Reviews: Back from the pond

Hullo folks hullo! I'm back from my fishin' trip. The fishies weren't bitin', but never worry: I still managed to hook a basket of last week's comic books! Let's review 'em, shall we...before they go off and start smelling bad!


GREATEST HITS #2: This comic is fun. I mentioned in my last review of Vertigo's Greatest Hits that I was impressed David Tischman and Glenn Fabry had taken the concept of "The Beatles as Superheroes" and run with it fancifully and furiously, but it didn't really sink in until this second ish that altho' the inspiration surely is The Fantastic Fab Four, Greatest Hits avoids the cliché of an easy parody. This isn't a thinly disguised John, Paul, George and Ringo—Solicitor, Crusader, Vizier and Zipper have vivid and different personalities, gradually becoming more distinct as the series progresses and the current-day documentary subplot takes shape. Give or take a Stu Sutcliffe-as-the-Hulk subplot, this is fun and original, and Glenn Fabry's bright and sharp-lined art is a perfect fit, especially in facial expressions and the wild two-page party scene that opens the comic. It's been a long time since Vertigo did superheroes, and this is a fine return to form.


BOOSTER GOLD #13: This comic is sorta fun. I'm not as fond of the post-Geoff Johns/Jeff Katz Booster as I was the original issues (the series was #1 on my "Fun Fifty of 2007 list). Chuck Dixon and now Rick Remender seem to be struggling to make concepts that sound like solid fun come alive on the page. In this issue, Booster and Goldstar chase Starro across time and space, trying to prevent the re-creation of the DC Universe in the image of the evil mind-controlling asteroidean. The concept's solid and the dialogue's fine, but our heroes spend too much time reacting and chasing behind the villain that the plot seems oddly flat and muted. We know Booster will save the day, but we're not seeing a sign of his cleverness here. To be fair, it's a to-be-continued story, so I'm reserving judgment until I see the wrap-up. Remender might just pull a rabbit out of his hat after all. And hey, you can't hate a comic book which features The Best Panel of the Week, a world in which everything is controlled by Starro's starfish, from the President to Oprah and Tom Cruise to starfish-faced Superman helping a starfish-faced little girl by rescuing her starfish-faced cat:



ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY #1017: This magazine is fun. Hey, that's not a comic! Who cares! This week's EW brings this little stuffed Trekker the first inside look at 2009's big-screen Star Trek movie, with plenty of photos and news behind the screens of J. J. Abrams's revisioning of the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. I love the sneak peek, brief as they are, of the characters and the interiors...I'm no hater lamenting that Chris Pine's eyes aren't the same color as William Shatner's or that the bridge looks too bright! Sure, there's other great features in America's Most Entertainingist Magazine™: Eminem, Britney, Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Vowell are all among the surprise guest stars you'll find in these pages. But for me, I've got full-color clipout pictures of Kirk 2.0 and company to hang up on my walls, and then I'm going to stand in line and wait for the movie to open in 200 days.


RASL #3: This comic is fun. RASL! It's a candy and a gum! It's also a heckuva fun comic. Let's face it, Jeff Smith coulda followed up Bone with Bone: The Next Generation or Son of Bone or Bone 2: Electric Booglaloo and I woulda happily climbed aboard for another fanciful ride. But just doing something different isn't the sole reason to follow a creator you like: s'gotta be good and compelling too. I'm enjoying RASL quite a bit: Smith's giving us a tension-building world-hopping mystery of an extra-dimensional thief lost between realities. His characters are vibrantly drawn; tho' they may need a bit of fleshing out motivation-wise, it's still early days yet. That's my only quibble about the book: its quarterly schedule leaves a lot of down-time between issues, and this is one of the current books I honestly can't wait to see what happens next.


SIMPSONS COMICS #147: This comic is fun. "Never a disappointment, always a delight" is my usual feeling about Bongo's line of Simpsons comics, and this issue is as almost always, genuinely funny and fast-paced. At the same time it's dense with dialogue and visual and verbal jokes: this is not a comic you whip through in three minutes, and if you are, you're missing lots of the fun. While Lisa conducts a science fair experiment with startling results (could her mother really be someone other than Marge?), Bart and Milhouse challenge each other to stay awake for two weeks. I love me some homer, but it's always a delight when the brightest little Simpson takes the spotlight, and Lisa's tale is well-paced with a funny twist to the ending. And it's a Chuck Dixon comic! Whodathunkit?!? More proof that if you're not reading Simpsons Comics, you're missing out on the most consistently fun four-color experience at your comic book store!


DOCTOR WHO: THE FORGOTTEN #2: This comic is fun. I've praised Rich Morris's wonderful whimsical "The Ten Doctors," his webcomic that's a loving tribute to those great Doctor Who episodes of yesteryear where all the incarnations of our favorite Time Lord are spotlighted in front of the BBC cameras. (It's still going strong and Rich is currently on page 125; don't miss the fun!) Last year the BBC brought back the tradition of Multiple Doctors with its David Tennant/Peter Davison team-up "Time Crash", and there's rumours that all seven current living Doctors—yes, even Tom Baker, the story goes—will join Tennant on screen for an upcoming episode. In the meantime, you can whet you appetite with Doctor Who: The Forgotten, a clever and nostalgic story of the Tenth Doctor facing off against a mysterious enemy that's forcing him to remember previously-untold adventures from his past nine incarnations. It's very lovingly and authentically done (the Second Doctor flashback in this issue is even done in black-and-white) and shows a great knowledge and love of the Doctor, past and present: dialogue, action, and humor is spot-on, and everyone from Martha Jones to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart...and faithful old Bessie...has their moment in the spotlight. I've not been a huge fan of IDW's movie/TV comic tie-ins, even the previous Doctor Who series, but The Forgotten is great fun and a wonderful romp, even if the only Doctor you know is the current one. That's why DOCTOR WHO: THE FORGOTTEN #2 is the most fun comic of the week, don't you know!