Breakdowns 57 - The Ghost Is Clear

Breakdowns - The Ghost Is Clear

Okay, it's not that this is a new concern for most of you, but I'm just
getting into this stuff now, so...aren't the words for the acronym T.H.U.N.D.E.R. terrible? The Higher United Nations De... Is there a Lower United Nations version? And what "reserves" do they mean? These guys are in the thick of it all the time!

My fellow geeks, you may be happy to learn that I befriended an English professor who's a friend of another friend, and he really enjoyed the graphic novels I loaned him, Persepolis and Epileptic. I think he's even added one to his syllabus.

Kind of a short column. We're once again rejiggering Comic Book Galaxy, hence
the reason my column will be running here for a little while until we relaunch. Also, I will try to do more frequent comics-related entries rather than the weekly column, so expect a review or bit of commentary every day or two. At least that's the plan.

Skrull Kill Krew

Written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar

Penciled by Steve Yeowell. Inked by Chris Ivy

Published by Marvel Comics. $14.99

An unmitigated disaster from start to finish, Skrull Kill Krew represents possibly the least effort and inspiration from its writers. It's actually so bad it's almost inoffensive, just an inert object that's easy to dismiss and forget rather than a failure of great potential.

There is one clever idea here, that the original Skrull invaders hypnotized into thinking they were cows by the Fantastic Four in the first year of their comic, were subsequently turned into hamburger, which caused the spread of a bacterial infection to a handful who ate it, much like "Mad Cow Disease." The handful of victims we meet are all young and attractive, and now they are able, like Skrulls, to change their shape at will, to whatever they may want. There is no evidence they are dying; they can keep their original form (with one exception that occurs later), so naturally...they're really pissed off at the Skrulls for this horrible, wonderful gift, and they set about putting together a gang of Skrull killers to off as many of the aliens as they can find. Well, it started out as a good idea.

The leader is a dreadlocked black man named Ryder who is given then-popular Tarantinoesque dialogue in place of characterization. He's much like Jules from Pulp Fiction--he can switch from extreme violence to talk about his love of french fries. There is also a really cute high school girl with pointy magenta hair in a black, Tarantinoesque suit, a longhaired surfer dude whom Ryder inexplicably wants to call Cowboy until they settle on Dice, a very cute supermodel with bright green hair that in our world would keep her out of the supermodel biz, and a sorta-skinhead (it's really short) Brit (he says "Oi!" a couple times but it's hard to nail down the specific country) with a hammer named Nobbler (somehow I remember the name of the hammer and not him, which is telling) whose white supremacist beliefs somehow allow him to take orders from a black man with no complaints. That last bit suggests editorial tampering to me; it's hard to imagine a more obvious conflict for two characters and the fact there is never a payoff for it can't just be put down
to Morrison and Millar's laziness.

About half of the six issues are about gathering the team, which isn't that
interesting, so to punch things up we have Captain America at an airport waiting for the arrival of a Russian diplomat. The diplomat's plane is hijacked by terrorists, but coincidentally, the supermodel is on-board and her Skrull powers decide to kick in for the first time. The Krew show up for her and help stop the terrorists. For more coincidence, Cap tells Nick Fury about this strange new superteam, and Cap offers that the leader looks like he might be ex-S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps involved in "The Christmas Island Incident," whatever that is and however that can be determined by sight. Fury says that it "looks like Ryder has decided to emerge." Surely, if this had become an ongoing series, Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. would have tried to bring the Krew down, but as it is, it's just a time-filling subplot with no resolution.

Yeowell draws an adequate Captain America, apparently borrowing some poses from John Byrne's early '80s run on Cap's book, but for the most part the art is dreadful. Yeowell has a unique style that works best with facial closeups conveying emotional information. He's not a good action artist, and Ivy is not a good inker, period, deforming Yeowell's style in a misguided attempt to make this look like most of the other Marvel books of the mid-'90s. Neither are helped by some really sloppy writing that sometimes causes way too much action to be depicted on one page, resulting in the loss of critical transitional panels. Some other blunders include the art team not being able to convincingly draw the Krew's motorcycles, which they ride on much of the time, and Hydra leader Baron Strucker at times lools to be about seventeen.

Speaking of Strucker, the small amusements to be had in this book are unintentional, such as trying to figure out which writer contributed which idea. Millar's Nazi fixation is well-documented by now, so I'm crediting him with Strucker's pointless inclusion, while the idea of using Skrulls at all might be Morrison's, as it dovetails with his theme of self-reinvention.

Once the terrorism story is over, the writers have almost nothing left in the
tank, and the last issue is about an entire idyllic small town populated by
Skrulls awaiting invasion orders. It could have been fine, if there was some
element of menace or overwhelming odds, but no, the Krew goes through the over
3,000 citizens like a hot knife through Lime Jell-O. One really gets the sense
the six issue miniseries was cranked out over one giggly weekend.

