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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #27
07 December 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
First of all, special thanks to Kirk Kimball, who redesigned the
Pipeline logo you see on top of the web page this week. It spurred me on to
do a little redesign of the web site, as well, something which I think looks
a little better than it used to. So, thanks, Kirk! (With any luck, I'll do
some coloring to the site over the January break, as well.)
Did I mention Kirk's well-put-together web page, which includes weekly
comics reviews and cover scans?
http://idt.net/~nexus1/
Kirk has also done a bang-up job analyzing the two issues of the UNCLE
SAM (or U.S.) mini-series DC foisted upon us this fall. Speaking of which:
UNCLE SAM #2 came out this week. "I rest my case" is about all I'll
say. Nothing in this issue will cause me to take back what I said about the
first issue being a left-wing propoganda piece. I almost stopped reading it
in the first few pages when jail cells were likened to slave ships. That was
insulting and degrading enough. But, silly me, I plowed on for misquotations
of G. Gordon Liddy, characterizations of pro-lifers as murderers, and all the
rest. There's some pretty artwork in here, but it stinks.
Furthermore, the storytelling which I praised last issue has fallen
apart. There is none. The two issues read almost as separate titles.
There's not really any straight linear story to tell here. It's a mish-mash.
THE FLASH #133 came out last week, but I'm a little behind in my
writing. Grant Morrison and Mike Millar craft an interesting tale, although
a bit of a frustrating one. My brain hurts after reading it. I don't get
it. I understand they were playing with the concepts of mirror images and
reversals of the like, but sometimes things should just be spelled out.
Don't worry about insulting my intelligence. Just explain to me what's going
on occasionally. I guess this is like time travel stories, in a way. But
there's a lot going on in this issue that just leaves me scratching my head
instead of enjoying the story.
Paul Ryan will soon no longer be drawing this title and that's a damn
shame. Putting aside what I believe to be a mismatch between penciller and
inker, you have to look at the art itself. I don't know how Ryan draws this
much stuff on every page and gets it done so right. Here is a guy who draws
backgrounds -- and not just backgrounds, but a lot of backgrounds. And not
just a lot of backgrounds, but a lot of detailed backgrounds. Characters sit
firmly in their environment, and everything is laid out so as to make it easy
to follow. Characters are in proper proportion, so far as comic books go,
and are consistant.
I don't think replacing Paul Ryan is the answer to this title. I think
getting Joe Rubenstein to ink it would be. I think printing it on better
paper so the colors didn't just sit dead on the page would be. Using a
flavor-of-the-month artist is not the answer.
WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES #620 came out last week, too. I still
haven't read all of it. There is a lot of stuff in here, and I'm looking
forward to reading the Mickey Mouse stuff next, but the Duck stuff contained
herein is fun to read. William Van Horn starts things off with the cover
story, "Caught in the Cold Rush." For starters, Van Horn draws great snow.
That sounds really weird, but trust me. It fits into his artistic style
perfectly, the same as with his lettering. The story itself is a lot of fun,
and WVH's ducks are always interesting to look at, albeit more cartoony than
Carl Barks' or Don Rosa's.
Don Rosa's "Oolated Luck" is reprinted here, too, originally seen in
1988. Yes, it's early Rosa and that shows in many places, although for the
life of me I couldn't point out where, exactly. The upright ducks? The
uniform ink line? I'm not sure. It's a clever tale of Gladstone Gander's
luck and how the boys find a way to work it against him.
With any luck, I'll be able to review the rest of this issue in the next
couple of weeks.
In sadder news, Diamond Distributor's web site has announced today that
Gladstone has cancelled the entirety of their $1.95 line for the next couple
of months. Right now, it's unclear as to what this means. Is this a
temporary delay? Has the loss of distribution overseas market made the
books, which sell at best barely 6000 copies each, unprofitable? Walt
Disney's Comics and Stories, as well as the U$A albums, are still on
schedule. It looks bad for the "cheap" titles, though. I will update as
events warrant, of course.
-Augie
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