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Harbinger Wars #2 – Review

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

HARBINGER WARS #2

By: Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski (Writers), Clayton Henry (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: The kids from Generation Zero prepare for their final stand against whosoever would wish to bring them back in, as Bloodshot prepare to fight against Toyo Harada.

The Review: Before we even get down to it and review this little issue, I strongly urge people to actually go ahead and read the recap page, even if they think they got a pretty strong handle on things. Just look at it and see how many characters we’ve got in this event comic, as close to everyone here actually gets a scene, with close being the keyword here.
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Harbinger #11 – Review

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

HARBINGER #11

By: Joshua Dysart (Writer), Khari Evans, Trevor Hairsine (Artists), Ian Hannin (Colorist)

The Story: We get to know a little bit more about the ties between Project Rising Spirit and the Hayada Corporation, while we get some more exploration of the renegades and their plans for the future.

The Review: Harbinger has been a kind of weird title in the renewed Valiant universe. With most titles already having a direction of some kind, with X-O Manowar and the fight against the Vine, Bloodshot with Project Rising Spirits and so forth, they had a pretty strong direction providing us with a great plot and some very neat concepts for their part in the Valiant universe. However, Harbinger has been the odd duck in the row, with the antagonist being set up, albeit in an ambiguous way, as well as with its protagonists, giving us a book that evolved very slowly through its first year.

This may sound like an insult to the title, but it’s the contrary in fact, as this weird direction has been one of its greatest strength. By giving us an ambiguous villain in Toyo Harada and more human and definitely flawed characters with Peter Stanchek and the others, Joshua Dysart has given us a title that lets its readers get information while the story focuses a lot more on the characters. By making us much more aware of who these characters are Dysart makes the story more about them, making us care about what they go through and what they want as they experience and show us the world of the Harbingers and their weird power.
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Harbinger Wars #1 – Review

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

HARBINGER WARS #1

By: Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski (Writers), Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain, Mico Suayan (Artists), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: Project Rising Spirit is coping with the losses that resulted with Bloodshot removal of several of their psiot children, while Peter Stanchek is being prepared for his role in the upcoming conflict concerning those psiot children.

The Review: There are many types of event comics. There are those that grow naturally from a story, yet are much too big to just encompass their respective titles and there are those that are just big concepts that encompass the larger universe and that cannot be tattered to a single book to be told effectively. This may seem like a simplistic way to view the juggernauts that are event comics, but it is effective nonetheless. Valiant comics very first event, that is also a huge crossover, symbolizing the unification of their still building universe, is a little bit of both. Harbinger Wars grows from the storylines found in both Bloodshot and Harbinger, yet also entails a concept that is too large to be just told in any of these titles respectively.
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Unknown Soldier #25 – Review

Posted on November 8, 2010 by paladinking

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses comes face to face with Joseph Kony in the explosive series finale.

What’s Good: Though the mid-twenties has proven a frequent cancellation point for Vertigo series, the end has come too soon for Unknown Soldier.  With that said, it’s a relief that Joshua Dysart doesn’t appear to have compromised his original ending for the series.  The final scenes play out in fairly satisfying fashion and it feels like this really is the ending Dysart has always envisioned.

As a final issue, Unknown Soldier #25 is an interesting read that deals head-on with some of the core problems of its basic form: a fictional comic book based on a DC property colliding with a brutal, real world situation.  Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than this month, when Moses finally meets the head of the LRA, Joseph Kony; real world bad guy meets fictional crusader.  What occurs as a result is something that had me really respecting Dysart’s skill as a writer.  At first, it appears that we’re going to get another Inglourious Basterds, a sort of revenge fantasy in which we watch an invincible hero beat the holy hell out of a loathsome figure from our world.

