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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #11
17 August 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"I read comic books in the local luncheonette while eating lunch when I was
actively teaching at the Boston U. School of Medicine. Donald Duck was my
favorite." -Isaac Asimov
C'mon, people! If Duck comics were good for Isaac Asimov, why aren't they
good enough for you?!?
OK, enough of the soapbox for this week. Back to reviews and commentary.
UPDATE:
Well, Erik Larsen has done it again - he's driven off another God-fearing
comic book artist. ;-) First it was Vic Bridges, who has all but sworn off
comics since his run on FREAK FORCE. Now it's David Williams, who was
supposed to do THE SAVAGE DRAGON: SEX & VIOLENCE, but bowed out because he
didn't think he could handle the material, which involved a strip bar. (This
is in addition to Jerome Moore, who walked off of TRANSMETROPOLITAN for
similar reasons.)
Speaking of which, though, SEX & VIOLENCE is an excellent comic for a number
of reasons. Tom and Mary Bierbaum write it. Adam Hughes laid it out. Rick
Mays does an excellent job in drawing it. And it's an important book in the
Dragon mythos.
Erik Larsen also spends a few pages in the back reprinting much of Adam
Hughes' sketchbooks on this series, as well as his layouts for it. (Adam
Hughes eventually just sorta stopped drawing it and Larsen searched elsewhere
for help.) It's great process material for you process junkies.
Rob Liefeld sure does draw lots of scratchy little lines, doesn't it? I
mean, sure he always has, but lately it seems to be getting worse. The cover
to SUPREME #51 is a closeup of Supreme's face. Ignoring for a moment the way
it looks distorted (the left side of Supreme's face should sit back more,
shouldn't it?), there are a ton of needless lines. And the cover for
FIGHTING AMERICAN #1 is even worse. Check it out for yourself. To give
credit where credit is due, though, I should note that Liefeld actually draws
lower eyelashes.
FREAK FORCE #3 was a pleasant surprise. The cover made me yawn. We've seen
that particular dog bark before. And I wasn't sure what we were in for going
in. But coming out, I liked it. Larsen - with the help of scripter
extraordinaire Eric Stephenson - threw in a few last minute curveballs to
keep things interesting and fresh. One involves Joey. The others -- well,
this is a spoiler-free column. Read it for yourself. Andy Kuhn still can't
draw Mako right, but at this point I'm used to it. =)
Speaking of Stephenson, I sure do miss NEWMEN. Forshame on the ever-evolving
plans of Extreme/Maximum/Awesome/Get-Back-To-Me-Next-Week for cancelling the
excellent story he had going there with Chris Sprouse.
STORMWATCH #50 and ASTRO CITY #9 both came out this week, both wrapping up
interesting and involving storylines. I loved them both. But there are
enough people already discussing them, so I'll leave it at that.
IMPULSE under writer William Messner-Loebs seems to, well, be meandering. No
doubt a large portion of this is due to the infernal crossover that is
GENESIS, but nothing strung together too well this thirtieth issue. The
stuff works well on its own (Carol's final comment at the end of the first
act sent me into hysterics) but when it's all done, you wonder what just
happened. Did I miss anything important? I don't know; maybe once this
tie-in is over we can go back to Impulse As Usual.
Hillary Clinton wouldn't like TRANSMETROPOLITAN #2 at all. People smoke in
it.
I've read some stuff in addition to comics lately. That is, I've been
reading Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION trilogy. I highly recommend them and can
even relate them to comics for you. The second half of SECOND FOUNDATION
stars a character named Arkady. She could be the star of LEAVE IT TO CHANCE.
Similar personalities there. I was reminded of the series as I read it.
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