Anomaly #2, $3.95 US, published by Brass Ring Productions
Writer & Artist: Various; Cover: Filip Sablik
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Published annually, Anomaly is an anthology of stories by aspiring comic book writers and artists. As with the best of anthologies, issue #2 contains a diverse selection of material. It also contains work of varied quality. But it's important to remember that the creators are newcomers to sequential fiction. Regard this as an experiment in progress. Bearing that in mind, I hope that any criticisms I offer in this review are of the constructive type. As something of an aspiring writer myself, the last thing I want to do is callously take a wrecking ball to someone else's creative works!
The first story, "Sting of the Scorpion," is written by Ellen Topkis, with art by Fabian Chow & Seaward Tuthill. The focus is on a part-time superhero who finds herself being pursued by an aggressive government recruiter who won't take "no" for an answer. Chow & Tuthill's artwork is crisp and detailed, with some nice layouts. Topkis' plot, while interesting, unfortunately feels rushed. It seems like a twenty or thirty page story that was crammed into only eight pages. But my major problem is with the lettering by Johnny Lowe. The word balloons are placed in such a way that I found it difficult to know what order I was supposed to be reading them in. I was constantly searching through the captions trying to figure out what piece of dialogue came next. Lowe needs to consider the positioning of his lettering more carefully in the future.
I'm not sure what to make of the second story, "The Sincerest Form of Flattery," written by Raymond Brown, with pencils by Felipe Chow, and inks by Joe Needom and Shane Colclough. It seems to be some sort of spoof of the X-Men using circus sideshow performers & human oddities. Judging by the title, it's probably a parody. Unfortunately, I'm puzzled as to exactly what point Brown was trying to make. Chow's pencilling is a bit on the rough side, but shows promise. He does a good job depicting facial expressions. He just needs to work more on background details.
Johnny Lowe contributes several oddball one-page strips that depict such activities as getting whacked in the crotch with a pool stick, robbing a corpse to get back a loan, and stinking up the workplace with horrific gaseous emissions! What does it all mean? Damned if I know. I'll be the first to admit that I've never been fond of material such as this, preferring more, shall we say, plot-oriented stories. This does seem like the type of work that would appeal to fans of a more "underground" style, so to speak.
"Hero is a Four Letter Word" is an interesting cross of private eye fiction and super-heroics, written by Dennis Shumate and drawn by Seaward Tuthill. Private investigator Jack Cotton is hired by a suspicious woman to find out if her boyfriend is having an affair. Instead, Cotton discovers that said boyfriend is actually a superhero, which is why he is always late and disappearing. From there, the story takes even more unexpected twists. The basic idea of the story is clever. However, like the first story in Anomaly #2, "Hero" also suffers from not having enough room to naturally develop. Events are rushed, and characters' actions seem to come out of nowhere with little explanation or reasoning. Clearly this is a case of a good idea stunted by its format. Artwise, Tuthill's work is well-done. He is able to draw ordinary people and everyday settings. Once the "superhero" elements enter the story, the art becomes rather loose and cartoony. Sort of the opposite of many other artists, who can draw superheroes, but little else. Tuthill may not be suited to superhero work, at least at the moment, but he has a good sense of storytelling and detail. Besides, there are plenty of other genres in comic books besides superheroes.
Dan Hoagland's story "The Hitch" is about a guy named Jake picking up a hitchhiker who happens to be a superhero. This leads to an interesting conversation as the hero discusses his motivations and experiences with Jake. It looks at the whole notion of dressing up in tights and fighting supervillains in such an offhand, plausible manner that the story is believable. The hero, Hipshot, after years of fighting crime, is tired and worn-out. He wants a change, and he's searching for a new direction in life. Certainly anyone who has ever been at the same job for too long and wants a change can sympathize. Hoagland manages to capture that feeling very well. The ending, while a bit hokey, makes sense. The only complaint I have is that Hoagland needs to work on his figures more. In particular, the faces he draws are rather elongated and unnatural-looking.
"Upgrade" by Johnny Lowe and Richard Garcia, is a brief sci-fi tale with a surprise ending, reminiscent of some of EC Comics' Weird Science material. It's not an original idea, but it's executed well. Unfortunately, like several other features in this book, it suffers from not having enough space to develop.
Finally, there is "A Christmas Story, Page One," by Caleb Gerard, Filip Sablik, and Katie Commodore. It starts in a morgue, where a ghost is looking at his dead body. Thereafter, out on the street, he meets another ghost, who gives him a rundown on the afterlife. It rambles on a bit, until the two arrive at a coffee shop. The story really picked up here. Gerard has some interesting, humorous observations on the whole Starbucks atmosphere. I enjoyed the contemplation about sitting around coffee shops sipping overpriced double mochas. It is so banal an activity, yet it has become so pervasive in our culture. Gerard makes the point well by showing that even the dead now find it natural to head over to the local espresso bar to talk things over. Too bad the story ends with a note of "To be continued… right?" Just when it was getting good. Another story, I fear, that suffered from a lack of space. It's a shame that the rest of the story won't appear until the next annual edition of Anomaly.
The entire package is topped off by a wraparound cover by Filip Sablik. Colored in somber, moody brown tones, it's quite striking, and suits the book well.
Overall, the creators of Anomaly #2 show definite potential. If there was one glaring problem, it was that most of the stories would have benefited from more pages. Perhaps in future editions, the book could have fewer, slightly longer stories. Not an ideal solution, I realize, as it ends up excluding other material. Either that, or Brass Ring could increase the total number of pages, if it's economically feasible. In terms of the artwork, I think there is room for some improvement, and hopefully these artists will grow and develop as they do more work.
(A side note: feel free to take my art critiques in this review with a grain of salt. After all, I can't even draw a straight line!)
