Blog Bites From Two Awesome Comic Writers

Two items of interest on my RSS this morning:

Who says a gay, female, latina superhero can't hit it big in American pop culture? Clue featured in yesterday's New York Times crossword puzzle: "____ Montoya, DC Comics heroine known as the Question." What up!

Writer John Rogers has posted the entire script to his final issue of Blue Beetle, a story which I gave a semi-rare A+ review on both this site and Pop Culture Shock. The script format makes for a tough but interesting read, and it's always neat to see how comic writers communicate ideas to artists. Even without pictures it made me cry all over again.

Snap Judgments - Blue Beetle #19, Countdown to Adventure #2, Avengers: The Initiative #6

Blue Beetle # 19

Blue Beetle has been settling into a tidy formula over the last five issues - Jaime fights a guest villain, picks up a bit more wisdom on how to be a superhero, and the book wraps up on a personal note, often with single-tear inducing epilogues. This ish hits all the marks: Giganta is the baddie, and her Kaiju Big Battel style rampage is one of the most exciting action set pieces in months (drawn with gusto by David Baldon, who redeems himself for giving Tim Drake and Jaime the same face last month). Jaimie learns a lesson in horrifying pseudo-science of pressure points, and the emotional moment belongs to his gringa gal pal, Brenda.

These self contained stories work in the same way Paul Dini's recent run on Detective did - the dialogue zips the plot along, the resolutions are smart and satisfying, and it's easy for new readers to pick up. But as regular reader, I'd like to get back into the meat of the alien invasion plot line introduced way back in issue #13. And speaking of 13, rising star Traci 13 shows up for about three minutes in this issue to confirm that she and Jamie are totally hooking up. A- AHR


Countdown to Adventure #2

The only good thing about an alternate earth where Nazis rule the world is that when freedom-loving heroes from other dimensions show up, they have carte blanche to do as many head-severing superpunches as they want without fear of moral compromise. Here, it's Forerunner who gets to do a few laps of nazi-smashin' in the second half of this two-story issue - the first half concerns the dreadfully uninteresting 52 outer-space story, but does feature Animal stomping on a car and Starfire in civvys. I haven't been reading Countdown closely enough to fully understand the Forerunners complicated and tragic back story but I like what I do know: she likes to kick, hit, aaaaand KICK! B AHR



Avengers: The Initiative #6

I'm....I'm blind . Regular Initiative artist Stefano Caselli is MIA on this issue, and the jarring effect of seeing Dan Slott's script interpreted by young gun Steve Uy has caused my neural receptors to refuse the information my eyes attempted to relat. It's not as simple as a case of bad art - what drove me crazy is that the acting in this issue is terrible. Though the stiff body language and flat expressions seen here are not among the worst I've ever seen, artist Uy is at the serious disadvantage of filling in for an artist who has been creating the most vividly realized new characters in mainstream comics. Imagine watching a great movie with a fanatically talented cast, but when you come back from the bathroom all the characters are suddenly being played by first year drama students. The script might still be spot on, but nothing murders good dialogue like bad acting. Some important and surprising information is revealed in this issue, so regular readers may still want to check it out, but don't blame me if you're gripped with the impulse to hurl popcorn at the pages. D AHR

Snap Judgements: Blue Beetle, Thunderbolts, and The Boys

Today on Snap Judgements, three spoiler-free quickie reviews of comics out today, June 27.

Blue Beetle #16 - The Return of Brainstomp Demonface!

Everyone's favorite wife-killer/vengeance god Jean "Eclipso" Loring is through with all that "orbiting the sun" bullshit...now she's back on earth, stealing magic babies! It's a DC book alright! But what does this have to do with Blue Beetle? Well, not a lot. This book deals more with Traci 13 (who?), the issue's true protagonist. She does allow Jaime to tag along for the big fight, but he's really just there to flirt with.

The verdict on Blue Beetle plus reviews of Thunderbolts #115 and The Boys #8 after the jump.


This issue's biggest miss is the constant Wheadonesque teen-snark-speak, which is usually delivered with a much keener ear by writer John Rogers. But the book is saved by some funny touches involving the always ironic rules of magic, and some very touching (though possibility invented) continuity concerning the link between Eclipso and Traci 13 (who?).

Jean "Brain Stomp" Loring + Cheesey Teen Speak = C+


Thunderbolts #115 - Smashy Smashy II

Last week, this book gave us a big long street fight that was incredibly boring, featured a bunch of bland splash pages, and generally felt like Warren Ellis decided to take a snooze in the backseat and left artist Rain Beredo to drive for a while. This week's issue at first seemed to be more of the same - the 'Bolts are still fighting some unregistered Superheroes, aaand.....they fight. BUT - in this issue, the characters say interesting things to each other while they fight, the action is much more fluid and exciting, and there are some big plot-changing reveals. Still a few too many bulked-out Venom splash panels, but at least there's some dismemberment to show for it.

Bullseye Bein' Crazy + Whiny Penance + Dismemberment = B+


The Boys #8 - Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...

From the start, this series has played fast and loose with attitudes of misogyny and homophobia. Even for a comic book. But when the TPB was released earlier this month, I gave it a chance and found that it was too funny and engaging to write-off as shock-schlock. And though last month's issue made me cringe with a page discussed here, the lead male protagonist's attitudes towards gay men are discussed directly in this issue, as our anti-heroes investigate the murder of a gay teen. As the issue begins, it seems that nice-guy Hughie has a more accepting attitude than epithet-spewing manly man Butcher, but as events move forward we're shown that the way they actually act around gay people tells a different story. All the lead characters still treat gayness as something to be tolerated and not necessarily accepted, but I suspect that since this arc will last until at least issue #10, these issues will continue to be explored. The plotting and dialogue is spot-on as always, make sure you read Butcher's dialogue like Michael Caine for maximum effect.

Casual Prejudice + Meta Commentary + Realism? - Easy Answers = B


Tune in Friday for PANEL DISCUSSION, to find out which comic panel wins the Geekanerd Award for Best Acting, Greatest Hit, and the coveted Banana Randomizer Award For Achievement in WTF.