Then, tragically, gut-wrenchingly, Dysart basically slaps us back to reality.  He brutally reminds us that this is all fantasy.  He makes our desired ending look downright silly, making us feel like fools to expect, or take such joy in, such an utterly ridiculous conclusion.  Joseph Kony truly exists and Moses, as a result, is horribly powerless in comparison.  To expect a fictional character to have any real effect on a real world figure, even in that character’s fictional world, is ludicrous and unrealistic.  It’s a brutal kind of chastisement from Dysart.
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What We’re Looking Forward To In November

Posted on October 31, 2010 by paladinking

Dean


There is a LOT to look forward to in November. For one thing, there is a lot of neat stuff in the Spider-Man world as Amazing Spider-Man kicks off its new “big” story line Big Time written by Dan Slott with art by Humberto Ramos. This is also the end of the thrice-monthly ASM with a rotating team of creators, so it should be interesting. Also in the Spidey-world, we get Spider-Girl #1 by Paul Tobin. This is not Mayday Parker (who could never find a stable audience) but Arana of Young Allies fame. If you like teenage drama, it should be fun. Finally, we get Osborn #1 by Kelly Sue Deconnick and Emma Rios (who are both really good) to see what Marvel’s favorite villain has been up to since Siege ended.

A few other things in Marvel that I’m looking forward to. She-Hulks #1 launches in November with art from Ryan Stegman. Stegman is a very gifted artist and he draws a mean She-Hulk, so this should be good. Although Invincible Iron Man has had slow pacing, the current story arc, Stark Resilient wraps up this month and Matt Fraction seems to have this title headed to a very good climactic battle. For all those Punisher fans who HATED Franken-Castle, you get plain, old, normal Punisher in the Blood #1 from Rick Remender. And finally, there is yet another X-book with Generation Hope. The idea for this book is to have Hope running around with all the “new mutants” who have had their powers come alive since Second Coming.

Over at DC the big news is in the Bat-books as we get 2 new Bruce Wayne titles: Batman, Inc. by Grant Morrison and Batman: The Dark Knight by David Finch. If you’re into Batman, these are going to be must reads. And….after much waiting and delay, we get Batwoman #0 by JH Williams, III. I am really excited for this book and eager to see if it can maintain the quality that Williams and Greg Rucka established during their run on Detective Comics last year. Also, just to prove it isn’t all about new Bat-books, we also get a whole new creative team on the venerable Detective Comics with Scott Snyder of American Vampire fame teaming up with Jock and Francesco Francavilla on what is sure to be very well done series of Dick Grayson stories.

Not a whole lot going on over at Image, but folks might want to take a look at Utopian #1 by Marc Guggenheim. The story is: “What happens after the heroes win and the world is saved?” Image has become the go-to publisher for many creators to do interesting things, so this has promise.

 

 

Alex

While I’m as excited about all the Grant Morrison stuff as the next guy, the Batman title that really has my eye is Detective Comics #871 by Scott Snyder and Jock. It’s an utterly fantastic creative team and Snyder’s promise of a realistic, CSI type Batman has me curious. Of course, there’s also Batwoman #0 by JH Williams III to consider, which anyone with a pulse should be excited for.

Outside of Batman, I find myself confronted by two relaunches of titles I’m either completely unfamiliar with and/or indifferent to. Yet I’m picking them both up. They are THUNDER Agents #1 by Nick Spencer and CAFU and Superboy #1 by Jeff Lemire and Pier Gallo. In both cases, it’s the creative teams that have me excited, crewed as they are by exciting new talent with writers that have proven track records outside the superhero realm.

At Marvel, it’s all about Spider-Man’s Big Time. Now bi-monthly with a steady, and good, creative team, I’m happy to be back aboard with Amazing Spider Man #648 and #649 with Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos. Hopefully big times are also good times. Meanwhile, Thor #617 by Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry has my attention as well, with its seeming promise of a reincarnated Loki. Fractions other book, Invincible Iron Man #32, also isn’t to be missed as it concludes the excellent slow-burn of “Stark Resilient” in explosive fashion.

Finally, it’s a big, but sad, month at Vertigo as two excellent titles reach their conclusions. Madame Xanadu #29 goes out with a bang as main series artist Amy Reeder returns for the farewell. Meanwhile,  Unknown Soldier #25 is sure to end things in bloody and tragic fashion, as Joshua Dysart’s fictional tale directly collides with a real world villain of the worst kind. On a happier note, Fables #100 is a giant-sized book of excitement featuring a mega-powered duel; it’s also a landmark for Vertigo, an imprint for whom longevity isn’t common.

