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Episode 1358 Talkback: OTR on Time Warp #1,East of West #1,Green Hornet #1, Batman & Red Robin #19
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Time for some discussion on some recent comics. We talk about, in some detail, Time Warp #1, East of West #1, Green Hornet #1 and Batman & Robin #19. (1:22:18)
Listen here.
Listen here.
Comments
It's an important distinction.
M
I loved Batman and Red Robin #19. I honestly didn't think the "WTF" moment was the cover though. I know that's what most people would have thought but that moment was really want Batman was planning to do with Frankenstein and I thought it was really out of character which made it all the more tragic and sad. I will say that this issue has me interested in picking up any available trades of Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. so that's something. I'm looking forward to the next four issues of this story arc as Bruce goes through the 5 stages of grief. Should be interesting. Next issue we get anger with Jason Todd. That should be pretty damn tense.
If you're interested, you can check out some of those old radio shows in the link below:
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“It’s Full of Demons” had probably my favorite art of the book. I’ve been an admirer of Tom’s art for a long time. Like Murd, I figured out the twist as soon as I saw the hospital sign on page four. Of course, I’ve read a lot of alternate history, and the core of this plot is actually a fairly common one, as evidenced by the final story in the book. In fact, I have a whole book of short stories that play around with the same basic concept. Despite that though, the story was well told, so I had no problem with it.
I think “I Have What You Need” was the weakest story in the book. While I loved the artwork by Gael Bertrand, I thought the characters were poorly developed. The villain was comically villainous just so the ending would feel justified. And I wasn’t sure what was up with the two male customers. It’s hard for me to state my issue without giving the ending away, but I’ll just say that their happy ending was completely out of left field and ran in complete contradiction to their earlier actions and feelings.
“The Grudge” was an average story with nice artwork. Unlike you though, @Murd, I saw it as not so much an indictment of the potential pitfalls of science and those who practice it, but an indictment of a society based on consumerism and “the next big thing.” The scientists wanted to make grand discoveries to further mankind’s knowledge of the universe, but mankind only responded to the surface flash. I think the main point of the story was that mankind generally misses the forest for the trees.
I’ve read all of this wave of anthology books, so I’d read the first “Deadboy Detectives” story. But it was so long ago when I read it, I didn’t fully remember what was going on until halfway through the story. I have no doubt that anyone who didn’t read the first part got nothing from this one. I wonder if they’ll reprint the story in a one-shot once it’s finished.
I recognized M.K. Perker, the artist of “She’s Not There,” from his stint as a finisher/inker on Unwritten a while back. He also penciled Air, which I did not read. I liked his work here quite a bit. I had no problem with the ending per se, but it would have been much more effective if we had been given some small glimpse as to what she was capable of doing in her ghostly state. As it is, you’re not really sure she’ll even be able to exact any measure of revenge. It loses points for me because of that.
“00:00:03:00” was... okay. An interesting concept but not as gut-wrenching as it perhaps it should have been.
“Warning Danger” was my favorite story on the whole. I love Kindt’s work for the most part, especially the different ways he experiments with storytelling. The artwork was neck-and-neck with Tom Fowler’s as my favorite of the book. The story itself wasn’t exceptionally original, but the way it was told through the descriptions of the weaponry (some brilliant ideas there too) made all the difference.
“The Principle” was good, but, as I said, I’ve read this type of thing before. The artwork reminded me of Rian Hughes, which is never a bad thing, and the story was well told if predictable.
Overall, I think there’s enough here to justify the buy. I’m a big fan of the anthology format, even I never expect to enjoy every story. Short stories are not easily done well in comics. You really have to have a strong, basic concept and laser-focus everything on that idea, and most of the stories here were able to do that fairly well.
A lot of the GH stories I've read, seen, or heard (even those I've picked up from Dynamite) tend to follow the same basic plotline of "the Green Hornet busts a racket by infiltrating it," which is great and all, certainly the original M.O. of the character. But after a while it does get a little old and you need to find a new wrinkle to keep it interesting. I loved what I read of the Now Comics series (especially under Ron Fortier's pen) because of the family legacy angle he introduced (legacies, actually, as the Katos passed their roles down just as the Reids did). This seems like it might be similarly interesting.
East of West: darn it, I only ordered this first issue, but I liked it soooooo...I guess I'll have to pick up 2 and 3 later. BUY!
Green hornet: ho-hum, but sort of interesting. BORROW!
Batman and Red Robin #19: I don't remember why I ordered this, but I liked it a lot!