Freak Comics

A recent comment reminded me of an article I wrote about the death of Captain America. I invited the general public to get over it. It seemed the day Captain America #25 was released the media couldn’t keep from talking about it.
Some fans of Captain America went in to a depression, some lashed out at Marvel, and some (myself included) accused Marvel of sensationalism simply to make an extra dollar.

That was at the beginning of March in 2007.
Prior to that, civil war had erupted between Earth’s heroes who were split on an issue involving their rights. Tony Stark (Iron Man) led the way in getting the government to pass a law stating that all super powered humans had to register their secret identity and be trained and employed by the government.
While Iron Man led the pro-registration side, Captain America led the anti-registration underground rebels.

I was down on Civil War and claimed it was boring. I still feel this way. The concept was brilliant, but the execution was drawn out and over-hyped. However the final outcome (the death of Captain America) and after effects have proved to be very interesting indeed. The stories that have come from Civil War made the whole event worth while.

I till say that Marvel killed Captain America for two reasons:

1. In real life they killed him to make more money on comic book sales.

2. In the comic book world he died by the hands of a former agent of shield (agent 13) who was being mind controlled by Dr Faustus. He was first wounded by a sniper as climbed the steps of a courthouse in handcuffs after turning himself in to Tony Stark.

The death of Steve Rogers (Captain America) has only proved to enhance the Captain America comic book. In fact, I actually look forward to reading this comic book. Instead of halting the comic (Superman style) the stories have focused in on Bucky, Captain America’s sidekick in World War II, the Red Skull (a long time enemy of the Cap) Agent 13 (Captain America’s killer) and several other characters. Written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Steve Epting, this comic book has a very nice conspiracy / espionage feeling to it.

Many other Marvel titles are really worth your money right now, which brings me to my final point.
During the course of this blog I have been somewhat down on Marvel in general for such things as the House of M, and just having bad stories in general. Recently I’ve reversed my feelings. Marvel is pumping out some high quality stories, you just have to buy the right ones.
X-Factor, Iron Fist, Captain America… even Iron Man are all very well written and illustrated comic books. Good job Marvel, and keep up the good work.

Months ago I talked about Punisher War Journal and how it’s one of my favorite comics. It’s action packed, well written, and constantly considers the blurry line of justice.

World War Hulk has been a pretty decent read thus far, albeit rather slow moving. I’m not much for tie-ins and as soon as I saw that World War Hulk would be crossing over with my beloved Punisher War Journal I expected a boring issue. Thankfully I wasn’t bored in the least.

Punisher War Journal #12: World War Frank, was a fun one-shot story. It managed to show Frank as a warrior and a protector. A blood thirsty vigilante with the people’s best interests in mind.

In this issue, Frank (Punisher) arrives in New York after a massive evacuation of the city only to find it overrun with Sakaar warriors… and a few stragglers who were left behind in the city. Frank does his part in helping the left-overs escape, while fending of hoards of Sakaar.
The final battle between Punisher and Mung the Inconceivable is gratifyingly gory, and Frank’s temporary new suit looks incredible. I would actually like to see that thing stick around for a while.

Most importantly, Punisher War Journal manages to remain true to it’s style even while crossing over with World War Hulk. That’s not easy to accomplish, and certainly isn’t seen in too many titles.

Years ago I saw this graphic novel at the comic book shop. I flipped through it a few times, but never did read it. The title, 30 Days of Night, and the image on the cover kept drawing me to it, but I just couldn’t find enough gumption to actually purchase it.
Now it’s been made in to a major motion picture and this slightly piqued my interest, yet still not enough to purchase the book.

A few days ago a coworker stopped by my desk and handed me his newly purchased copy. He warned me that it only took him 15 minutes to read, but it had a great concept.

After reading this book I can understand why it was made in to a movie, but I simply can’t see what all the adulation heaped upon Steve Niles is for.
The concept is definitely an interesting and somewhat unique one. Alaska has 30 days in which the sun does not rise, so what better place for vampires to gather and feast upon the blood of the living?
The execution of this is concept however is horrible.
30 Days of Night lends itself well to a movie format. But therein lies the problem. It feels as though it was made simply to become a movie. In fact, I felt as though I was looking at the movie’s storyboard with word balloons thrown in for fun.
The dialogue is contrived at best, the characters have no soul, and the art, while edgy, simply servers to further obscure the identities of the characters, making them that much easier to translate to the big screen, and that much harder to relate to.

Being disconnected from the characters is never a good thing in a comic book. Psychotic vampires who storm around town and kill everyone in sight isn’t frightening, it’s just gory without a point.

The plot, like the characters, feels empty and there are many unanswered holes in it.
For instance, why did the main vampire, Vincent, seem to support the group meeting in Alaska if he thought it was a terrible idea, only to show up later and shut the whole thing down? Why did the guy from New Orleans risk his life to send vampire photos back to his mother? And who was his mother anyway?
This was all just a vague attempt at setting up sequels, of which there are plenty.

Then there were outright mistakes made. Why on Earth did the main character, Ebb, claim that the only way he had seen a vampire killed was by another vampire, when seconds prior to that statement he and the others in his group killed a vampire? Steve Niles must take the reader for a complete dolt.
Whole chunks of the story felt like they were missing. But why fill in the blanks when the movie writers can do that for you?

30 Days of Night is a lazily written graphic novel. It’s a piss poor excuse for a comic book and gives independent writers a bad name. It was however, a successful attempt at getting an idea in to main stream hollywood and making a lot of money for Mr. Niles. And if the movie is a success, it will also help to generate interest in comic books in general, so I guess it’s not all bad… just mostly bad.