 

SoldierHawk


So I’ve been harping on it since it was announced months ago, but my pick for November is, without question, Batwoman #0, the prelude to the new Batwoman ongoing series written and illustrated by J.H. Williams III. I’m quite literally X-ing the days off my calendar until this comes out. Kate Kane/Batwoman are fantastic characters and–perhaps even more importantly–she has a fabulous supporting cast surrounding her. Even leaving all that aside… MORE J.H. WILLIAMS III ARTWORK! That alone will be worth the cover price.

I’m also really, really looking forward both to the first Kill Shakespeare Trade (which collects Kill Shakespeare issues #1-6), and to issue #7. This series has been a gem (albeit a slightly rough one in spots) since its launch last April, and issue #6 set some very interesting plot points and characters into motion. I’m waiting with baited breath to see how this is going to play out, and what other famous Shakespeare creations might throw themselves into the mix.

 

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Unknown Soldier #23 – Review

Posted on August 30, 2010 by paladinking

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses/Subject Nine meets up with Jack and they plan their next move at a CIA base camp.

What’s Good: This month sees Jack at his most lovable.  It’s hard not to like the guy when he’s playing basketball with kids (and losing).  We also get to see more of his chemistry with Moses, which has always been great.  More than ever, there’s a barely concealed kind of affection and/or pity that Jack shows for his partner in crime.  Never before has the name “Kemo Sabe” felt so heavy.  It becomes a link for Jack to the Moses of old, an expression of tenderness, nostalgia, and regret.

Jack’s narration is similarly effective on an emotional level and, if this truly is the last we see of the character, a wonderful send-off.  The narration sees Jack go against his nature, and his confusion over this.  It takes an entire issue for Jack to figure out what’s wrong with him: he’s become a good Samaritan.  It’s a really great evolution of the character and carries just a touch of redemption and a fleck of gold in the character’s heart.  Seeing the character say farewell only made me all the sadder over Unknown Soldier’s fast approaching final issue.

Moses and Sera’s reunion is almost equally effective.  Dysart makes it painfully clear just how far apart these two characters have grown over the course of the series, while also suggesting that there’s no happy ending possible for this relationship.  It’s a tragic sequence that Dysart plays well; it’s as unfulfilling for the reader as it is for the characters, which I think is the point.  Ponticelli also does a great job illustrating the crucial facial expressions and emotions.
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Unknown Soldier #21 – Review

Posted on July 6, 2010 by paladinking

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Rick Veitch (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: The “life” of one AK-47 is followed from creation to present day.

What’s Good: In encapsulating the history of an AK-47, Dysart has to traverse quite a bit of time over the course of this one-shot.  The result is an issue that has a truly panoramic feel to it.  From decade to decade and period to period, Dysart’s script really manages to deliver the sense of time, and history, passing.  This makes the book feel big and fairly epic in its scope despite its focus on something mundane (a single rifle).

Dysart makes the surprising choice of having the gun itself narrate its history, which takes a little getting used to but is also a gamble that ultimately pays off in its sheer creativity.  The gun’s voice is an interesting one; it’s nuanced and complex enough to seem remarkably human, if cold.  It seems surprisingly adverse to slaughter and violence, feeling more content in its role as liberator or protector than as killer.  It also has what seems almost to be a touch of ego.  It appears irritated to be handled by children or used as a “starter gun” for a young boy.

This irritation also shows the gun’s unique ethics, or lack there of.  While it sounds mildly offended at being handled by children, this seems to be a purely professional issue, one totally unrelated to ethics.  Yet, of course, this contrasts wonderfully with the gun’s ideal use for itself, as a barely used tool of protection for an isolated farmer.  What results is a fascinatingly equivocal and contradictory.  The gun would prefer to be kept in peace, unfired, but has little problem with being involved in heinous violence.  Essentially, Dysart makes it clear that the gun’s morality does exist, if only in subtle flickerings, but is completely different from a human’s. This leads to a really great, self-deprecating ending for the issue where the gun reminds us of this very fact.