Excalibur # 1, $2.99 US, published by Marvel Comics
Writer: Ben Raab; Pencils: Pablo Raimondi; Inks: Walden Wong
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
As a regular reader of the original Excalibur ongoing series (it was one of the first comic books I bought monthly), the release of this four issue miniseries was something of a pleasant surprise. I was a bit apprehensive, though, as the original series had had more creative ups and downs than a roller coaster.
The series had started off strongly with the creative team of Chris Claremont & Alan Davis. By the middle of the second year, though, things started to flounder. First Davis left the book, leaving a spate of fill-in artists to take up the slack. Then he came back for a few issues, only to leave again, resulting in more fill-in artists. Claremont's writing got confusing with the seemingly never-ending "Cross Time Caper," and then he left, leaving lots of dangling subplots. Various writers filled in for the next few months. Claremont came back to write a three-part wrap-up that really didn't resolve much. Scott Lobdell wrote the next several issues. Then the high point for the book came, in the form of Alan Davis' run as writer & penciler. Excalibur again became exciting, humorous, and unpredictable. Unfortunately, after Davis left, the title took a nosedive. Half the team's membership was abruptly dumped in favor of more mutant characters, the creative team rotated several times, and the book became just another X-Men spin-off that got tangled up in its parent title's convoluted storylines. Then up-and-coming writer Warren Ellis stepped up to bat a year later and managed to pull the book out of its slump with some very interesting storylines. After Ellis left, Ben Raab took over writing chores. Most of his work on Excalibur left me unimpressed, although he definitely pulled things together and wrote some good stories in the last several months before the book was cancelled.
That brings us to the first issue of the new Excalibur, with Ben Raab once again writing. Fortunately, the quality of this issue matches that of the end of his previous run, and he has managed to capture much of the magic of the series' high points. The art by Pablo Raimondi & Walden Wong is gorgeous and detailed. I've seen Ramondi's work before, and he seems to have improved greatly. Perhaps it's Wong's inking, but the art has a look reminiscent of Michael Golden's work, without being derivative.
The central character of the story is Brian Braddock, aka Captain Britain, who received a much-maligned and inconsistant treatment in the later years of Excalibur. First he was lost in the timestream. When he came back, he was calling himself Britanic, wearing a bland costume and speaking in an awful pseudo-Shakespearean style. Then he regained his normal speech, but decided to become the team's resident scientist. Then he lost his powers. Then he wandered the world for a while. Finally, he returned to England and married his long-time love Meggan. In retrospect, some of this was interesting characterization, especially when Brian decided to return to the field of science, instead of just being the big strong guy who went around bashing people. Warren Ellis was responsible for Brian the scientist, and in this we can see the unconventional approach to superheroics that would later bring him distinction on Stormwatch and The Authority. However, other changes were less-inspired (i.e. Britanic). And at the time, it seemed like an unending sucession of hatchet jobs on a character who was being either abused or neglected in favor of more generic mutant-type characters who had closer ties to the X-Men.
As the first issue of the miniseries opens, Brian is still powerless. He is conducting scientific research at his labs in Dartmoor, and living the married life with Meggan. Unfortunately, Brian is having dreams that the ghosts of the interdimensional Captain Britain Corps are haunting him for not being there in the hour of their need. He is beginning to worry that the dreams are telling him he is neglecting his duties as Captain Britain. This appears to be confirmed when an old ally arrives to inform him that Roma, patron of the Corps, has apparently gone mad and slain her forces. Brian decides that, though powerless, he must fulfill his duty as Captain Britain and investigate Roma's dimension. All the aspects of the character are present here. He is a reluctant hero who nevertheless has a sense of duty. He is deeply interested in science. And he is somewhat boorish and stubborn. In the past, he was typically characterized by one of these aspects at a time. Here, these various disparate elements are successfully pulled together by Raab.
The other three main characters in the Excalibur miniseries are Meggan, Psylocke, and the Black Knight. Certainly an interesting selection, given that other, more high-profile characters such as Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Colossus were once members of the team. But that's actually a good thing, as those three already regularly appear in the X-Men books. Meggan and the Black Knight, in contrast, have both been absent from ongoing series for a while. And, while Psylocke is an X-Man, she is also Brian Braddock's sister. Likewise, Meggan is Brian's wife, and the Black Knight is an old friend. The result is an assembly of characters with personal connections and shared histories, and it makes sense that they have gathered together.
If there is one drawback to the focus on Captain Britain and his close friends & family, it's that the story may be a bit impenetrable to the casual reader. You can tell from my observations above that Captain Britain had a lot happen to him in the original Excalibur title. Add to that all the events from his British-published adventures in the 70s and 80s, and you have a very complicated back story. Raab does his best to succinctly summarize the character's history in a four page flashback. But I can't help thinking someone unfamiliar with Captain Britain might be overwhelmed.
Another problem is the re-appearance of Widget, the odd robotic member of Excalibur whose origins and powers have never been explained in any coherent manner. I read practically the entire run of Excalibur and I never figured it out. Evidently Widget has some connection to the future version of X-Man Kitty Pryde from the "Days of Futures Past" storyline. Considering the aformentioned backstory involving Captain Britain, I don't know if was a wise idea to use another character with ties to a completely different convoluted storyline! That Widget is here acting as a villain further complicates the character. Hopefully Raab will manage to fit in some needed exposition regarding Widget before this miniseries ends.
Finally, perhaps I'm nitpicking, but some of the "English" dialogue that Raab writes is pretty cheesy. I mean, does anybody in Britain actually say "crikey" anymore?
Anyway, regardless of some weak points and a somewhat continuity-heavy plot, the first issue of the Excalibur miniseries was promising. I hope that the next three issues will, at the very least, maintain the quality of the first, if not improving on it.