Panel Discussion: The Week in Comic Book Scans

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from the week's comics. There will be SPOILERS. Be sure to click these puppies for high res action!

Splashiest Super-Villain - Dr. T.O Morrow, Metal Men #3
After a relaxing vacation on Oolong Island, Dr. T.O Morrow is well rested and back in top mad scientist form, using the Metal Men to create monstrous new creatures. From the George Perez style oval belt to the twisty mustache, this splash panel does it up old school. This scene continues in this spirit, with Morrow's dialogue including lines like "You're no match for my death metal men!". Chocolate covered kudos to writer/artist Duncan Rouleau for reminding us jaded post-modern comic fans how much fun a good maniacal super villain can be.

Parental robots, burning gamblers and bodily fluids after the jump!

Worst Superpower Byproducts - Puke, Piss and Poop, The Vinyl Underground #1
This is Perv. Perv is a psychic. Unfortunately, his visions come along with an unfortunate side-effect: He pukes, pisses and shits himself while thrashing uncontrollably. Ggk.

Best Fake Old-Timey Comics - Welcome to Tranquility #11
Even if this intentionally bad copy is a little broad ("It's fun to stay alive!") and the the time-period is a bit hazy (The clothing says 30s, but the art looks closer to the 70s) these fake-vintage comics regularly featured in Welcome to Tranquility are fun and do their job of demonstrating what the Tranquility's over-the-hill heroes were like in their glory days. What really sold me on this one was the simulated coffee stain and water damage - be sure to click the image for higher res.

Shocking Teen Trauma - Alexander Discovers His Parents are Robots, Omega: The Unknown #1
As if having his mom decapitated in a car crash wasn't bad enough, poor Alexander now has to try to understand what it means that his parents were robots.

Best Visual Payoff - Parade (With Fireworks) #2
Hey, remember this panel, "Most Self-Satisfied Kid"? In the second and final part of Parade With Fireworks, we revisit that image and see the character after his life has been ruined by a personal betrayal and an increasingly fascistic government. Besides the overt symmetry of the panels, there are some subtle touches - the bright jug of water in the earlier image has been replaced by a sinister jug of liquor, a tombstone can now be seen in the window, and the comically grandiose cigar is now a simple cigarette. Great art, great storytelling.

Toughest House Rule- Burning at the Man-Thing's Touch, Howard the Duck #1Howard is dreaming about Monster Poker again, which has the hardcore house rule: "Whoever folds their hand... Burns at the Man-Thing's touch! WAAUGH!" Dem are some high stakes.

Snap Judgments - Batman Confidential #9, Parade (With Fireworks) #1, Welcome To Tranquility #10

Geekanerd's Snap Judgments gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

O What Fools These Heroes Be - Batman Confidential #9

Another great issue in this Joker-origin arc by Heroes producer/writer Michael Green. The parallels to Christopher Nolan's movie Batverse continue as B-man visits Prof. Jonathan Crane in his pre-Scarecrow days, just so Crane can give him the classic "there's evil in this world" speech. Green's writing for the Pre-Joker is at top form here - without the overarching koo-koo crazyness that many Bat-authors tend to let the Joker run on, Green's Not-Yet-The-Joker comes off as the smartest guy in the room, a little bored with how simple everything is, and only interested in his new best friend, Batman.

Artist Denys Cowan plays a little fast and loose with character's faces, occasionally venturing a bit too far into Quasimodo territory for my tastes, but for the most part his compositions match the wit and grit of the writing. One particular scene that finds a character examining his new battle scars made me think I shouldn't leave this book lying around my apartment, lest someone flip it open to wrong page and be permanently scared off comic books.

Wit + Grit + Fun With Disfigurement - Drifting Face Planes = B+

The reviews roll on with Parade With Fireworks #1 and Welcome To Tranquility #10...

