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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #17
28 September 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"Augie's Top 21"
In case you're just joining us. . . Two weeks ago I began to pick out my top
20 books of the year so far. It took a lot of doing. My first pass through
could only narrow the list down so far. (43, I think.) So I began to hack
and slash at the list in that column (#15, for you completists.) Even that
was unsuccessful. I could only limit myself to 21.
So we arrive this week at my top 21 list. It would be impossible to rank
these books 1 - 21. But since I know people love to do that and to read
that, I will rank these books in groups of ten.
But before we go to the top 21, I miscounted last time. I didn't eliminate
two other books, so I hereby eliminate the excellent BATMAN & ROBIN
ADVENTURES, and Warren Ellis' run on DV8. The latter for inconsistency and
the occasional feeling of "Yeah, but where is this going?" and the former for
no good reason, really. It just isn't one that, for whatever reason, I
can get excited about every week, although I do enjoy reading it immensely.
So books 11 - 21 are, in no particular order:
The WILDC.A.T.s/X-MEN Crossovers. There have been three produced so far,
with a promise of a fourth. The first three featured art by Travis Charest,
Jim Lee, and Adam Hughes, with stories by Scott Lobdell and James Robinson.
These books are small-scale crossovers, for the first two issues, at least,
done at various points in the characters' lives. The stories are
interesting, often cleverly arranged, and fun to read, as a fan of the older
X-Men issues. The art is unspeakably beautiful. Travis Charest's
hyper-detailed line work along with an excellent color scheme made his issue
look like still photographs from 80 years ago. Very impressive. Jim Lee's
issue contained the best and least-rushed-looking art I've seen from him
since perhaps the early teen issues of WildC.A.T.s. Adam Hughes' stuff is,
well, Adam Hughes. What more need be said? The upcoming fourth issue
is written by Warren Ellis, so that should just solidify this ranking.
Jim Valentino's A TOUCH OF SILVER is the at turns heart-wrenching and
fantasy-affirming autobiographical comic at the head of Image's so-called
non-line. It's bi-monthly, black and white, and pure heart. I've never been
one for autobiographical comics, to tell you the truth. But this one works.
DAREDEVIL lost Karl Kesel and I thought it was a goner. They brought in some
no-name Joe Kelly to write it and Cary Nord left. Well, then Gene Colan came
on to pencil and Joe Kelly turns out to be the find of the decade,
writing-wise. Daredevil is now an interesting amalgamation of Kesel's
wise-cracking Man Without Fear with some grit and angst from Frank Miller
mixed in. They sound like two polar opposites, but they work together well.
And Gene Colan's art is always a joy to look at.
While we're speaking of Joe Kelly, we should also not forget to put
on this list DEAD-POOL, which he's been at the helm of now for 11 issues.
It's a fun comic. Quirky. Sarcastic. Wise-cracking. Hip. Heavily
pop-culture oriented. Funny. Interesting. Involving. It's the
only X-comic I read and with good reason. For one thing, it stands on its
own. There haven't been any crossovers yet with the rest of the books and
there aren't any plans to, that we know of. It's a great book, the story of
a villain trying hard to be a hero to win the love of his life, but who keeps
falling back into his routine.
Don't forget to look up the DAREDEVIL/DEAD-POOL ANNUAL crossover that Kelly
wrote and Bernard Chang drew. This book was wonderful. The dialogue is
sharp and strong, and the story is involving, and winds its way back to
Dead-Pool's book. Some are calling it the best comic of the year. I don't
think I'd go quite that far, but I can understand their argument.
Kurt Busiek breaks on to the list with UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN, the late
lamented, under-a-dollar Spidey series taking place in the past, filling in
the gaps of continuity. All the while, the stories were interesting in and
of themselves. The art by (mostly) Pat Oliffe was just classic. And the
guest-artists ain't bad, either, including Ron Frenz and John Romita Sr.
Pick up the trade paperback of the first few issues and then get cracking at
your local back issue bins.
The most under-rated and underappreciated book of the year, if not the
decade, was Barbara Kesel's SAVANT GARDE. Set in the WildStorm Universe, it
teamed up a group of the unlikeliest heroes, including Mister Majestic,
Savant, and Cybernary. They had adventures. It was great fun to read. It
was appropriate for all ages, really. There wasn't anything gross or bloody
or evil about this series. It was a female buddy comic at times. The art,
mostly by Ryan Odagawa was detailed without being over-rendered. The women
weren't all legs and breasts. The characters were clearly delineated and
came first, even at times of heavy plot exposition. I miss this book.
Kurt Busiek strikes again with THUNDERBOLTS, the devilishly clever tale of a
group of rogues "pretending" to be superheroes. Besides Busiek's strong
storylines and characters, you also have Mark Bagley doing some of the best
work of his career, and Joe Rosas coloring the thing, which means a color
palette which isn't dismally dull, while retaining a nice 'feel.'
John Ostrander and Pascual Ferry bring us HEROES FOR HIRE, another Marvel
title steeped in continuity. Some of the resemblances to Thunderbolts are
most uncanny. This is the story of Iron Fist gathering a group of heroes
around him and forming a new superteam. It gets a lot more interesting than
just that, though. The characters are the stars here, and not the villain of
the month. Every character is hiding something, or is more than they seem.
And to top it all off, Ostrander has fallen into a clever narrative style,
which some have likened to Stan Lee on Crack. Trust me -- it's good
old-fashioned Marvel-style fun.
It hurts not to put WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES in the top ten, but it
must be done for reasons of consistency. Each issue features some beautiful
Carl Barks painting detail, a couple pages of intelligent letters column, a
new chapter in a new Don Rosa story, a William Van Horn Donald Duck ten-pager
to start things off right, and a whole bunch of other interesting features.
There have been some great new Mickey Mouse tales published recently, as
written by ace scribe David Gerstein. Bucky Bug seems to be making
something of a comeback in here, too. It's also nicely packaged, on all
slick paper, squarebound, with a cardboard cover. The only down side is that
it'll run you nearly $7 a month. So if you're a die-hard fan, here's the
ultimate package.
Has it been a couple of paragraphs since I last discussed a Kurt Busiek book?
Well, then, let me add NINJAK to his list of terrific series given the push
out the door before its time. NINJAK is a fun story of a teenaged genre fan
given the power of Ninjak. It's more than just "Oh, cool, let's go fight the
bad guys." For not only does Danny Meachum have a conscience and a
realization that what is happening to him is real, but he's also pro-active
in figuring things out. Other odd things happen, too, such as Acclaim suing
Ninjak for copyright infringement and Danny's mother discovering his
identity. It's something completely different and it should be appreciated
for that. Issue 12 will be out in a couple of weeks, ending the series.
Robert L. Washington III became the scripter and co-plotter after issue 7 or
so, and the difference in quality of the script is undetectable. He does
just as great a job on the series as Kurt.
Wow, Kurt has three books in my Top 21 list so far. But, wait! Doesn't he
write 4?!? Stay tuned for next week --- !
This is the longest column I've written so far. So I shall put off my
Top 10 list until next week. Sorry to keep dragging this along. It hurts me
as much as it hurts you. =)
-Augie
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