of 6: Busted - By Ben Raab and Charlie Adlard; published by DC Comics

Well, this crossover is starting on the wrong track. Yeah, Green Arrow and Green Lantern have some sort of history together (one that's ill defined, I might add), and of course, they have to fight each other simply because they have differences. Then there's this alien mob plot which looks good, but is coming off rather iffy right now. I mean, unless they need detergent bleach to survive, then it's all good for them. Hard to buy though. Adlard's art really isn't my cup of tea either. It tells the story effectively though, but nothing else. I really hope this crossover accomplishes something more besides filling the obligatory quota of a crossover (something which DC does a lot quite frankly).

Score: B-

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Punisher 24
Hidden: Part One - By Garth Ennis and Tom Mandrake; published by Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint

First part to a new arc, one which I don't know how long it will be though. This really isn't the greatest of story lines that Ennis has come up with for this title. He's still keeping Punisher primarily in the background (much like the excellent Brotherhood arc and last month's one shot), but the plot here (some underground/sewer group of sorts) isn't real successful. Mandrake's art is passable, but it suits the dark nature of the story well. I like his punisher though. It's reminiscent of the 90's version (if I knew what he looked like). Overall though, just above average.

Score: B

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For your consideration:

Sentinel 1
Salvage: Part One - By Sean McKeever, Eric Vedder and UDON; published by Marvel Comics

First book in Marvel's new non-imprint books called 'Tsunami', where they are trying to capitalize on the market share of kids and teens getting into manga and manga-inspired works. The line here is the 'boy and his big robot friend', though the 'big robot friend' is underplayed to develop a teen drama. From what I gather, McKeever has written a teen drama before, so he's right at home here. The characters, while having one distinct thing about them, are nicely developed. Juston likes to build bots, lives with his dad and brother, and has a similar goal with a possible love interest in Jessie (wanting to get out of the town they're in). He has his one friend who is much like him, and another one who is ready to snap (he compares the local jock bullies to terrorists, something that forces things a bit too far). And yeah... the sentinel is the selling point.

Vedder and UDON do a magnificent job with the art, having a quirky manga style much different than what they did on Agent X. Big eyes and big mouths all around: you got to love that.

All around though, a very promising start. Teen drama is cleary the way to go, and the team here does a great job in providing just that.

Score: A

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Well, I'm glad to get back into the thick of things. Next week, Green Lantern continues the crossover. For the reader's information, I'm only collecting this simply because it's just crossing over in two titles. Anything more and I would have simply stuck with Green Arrow. Also, Captain Marvel comes out, and Vaughan's first of two new titles for Marvel, Runaways, starts. The next Hulk trade comes out, but I doubt I'll be reviewing that. Also, I might do the other books picked up this week as well. Until then, peace.