Don't Reign On My Parade - Parade (With Fireworks) #1

A few months ago, I had occasion to interview several members of Act-i-Vate, an online collective of writer-artists who produce serialized web comics for free public consumption. I asked the gang what Act-i-Vate comic they were currently most enjoying, and the title that came up again and again was Parade With Fireworks. No longer confined to the web, Parade With Fireworks is now available as a two-issue miniseries from Image.

You can immediately see what makes this a comic artist's kinda comic. The art is lush, with fluid line work and what seems like an effortless sense of movement. The issue's highlight is the opening prologue, which spans decades in a few deft pages, each panel boldly conveying an iconic moment in time. The body of the story is more subtle. Set in 1923 Italy, author Mike Cavallaro uses a parade in a small town as a microcosm for looking at the clash between the Communist and Fascist parties. Those not up on your 20th century Italian history (I found Wikipedia helpful) may find the significance of the events a bit hard to grasp, but the art is masterful enough to convey what counts.

Outstanding Art + Great Prologue + Political Unrest = A-

Check In Time - Welcome To Tranquility #10

Ten issues into this series by Gail Simone, I've noticed a trend. When an issue centers around a character and their backstory, it's golden. After all, this is a series about retired superheroes and their families - everyone has got loads of exciting history, and learning it slowly through era-stylized flashbacks is one of this book's most unique and appealing features. But when the book focuses on the events of the present-day plot, things tend to lag. The plots themselves are interesting, but with so many characters to keep track of, a present-day issue has the feel of checking in on a bunch of different locations, and just getting enough information from each group of characters to keep the story straight.

But no matter, this issue is worth buying for the back-up "Tranquili-Teens" story, which comes in the form of an awesome Scooby-Doo parody, and includes the canine exclamation, "Oh my bones and foodbowls!". I can't stay mad at a book after a line like that.

Mystic Exposition - Killing Time With Zombies + Bones and Foodbowls = B-

Panel Discussion: The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Comic Book Panels of the Week

Best Way of Illustrating the Passage Of Time: Welcome To Tranquility, #11
The Coyote Kid lives as long as he hates the monsters that killed his family, and this hilarious panel illustrates the kind of beasts he's run afoul of every two decades or so. Werewolf Gangsters in the 20s, Nazi Vampires in the 40s, Hippie Swamp Thing in the 60s, and worst of all, the dreaded 80's Guy. "HERE'S MY CARD...WE'LL DO LUNCH."

Mixing Bid'ness With Pleasure Alert: Countdown #39
Hmm, what's with that expensive-looking redhead in the foreground? Could it be Kate Kane, AKA The Batwoman, who appears moments later outside the Iceberg Lounge with her partner (in crime fighting), Renee "The Question" Montoya? Ladies, you two are both new at the alter-ego thing, I know, but when staking-out a restaurant, try to resist the temptation to dine together in that restaurant. To their credit, though, neither appears to have actually touched their wine (good for you, ex-alcoholic Renee!).

Best Visual Framing Device: Metal Men #1
While still maintaining the the classic Dave Gibbonesque 3x3 panel scheme, Duncan Rouleau allows the action within the panels to spill out across the page, while tying whole thing together with a cool, retro-futuristic gear-motif. Click to savor the page in detail.

Most Reassuring Sign that Hulk Won't Kill Us All: Ant-Man #11
This conversation takes place weeks after World War Hulk and confirms that not EVERYONE dies at the Hulk's hands. Double spoiler: Iron Man shows up later in the ish!

Most Embarrassing Confession: Tony Stark in Illuminati #4

Related: More of Geekanerd's Panel Discussions

Snap Judgments:Welcome To Tranquility #9, Metal Men #1, World War Hulk #3, Illuminati #4

As always, Snap Judgements gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

These Bots Is Wacky! - Metal Men #1

The Metal Men, at least as they appear in this series, have something very important that sets them apart from the rest of the DC hero teams - naiveté. While they each come standard with over the top personalities and a range of emotions, there is a sweetness to their nature that harkens back to their Silver Age origins.