The Call of the Wild

Adapted from the Jack London novel by Neil Kleid

Art by Alex Nino

Published by Puffin Graphics. $10.99 USD

I've always enjoyed London's work, this novel being at or near the top of the
list, so perhaps I'm biased towards it, but this really is one of the very
best "classics illustrated" ever produced. With a relatively luxurious page
count, Kleid is able to capture almost everything great from the book. It's a
constantly narrated story, but if Kleid had to condense or rewrite any of the
narration, I couldn't tell. It always has the London feel about it, and
remains a gripping story of man's cruelty and love, and a dog's loyalty
battling his wild instincts.

Nino does really fine work here, never cutting corners despite what must have
appeared to be a daunting length. It's true: as much of the story takes place
on snowy Alaskan trails, there isn't a lot of detail he has to draw, but he
proves his worth with a crafty old master's economy of line, getting across
everything he needs to with as few lines as necessary. Kleid and Nino make a
terrific team here.

Astonishing X-Men HC Vol. 1

Written by Joss Whedon

Art by John Cassaday

Published by Marvel Comics. $29.99 USD

Putting a hot other-media writer like the creator of Buffy and Firefly with a hot comics artist like Cassaday was a no-brainer in commercial terms, and it turns out to be a creative success as well. This hardcover collects their first two story arcs, the first dealing with a possible "cure" for the mutant gene and how the X-Men respond to that, and the second involving the revelation that the Danger Room--the longtime training facility of the team--has become sentient and bent on some kind of revenge against the team and Professor Xavier.

When you hire a big-name writer, generally the consolation given them for not
actually owning the work they do for you is that they can make dramatic changes to the current continuity if they wish. Whedon is not a guy out to change things for the sake of changing them, but he clearly does want to return the feel of the book back to the early '80s, when there was just one team of five or six and their characterizations and personal conflicts were quite clear, and a good deal of these conflicts were romantic. So we get a good deal of attention on the relationship between Scott and Emma, following in Grant Morrison's footsteps; the comparisons and contrasts of Wolverine and Beast, and most importantly, on returning member Kitty Pryde, who was in many ways the heart of the '80s team and who quite understandably feels very uncomfortable now in a team co-led by Emma, a longtime enemy. These are the most compelling parts of Whedon's stories.

Less compelling are supporting characters like Wing, who is a pawn in the cure
story and loses his power of flight, and Whedon's attempts at gravity and internal struggle for Beast as to whether or not to take the cure are average at best, and the Danger Room plot is a fine idea that in Morrison's hands might have yielded something weird and wonderful and is kind of corny here, like something Claremont would have hammered into one of the weaker Annuals.

Comparisons to Morrison are inevitable because Morrison was the last X-writer
to bring something fresh and new to the X-Men, even while paying tribute to the Claremont/Byrne run. Whedon pays just as much tribute but isn't an innovator, so what is on display here is usually very entertaining, funny, and sometimes touching, but it won't blow your mind. To call this the best X-book currently being published is true, but not that much of a compliment these days; it really should be the baseline of quality.

It's a good book and I have few complaints, but one I do have is that a good deal of its impact will be lost on those new to the X-Men. Yes, the silent scene where Colossus returns and runs right through the intangible Kitty is an emotional knockout and a great collaboration between writer and artist...but only if the reader already knows about their relationship. In fact, if one doesn't already have those fond memories of big farmboy Piotr and his more worldly but young girlfriend Kitty, he comes off as just about as boring as he was in retrospect. Kitty Pryde was written so well for so long by Chris Claremont that any character around her--Peter, Doug Ramsey, Pete Wisdom--becomes interesting due less to their own qualities than to the interest she invests in them. Also, Cassiday doesn't draw Colossus very
well.

That's one of his very few failings here. Don't expect the storytelling reach of Cassiday's Planetary work, but for fairly straight-up superheroics or jabbering in exotic settings, Cassiday is eminently qualified and gives good value for dollar, especially when matched with coloring partner Laura Martin. She always finds the right mood with her hues, and is one of the best to find the power in monochromatics. The hardcover has a nice interview with Cassiday about this work here that will be valuable to fans, though he is perhaps overly proud of some rather obvious covers.

Other extras include a loving Foreword by Brian K. Vaughan, some sketches and
unused art by Cassiday, and some very funny emails from Whedon to his editors
about what he wanted to do with the book that aren't at all true. It is probably very close to a labor of love that is yielding, if not groundbreaking work, at least work of a high quality of entertainment and a respect and understanding of its characters.