Veitch’s art is really enjoyable, as he does very well in maintaining the spirit of the series and the style established for it by Ponticelli.  Still, Veitch’s work provides a certain freshness for the series while providing it with an accessible, easier going feel.  He also makes great use of shadows and lighting, using both to get across the African landscape.  Veitch also shows an uncanny awareness of when best to remove a background and have a panel show its image against a blank color for dramatic effect.
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Unknown Soldier #20 – Review

Posted on May 31, 2010 by paladinking

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: Moses and a beleaguered family make a last stand against the Karamojong cattle raiders.

What’s Good: With Unknown Soldier’s cancellation at issue #25, some big developments happen at the end of this issue that starts to set-up the series’ conclusion.  The most significant, and potentially the most disturbing, of these events is the final fate of Moses Lwanga’s personality, which has been battling for consciousness with the Unknown Soldier voice within his mind.  In typical fashion for this series, what happens is tragic, but also beautifully scripted by Dysart and rendered by Ponticelli.  What occurs physically on the page as Moses recedes is perfectly symbolic with what is occurring internally, there’s even a sense of suicide.  It’s very, very well done and I ended feeling a mix of disappointed, concerned, and saddened.

Most of the issue, however, sees Moses and a family of Karamojong desperately attempting to hold their ground against wave after wave of homicidal cattle raiders.  It’s rather neat seeing Dysart make use of military strategy, as Moses holds higher ground, positions his defenders, and attempts to predict the enemy’s attack patterns.  The trick Moses uses to get the family out is always rather clever; as one of the character’s points out, it’s the sort of ploy that one would see perpetrated by the tricksters of myth and folklore.
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Unknown Soldier #18 – Review

Posted on April 3, 2010 by paladinking

by Joshua Dysart (writer), Alberto Ponticelli (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)

The Story: As his mind continues to unravel, Moses prepares to make the trade: medicine for rifles.

What’s Good: All told, this is an astoundingly good issue of Unknown Soldier, effectively balancing Moses’ personal struggles with the more public, social issues at stake in Dysart’s comic, something that has probably been the biggest challenge for the series.  It does so through being an outstanding tragedy on both fronts.

With Moses, the sense of tragedy is bitterly disappointing; Dysart makes it hard not to feel bad for the guy.  I won’t spoil anything, but this month really gives off that classic “just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in” theme that great tragedy always strives for.  So much of the progress Moses thought he was making turns out to be an illusion, with the only question being to what extent.  Clearly, his consciousness is decaying and what’s worse is that Moses is apparently less aware and less able to control that deterioration than any of us thought.  Psychologically speaking, this is the lowest and most precarious he has ever been.  It’s horrifying, particularly when you realize the scope of these new introspective developments.

On a cultural level, Dysart gives us the sort of tragedy that is simply paralyzing, depressing even.  He says a lot both about the nature of humanity when desperation strikes, as well as the demons of superstition that haunt and madden the Acholi people.  As hope is lost, the people fall back to outrageous folklore, leading them to senseless bloodshed.  In many respects, they are driven to this due to their loss of hope, but their acts also lead to a loss of hope in the reader; it all seems so unpreventable and irreparable with the circumstances being what they are.

Dysart also effectively utilizes the theme of “man and boy.”  The relationship of Moses and Paul reaches its inevitable end this issue, and the resulting conversation between the two is easily one of the most memorable and touching moments of the book.  While emotional, it also plays up the themes of innocence vs. experience and the necessity of hope.  It is incredibly moving to see Moses speak of the death of hope in the IDP camp, only to attempt to instill hope in Paul, painting an image of normal life that looks like paradise. The dichotomy that Dysart has been setting up between Moses and Paul has never been more striking; one has a future, the other does not.

While Dysart works wonders this month, Ponticelli continues to amaze me since changing the style and direction of his art.  I adore this dusty, painted feel he’s been employing and feel that it makes the book look much more refined, polished, and high level.  The murky, less distinct nature of it also lends well to Moses’  increasingly confused mental state.
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