This issue is divided into three chapters, and only the second really features the Metal Men in action. As if to count for all the angst-free fun, the bookend chapters deal with the dark, ancient origins of the Metal Men, as well as a look into the past of Doc Magnus (minor art quibble; in the flashback, Doc looks like a babyfaced teen even though the story takes place only four years in the past. I guess mad science takes a toll.). These expositionary stories suffer from way too much mystic and tech jargon, which serves a purpose but is a chore to read. Still, on the whole the book benefits from the singular vision of writer-artist Duncan Rouleau, who ties his panels together with a border of gears that wind in and out of the art like strands of robo-DNA.

Robots Are Our Friends + Steampunitky Art - Slow Beginning and End = B

Reviews for Welcome to Tranquility, World War Hulk and New Avengers: Illuminati after the jump...

Zombies? Really? - Welcome To Tranquility #9

Aren't we tired of zombies by now? With The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies readily available, I was kinda hoping this arc of Welcome To Tranquility wasn't going to be all about brain eaters. But hope is cheap. Simone even name checks Robert Kirkman in this issue, and it looks like the wall that keeps the undead hoards from the town of Tranquility has come a tumblin' down.

Feelings of zombie fatigue aside, this issue has some great moments, but the central plot feels sluggish and fails to live up to last week's superb trilogy of origin stories. We do get to see more of one of the most entertaining characterizations of the devil since Neil Gaiman's Lucifer, and the issue ends with a great mini-story that reaches an almost Frank Millerian level of pulp revenge grit.

Boring Zombies + Cool Satan + Cowboy Grit = B+


He's Going To *yawn* Kill Us All! - World War Hulk #3

Oh, man. This is over. I wish I could spoil this for you because by the end of this issue the Hulk has succumbed to one of the biggest invading villain cliches in all of comicdom. It never worked for the hundreds that came before him, yet somehow he thinks it's a good idea. Poor Hulk. Poor, stupid Hulk. If only you weren't thinking about things so much and just got really angry and smashed stuff. You'd probably have won this war by now.

In other news, this book still looks and feels great. The presentation is top notch, but it's just not enough to make up for the major story problems present. If the Hulk really wanted to kill these heroes, why hasn't he? He's beaten a bunch of them up, but hasn't dealt the final blow to anyone. The premise of this story was "Hulk Kills the Marvel Universe," but so far he's been very restrained. Add to this the fact that since issue 1 everyone's been saying "Ohh, the Sentry is the one guy that might be able to stop the Hulk" and come issue three they're still talking about him but he is just sitting in a house in Northern Vermont, biding his time. Add to that the cheesiest line of dialogue to end a comic this year, and you get a big fat turkey that's pretty to look at but taste like donkey's yonks.

Romita's Outstanding Art - Pak's Plot Holes - King of Supervillain Cliches = C-


Girl Troubles - New Avengers: Illuminati #4

Slight spoiler here, only one of the girls on this cover is actually in the comic. Because this is a comic about boys. More specifically, a comic about boys talking about stuff. In this issue, they talk about girls. Dr. Strange is upset that his lady left to rule the Dark Dimension, Tony Stark is complaining about chasing tail, Black Bolt is miming suicide in an effort to illustrate married life, and Reed Richards and Namor are having a very awkward conversation about Sue Storm. It's great! And then five pages in some superhero bullshit starts happening that nobody cares about. If anybody in the world cared about Marvel Boy (I enjoyed his series, but that's ancient history at this point), he would have been on the cover instead of these girls that aren't even in the comic. We do get some insightful words as to why Professor X doesn't just program everyone to agree with him, but other than that it's a lot of talk about some issues I didn't find myself caring about. Definitely worth picking up for the opening chit-chat, but *shhhh* word on the street is you can read that part online at Pop Culture Shock. Next issue promises "TODAY," so I expect that means we'll be coming out of the past and into the present to deal with the Hulk.

Great Man Talk Between Heroes + Wonderful Characterization - Boring Plot = B+